Society's ChildS

Gift 2

Leave or Remain: Who won the Brexit break-up? The UK's tortured relationship with the EU in numbers

brexit socks
© Reuters / Francois Lenoir
With Britain finally saying goodbye to the European Union after an agonizingly long and complicated Brexit negotiation saga, it's a good time to cast an eye back over the history of this doomed relationship.

Who benefited most? Were Brexiteers' fears always justified? How has decades as a member of this European club changed the face of Britain? Ultimately, who won in this Brexit break-up drama?

Let's look at some of the numbers.

Membership fee controversy

One of the issues that has always frustrated British Eurosceptics is the so-called 'membership fee' and what exactly that entails. Plenty of misinformation surrounding Britain's net contribution to Brussels has floated around over the years and the criticism has always been: 'We contribute more than we get back in return.'

Vinyl

Best of the Web: British Groundhog Day: Muslim dupe on police watch-list randomly stabs multiple people in London, UK govt sez 'Islamic terrorism'


Comment: Y'all know the script by now. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseum...


london stabbing terror attack
© Simon Dawson / ReutersA police forensics officer gestures near the site where a man was shot by armed officers in Streatham, south London, Britain, February 2, 2020.
London police have shot a man dead in the city's Streatham area in a "terrorist-related" incident. Several people have been stabbed, and video footage shared on social media shows armed police and ambulances on the street.

Armed police officers descended on the London suburb of Streatham on Sunday afternoon, and shot a knife-wielding criminal dead.

The Metropolitan Police said on Twitter that a "number of people have been stabbed," and that the incident has been declared "terrorist-related."

Video footage shared on social media shows a man lying on the ground outside a shuttered pharmacy, as armed police officers train their weapons on his unmoving body.


Comment: Question: given that stabbings in London are so common these days, including incidents where multiple people are stabbed, what prompted the authorities to respond within minutes to this particular stabbing with a veritable army of special armed police, helicopters, and ambulances?

Maybe it's nothing; maybe they're just super-organized and ready-to-go on a Sunday afternoon to any and all potential terror attacks...

In any event, it's all getting a bit old, no?

This stabby-jihadi too was on a 'watch-list', by the way.

Weirdly, or not, just like the London stabber-jihadi incident two months ago, an 'echo' stabbing incident occurred almost simultaneously across the English channel (this time in Ghent, Belgium, rather than The Hague, Holland)...
Police in the Belgian city of Ghent have shot and injured a knife-wielding woman, after she stabbed two people. The incident took place around an hour after a "terrorist" knifeman was shot dead by police in London.

According to Belgian news site HLN, a dark-skinned woman attacked two passers-by with a knife on the Bevrijdingslaan street in central Ghent. The woman reportedly stabbed one of her victims in the stomach.

Armed police officers neutralized the woman with a gunshot to the hand, and she was taken into custody.


Notice that the Belgian cops just shot the knife out of her hand, rather than riddle her body with bullets, a practice UK police seem to have picked up from the Americans. Why not just subdue the attacker then interrogate him/her?

Oh yeah, those 'suicide vests'...

Update 23:00 CET

Imagine our shock to learn that he was released from prison just a few days ago...


Update 3 February

'ISIS' has 'claimed responsibility' for the 'terror attack'...


That's according to the media anyway, which are citing 'ISIS News Agency, Amaq', if such really even exists. It has no surviving websites or social media accounts because they've either long since been taken down or tracked, located and droned.

As with ALL 'ISIS terror attacks' therefore, tracking the source of these claims-on-behalf-of-ISIS-by-Amaq... leads to a dead-end at SITE Intelligence 'terrorist watch group' subscriber-only website, an Israeli-owned corporation registered in Bethesda, Maryland, which is of course home to the NSA...

SITE Intelligence ISIS Mossad
Update 3 February 22:15 CET


No Entry

Russia suspends visa-free tourist travel to and from China over coronavirus

chinese tourist moscow
© Sputnik / Kirill KallinikovTourists wearing medical masks in the Red Square in Moscow.
Russia said on Saturday it was suspending visa-free travel for tourists to and from China to help contain the outbreak of a new coronavirus that emerged in China.

A bilateral visa-free regime for tourist groups agreed on in 2000 will suspended from Feb. 2, a government decree said.

Russia will also temporarily stop accepting and issuing documents for work visas to Chinese nationals.

Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus on Friday and restricted direct flights to China, its biggest trade partner.

The Russian military is to start evacuating Russian citizens from China due to the outbreak.

Comment: See also: Coronavirus' deadliest day in China, WHO declares international health emergency, countries close borders - UPDATES


Cross

'He's in our anthem, why not in constitution?' Russian Patriarch wants GOD mentioned in state charter

Edessa
© Sputnik / Evgeny EpanchintsevAn icon of the 'Image of Edessa' of Jesus at a Russian church.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, says believers should pray for a constitutional amendment that would add a reference to God. He thinks the mention would be appreciated by all faiths alike.

"Most Russian citizens believe in God. Not just the Orthodox Christians โ€” I speak about Muslims and many-many others," the patriarch said as cited by the Church spokesman. "If the anthem can have the words 'Our homeland protected by God', why can't the constitution say the same thing?"

Russia is currently preparing for a number of amendments to the basic law, which would somewhat redistribute powers among its branches and enshrine in it the State Council, an already existing consultative body. In theory, Patriarch's proposal could also be thrown in with the list of suggested changes.

Comment: See also:


Handcuffs

Syrian Islamist wanted on war crimes charges arrested in France

syria terrorists
© REUTERS / Khalil Ashawi
A senior member of Syrian Islamist armed group Jaysh al-Islam implicated in the disappearance of a prominent activist in 2013 has been arrested in France and charged with war crimes and torture, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

The suspect, a former spokesman of the group who is in his early thirties, was in France on an Erasmus student visa and detained in the southern city of Marseille.

He appeared before an investigating magistrate in Paris who charged him with torture, war crimes and complicity in forced disappearances, said the source.

Stock Up

Hungary's public workers get big wage bonuses, salaries rise throughout the country

Hungary
Hungary's average wage growth comes in higher than expected as public servants received significant premiums in November
Hungarian average gross and net wages rose by 13.9% in November, posting the strongest year-on-year increase since June 2017. Both public and private sector average salary increases accelerated, although the public sector saw the biggest jump. Wage growth there came in at 19% YoY, significantly higher than the 12% increase measured in the previous months. Those working in public administration, defence and social security saw a 29% jump on average in salaries in November. Against this backdrop, this significant pickup in wage growth is just a one-off phenomenon and not the start of a new trend.

In the private sector, the 12.1% yearly-based wage increase doesn't count as an outlier, albeit it is a touch higher than the eleven-month average in 2019. Wages rose by double digits almost everywhere, but the acceleration in business wage growth is tied to three sectors: energy, water & waste management and transportation & storage.

Comment: It's notable that Hungary defied a number of EU diktats, such as mass immigration, and it's now willing and able to deal out these pay rises, meanwhile those countries that agreed to EU 'quotas' are suffering: Germany is running out of social housing; France is seeing the biggest and longest lasting protests in its history; the UK's public services, like the NHS, are rapidly deteriorating.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis


X

Apple temporarily closes stores in China amid virus outbreak

Apple store
Apple is temporarily closing its 42 stores in mainland China, one of its largest markets, as a new virus spreads rapidly and the death toll there rose to 259 on Saturday.

The iPhone maker said in a statement it was closing stores, corporate offices and contact centers in China until Feb. 9 "out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts."

"Our thoughts are with the people most immediately affected by the coronavirus and with those working around the clock to study and contain it," the statement said.

Apple's online store will remain open.

Comment: See also: Stop the spread: US restricts foreigners coming from China as virus fear increases


Arrow Up

Florida House panel to debate bill criminalizing sex-change surgeries & puberty blockers for kids, as 5 other states consider bans

american flags boys kids
© Global Look Press ZUMA Press Watchara Phomicinda
A bill that could make it a felony to perform sex-change surgeries on minors, as well as inject them with drugs to delay puberty, is set to go before a Florida House subcommittee next week, as more states consider similar motions.

The 'Vulnerable Child Protection Act' will be on the agenda of the Florida House Quality subcommittee when it meets on Monday.

The bill is sponsored by Republican Rep. Anthony Sabatini, who has long opposed the practice that permits a doctor to treat underage patients suffering from 'gender dysphoria' with sex-change surgery and medicine that slows the onset of puberty, providing their parents approve the procedure.

"Common sense," the lawmaker tweeted on Saturday, welcoming the news of his proposal moving forward.


If passed, the law would make it a second-degree felony for any healthcare provider to engage in the activity aimed at altering a minor's sex.

Comment: Good. This child abuse must stop. Unfortunately, politics and ideology usually trump common sense, so we'll have to wait and see if these bills actually pass.


Bell

The primary mechanism of your oppression is not hidden at all

fake news establishment
I write a lot about government secrecy and the importance of whistleblowers, leakers and leak publishers, and for good reason: governments which can hide their wicked deeds from public accountability will do so whenever possible. It's impossible for the public to use democracy for ensuring their government behaves in the way they desire if they aren't allowed to be informed about what that behavior even is.

These things get lots of attention in conspiracy circles and dissident political factions. Quite a few eyes are fixed on the veil of government opacity and the persecution of those brave souls who try to shed light on what's going on behind it. Not enough eyes, but quite a few.

What gets less attention, much to our detriment, is the fact that the primary mechanism of our oppression and exploitation is happening right out in front of our faces.

Comment: See also: The Establishment Doesn't Fear Trump, And it Doesn't Fear Bernie. It Fears You


Stock Down

Oil prices see biggest January loss in 30 years

oil plant
Crude oil prices slid a painful 15% in January โ€” the biggest January slide since 1991 โ€” as the coronavirus claims the death of 213 souls and counting.

After a couple weeks of continued slippage, the price of the Brent and WTI benchmarks were trading down 0.98% and 0.73% on the day, respectively, at 9:51 am as the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency.

While the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions to China, the US State Department recommended no travel to China, and airlines have stopped flying to China, including Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, Lion Air, and Seoul Air. Other airlines had reduced their flight schedules to China, including American, Delta, United, Finnair, Cathay Pacific, and Jetstar Asia.

Comment: See also: