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TV

BBC grilled for interviewing 'Polish neo-Nazi' about Belarus protests

Riot police detain a protester, Minsk
© AFP / Siarhei LeskiecFILE PHOTO: Riot police detain a protester after polls closed in the presidential election, in Minsk on August 9, 2020
In its coverage of the Belarus protests, the BBC spoke to a Polish photojournalist who was detained and allegedly tortured by police. However, it didn't mention that he is a notable extreme right figure, with links to neo-Nazis.

As protests in the Belarusian capital of Minsk after the controversial re-election of Alexander Lukashenko were marked with violence last week, Witold Dobrowolski was one of several thousand arrested. Detained for three days, Dobrowolski was released on Thursday after being brutally beaten and "tortured" by his captors in what he called a "gulag."

Battered and bruised, Dobrowolski told his story to the BBC, in a video segment that described him as a "photojournalist." However, there seems to be a few details that the BBC neglected to mention.

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Star of David

Gaza's only power plant forced to shut amid tensions with Israel

gaza power plant
© Agence France-PresseIsrael's halting of fuel imports into the Gaza Strip is the latest punitive measure over a wave of airborne fire bombs from the Palestinian territory
Israel halts fuel imports into the Gaza Strip causing major disruptions to essential services in the enclave

The besieged Gaza Strip's only power plant shut down on Tuesday due to a shortage of fuel, less than a week after Israel suspended shipments and closed the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The move comes amid rising tensions and Israeli air strikes against the enclave for the seventh day in a row.

Last Wednesday, Israel imposed restrictions on the Palestinian enclave, in what it said was a response to the launching of incendiary balloons that caused bush fires in southern Israel.

Roses

Russian major general killed, two servicemen injured in roadside bomb attack in Syria

Russian soldiers
© AFP / Delil SOULEIMANFILE PHOTO Russian soldiers reposition in the town of Derouna Arha near the Syrian border with Turkey on June 16, 2020.
A senior Russian military adviser with the rank of major general has been killed in an attack in Syria's eastern Deir ez-Zor province, the Defense Ministry has confirmed. Two more Russian servicemen were injured in the incident.

A Russian military column was struck by a blast on Tuesday while en route from the Deir ez-Zor area, where the military had carried out humanitarian operations. A roadside improvised explosive device was detonated near the convoy, severely injuring a major general.

Pistol

Three officers shot in Texas house call turned hostage situation - UPDATE: Hostages freed

cedar park police shot hostage texas
© CNNThree police officers were shot in an Austin suburb Sunday.
Three officers were shot Sunday in a Texas suburb after a suspect barricaded himself inside a home and took multiple hostages, police wrote on Twitter.

Cedar Park Police responded to a home call on Sunday after a woman said her son "had kicked in the door and was acting very aggressive," the department said in a press conference Sunday, according to CNN. All three of the officers who had been shot have been admitted to hospitals and are in stable condition, a Tweet from assistant police chief Mike Harmon detailed.

Comment: Local station KXAN reports the standoff is over:
Joseph Desean Taylor hostage texas
© Cedar Park Police DepartmentJoseph Desean Taylor mug shot from September 2019
Joseph Desean Taylor, 26, surrendered Monday morning after barricading himself in his home, along with his sister, brother and mother in an ordeal that started when officers arrived at the home for a disturbance. Taylor is accused of shooting Cedar Park officers Jaqueline Quiles, Cris Hester and Nik Anderson shortly after the trio responded to the call, and then Taylor allegedly took his family members hostage in an ordeal that later ended peacefully.

Law enforcement mentioned in press briefings Monday officers had responded to the home and incidents with the suspect before, and arrest documents show Taylor was arrested in 2019 after a third-degree felony family violence crime.



X

Town Hall senior columnist banned from Twitter after criticizing Biden

Jack Dorsey Marina Medvin
Marina Medvin is a journalist. She expressed an opinion on a candidate in the upcoming election. Twitter called this "abuse and harassment."
Marina Medvin, senior columnist at Town Hall, caught a seven-day Twitter ban for criticizing the presidential contender in this year's election, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Medvin is a journalist. She expressed an opinion on a candidate in the upcoming election. Twitter called this "abuse and harassment."

Medvin commented on an article from the Catholic News Agency, which discussed the fact that Biden counts his Catholic faith, the Pope, and nuns among his inspiration. This is as per a video put out by the Democratic National Committee on August 9.

X

SATIRE PURGE: Twitter suspends multiple conservative satire accounts including The Babylon Bee

babylon bee jack dorsey
The Babylon Bee, an account known for its scathing humour and social commentary, was suspended and quickly restored by Twitter. Many other satire accounts remain suspended though.
The Babylon Bee, an account known for its scathing humour and social commentary, has just been suspended by Twitter. Shortly after the suspension, the hashtag #FreeTheBee began to trend on Twitter. The Bee has since been restored by Twitter, but many other conservative satire accounts remain suspended.


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Airplane

The 2020 San Francisco exodus is real, and historic, report shows

san francisco exodus graph
Real estate inventory change from February to July 2020, in metro area and city proper.
A new report confirms what many have been talking about for weeks: There is an exodus out of San Francisco, and the numbers are staggering.

Online real estate company Zillow released new statistics shining a stark light on the issue this week. Their "2020 Urban-Suburban Market Report" reveals that inventory has risen a whopping 96% year-on-year, as empty homes in the city flood the market like nowhere else in America.

The reason for this change is likely a combination of a few unprecedented factors that have collided this summer, resulting in a historic shift in the city.

Comment: We can think of a few other reasons people may be chomping at the bit to get out of San Francisco...

See:


X

New Zealand government seeking to expand its internet censorship powers

christchurch shooting livestream
New Zealand has been in the censorship business for years, but the government appears to believe it's still not doing enough censoring. Legislation stemming from the government's reaction to the live-streamed Christchurch shooting seeks to expand its ability to block content it deems to be objectionable. In most cases, this means content related to terrorism or violent extremism. But the livestreaming of a mass shooting has created an open-ended definition for the government to work with in conjunction with its criminalization of this act.

Newsroom has written up a very thorough examination of the proposed law, with this chilling bit found all the way at the end of its article.
Lastly, the legislation makes it an offence to livestream objectionable content. [...] The new offence would be punishable by up to 14 years in prison if carried out by an individual or a $200,000 fine for corporations.

Stop

Here's a list of corporations funding the 'Defund The Police' movement

ritz crackers
Dozens of corporations from around the world have collectively donated millions of dollars to left-wing organizations that advocate for defunding America's police departments, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found.

Companies including Microsoft, Intel and Airbnb have donated to Black Lives Matter Global Network and Color of Change, both of which want to defund police departments across the country.

Color of Change is leading a national petition campaign demanding elected officials "defund the police, and invest in communities now!"

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Attention

Wuhan pool party shows China is over the Covid-19 lockdowns; the rest of the world, not so much

swimming pool Wuhan
© STR / AFPPeople watching a performance as they cool off in a swimming pool in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province.
The sight of partygoers in Wuhan, China piling into a water park without masks or social distancing seems like a cruel joke to nations where no measures, however disruptive, seem to be helping against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wuhan is where the first cases of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus were first observed in late 2019. The city of 11 million, and much of the surrounding Hubei province, were placed under strict lockdown to halt the spread of the virus. The lockdown included drastic measures such as people getting their front doors welded shut, if one is to believe photos circulating online.

Fast-forward to this past weekend, when AFP published photos and video of an electronic music festival at the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park.


Comment: Funny that our 'freedom loving' governments have become more totalitarian than China.