Society's ChildS


Family

Most US voters don't think Biden will be able to finish his full four-year term if elected president - poll

biden
© REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Most US voters, including nearly half of Democrats, don't expect Joe Biden to serve his full four-year term if elected president in November, saying his vice president will have to take the helm at some point, a new poll reveals.

Fifty-nine percent of all likely voters and, somewhat surprisingly, 49 percent of Democrats, say the 77-year-old Biden probably isn't up to running the country for four years, according to the Rasmussen Reports poll released on Monday.


Comment: If there's any Democratic voter that feels that way, they should absolutely not vote for him.


Less surprising, 73 percent percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents agreed that it's likely Biden's running mate would become president sometime during his term.

NPC

White NYT reporter tells black people they didn't vote for Hillary in sufficient numbers because Russia duped them

hillary
© Reuters / Brian Snyder
It only took almost four years, but New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth has finally gotten to the bottom of why black Americans didn't get excited about Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy for president: Russian trolls.

"We don't talk about this enough, and it has been lost in the 2016 election hot takes," Perlroth said Sunday on Twitter. "While 2016 saw record turnout, it also saw record decline in black voter turnout - the biggest decline in 20 years. Blacks were the number one demographic Russian trolls targeted on social media."

So, it wasn't that some black voters possibly genuinely disliked Clinton or disagreed with her policies. There can only be one explanation for the decision of many to stay home, and it's the same answer that Clinton herself and other Democrats often turn to when explaining undesirable outcomes that might otherwise be attributed to their own shortcomings: It's Russia, obviously.

Cross

Best of the Web: What we can learn from the Swedish paradox

stockholm
© Getty ImagesThe summer houses of the Stockholm archipelago offer a vision of the Good Life, Swedish style
I am writing this from the water's edge on one of the 24,000 islands of the Stockholm archipelago. It's a lovely summers day, boats are coming in and out of the little harbour and the restaurant is doing a busy trade. Across the sound, the rocks slope straight into the sea and are dotted with summer houses.

The homes are not divided by fences, but sit at a respectful distance from each other, never in a row but each positioned in a particular spot of the owner's choosing; there's a harmony of style which still leaves room for individuation — some houses are yellow, some red, some slightly more modern, some slightly more traditional, but each adorned with a well-kept garden, a boat-house and pier, and of course a Swedish flag. It's a vision of the Good Life, Swedish-style.

Since its lockdown-free response to Covid-19, Sweden has suddenly found itself the pin-up nation for libertarians worldwide, who see in its more laissez-faire response a defence of individual freedom and self-governance above all else. But Sweden is not a libertarian society — far from it; in reality, they are sticklers for the rules. Try putting decking on the seaside edge of your garden, or buying alcohol from anywhere other than the state monopoly — you will be met with restrictions that would be unthinkable in either Britain or the United States.

Comment: Interesting essay, and a good effort by the author to explain why Sweden didn't 'go Nazi' over Covid-19.

It falls short, in our view, because the usual categories of language and philosophy cannot account for it.

Sweden is culturally similar to the other Nordic countries, yet those underwent lockdowns. So the answer is more likely to be found by assessing the degree to which a country's elite class is 'ponerized' (overcome with pathological ideological material and/or actual psychopaths and other character-disturbed people). It's known why Denmark, for example, went into lockdown. The prime minister there received 'advice' (probably understood by her as 'orders') from an unknown consortium or group not connected to her own national government, and she followed this 'advice' to the letter - against the recommendations of her own health department.

For whatever reasons, and assuming it received a similar or the same 'memo-from-the-top', the Swedish government rejected most of that same 'advice'.

Sweden, despite sounding like it was 'libtard left' all these years, turns out to be one of the few western countries still - for the most part - 'ruled by normal people and common sense'. That's fundamentally why there is harmony between the rulers and the ruled in Sweden, with respect to Covid-19 anyway.

That the author had to resort to citing a mix of both 'true liberal-left spirit' and Christian socio-cultural underpinnings to account for Sweden's freedom only underpins the fact that that country is apparently not (yet) 'as psychopathic as' other western countries, where the 'true liberal-left spirit' is implacably opposed to anything smacking of 'traditional Christian values'...


Pirates

Best of the Web: Blacks go on the rampage in Chicago, looting hundreds of stores to 'avenge' gangster who shot at police

officer outside of looted Best Buy store
© Scott Olson/Getty ImagesA Police officer inspects a damaged Best Buy store after parts of the city had widespread looting and vandalism, on August 10, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. Police made several arrests during the night of unrest and recovered at least one firearm.
Many rioters and looters took to the streets of Chicago early Monday, according to multiple reports, breaking into upscale stores after a man was reportedly hit during a shootout with Chicago police.

The police remain on the scene Monday morning after rioters smashed windows and burned vehicles, according to Newsweek.

Many on social media captured imagery of the mayhem as violence again exploded in Chicago following an incident with police and an assailant.

Reporter Ian Miles Cheong shared video of the apparent looting.

Comment: That's the mayor of Chicago saying that! No wonder 'her people' are completely out-of-control.



Lightfoot dragged her feet when it came to addressing one of if not the most pressing issue facing her city over the weekend, but she was Johnny-on-the-spot to call out beach-goers for daring to do something as harmless as going to the beach and not 'social distance' themselves:
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been excoriated for the city's belated response to an outbreak of looting, shooting and chaos that followed a police-involved shooting. The city was quick to shut down beach access, however.

Lightfoot belatedly condemned the looters during a press conference on Monday, urging prosecutors to "put their best people" on the task of rounding up those behind the violence that left 13 police officers injured over the course of a single night.

"There is no justification for criminal behavior ever," Lightfoot said, adding, "You have no right to take and destroy the property of others."

However, she made a point of distinguishing between "the righteous uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd" in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Memorial Day - an event that also triggered outbreaks of violence and looting in cities across the US, including Chicago - and the weekend's violence, which she called "abject criminal behavior."

Lightfoot also lambasted judges and prosecutors who allow criminals to "cycle through the system," a longstanding problem she seems to have only now discovered.
We can't allow...people to believe there is no accountability in our criminal justice system.
Some 100 people were arrested for looting, which reportedly began in the downtown Loop area before spreading to neighborhoods from Lincoln Park to the Gold Coast. There were a total of 31 shootings and three murders over the course of the weekend, according to Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, who also spoke at the presser.

"Criminals took to the streets with the confidence that there would be no consequence for their actions," Brown lamented, pledging that a special team of detectives had been assigned the task of implementing a "multi-layered plan" to crack down on the violence "which will be based on lessons we've learned from earlier this summer."

Chicago residents were quick to point out that Lightfoot and the city government had wasted no time shutting down access to beaches and lakes earlier that weekend and condemning the "reckless behavior" of locals trying to enjoy the water peacefully.






Mail

Las Vegas: over 223K mail-in ballots bounced as 'undeliverable' in recent primary election, from one county

mail slot
© AP/Seth Wenig
More than 223,000 mail-in ballots sent to registered voters in Clark County, Nevada, were bounced as "undeliverable" in the state's June primary election, newly released data reveals.

According to data collected by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) from the Clark County Election Department, a total of 223,469 mail-in ballots sent to registered voters for the June 9 primary election ended up bouncing as "undeliverable" — 17 percent of the total 1,325,934 mail-in ballots that were sent out in the county.

"These numbers show how vote by mail fails," PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a statement, adding:
"New proponents of mail balloting don't often understand how it actually works. States like Oregon and Washington spent many years building their mail voting systems and are notably aggressive with voter list maintenance efforts. Pride in their own systems does not somehow transfer across state lines. Nevada, New York, and others are not and will not be ready for November."
For comparison, in the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 general elections, the entire state of Nevada recorded just 5,863 mail-in ballots as "undeliverable." That data comes from U.S. Election Assistance Commission surveys.

Che Guevara

Police face off with protesters after Lukashenko wins another term as president of Belarus

Minsk riot police
© Sergei Gapon/AFPA man lies on the ground in front of riot police during a protest in Minsk.
Police in Belarus have cracked down on opposition protesters after an official exit poll put President Alexander Lukashenko on course to win a sixth term.

The exit poll for state television on Sunday gave Lukashenko 79.7 percent of Sunday's vote, with his main challenger, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, coming second with 6.8 percent. A political newcomer, Tikhanovskaya mounted an historic challenge to Lukashenko and drew big crowds in campaign rallies around the country.

Preliminary results are not expected until Monday.

Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, had pledged to crush any protests but thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital, Minsk, shortly after the exit poll was broadcast. The opposition had said it expected the results to be rigged.

Late on Sunday, the atmosphere in the city was tense as riot police faced off with opposition protesters, beating some with truncheons and using flash-bang grenades to try to disperse them. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen, reporting from Minsk, said the capital was "a city filled with anger and frustration" and described "hectic scenes" that "Minsk hasn't witnessed before".

Comment: Clashes are ongoing in Minsk between protesters and riot police:

Belarus Riots
© Dmitry Brushko/Tut.By/Reuters/Vasily FedosenkoBelarus riots



Minsk protest
© Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko/Sputnik/Victor TolochkoScenes from Minsk
Other cities, such as Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk, also saw protests:


Minsk Riot police have erected a barricade to contain protesters, deploying flashbangs and water canons:

Central Minsk riot police
© Dmitry Brushko/Tut.By/ReutersCentral Minsk riot police
One person was killed in last night's protests, while more than 3,000 people were arrested:
Minsk riots
© RIA NovostiProtesters in Minsk, August 9, 2020.
The country's Interior Ministry denied the claim that the protests resulted in a fatality. The head of Belarus' Investigative Committee said that criminal charges will be brought against demonstrators accused of carrying out acts of violence against security forces. If found guilty, they could face up to 15 years in prison. More than 3K were arrested as protests took place in 33 towns and villages.
Additionally, more than 50 demonstrators and 39 police were injured:.

Meanwhile, re-elected President Lukashenko has blamed the violent protests on countries directing the chaos from abroad:
Lukashenko also blamed foreign countries for internet connection troubles.

"They were controlling our, I beg your pardon, sheep: they don't understand what they're doing and they're being controlled already. Switching off the internet in Belarus wasn't the government's initiative - it was also done from abroad."

The president promised that he won't allow a Maidan-style coup, like the one in Ukraine in 2014, in his country, urging the protesters to "calm down". He also advised parents to look after their children - who join the rallies - better to "avoid pain" in the future.



Yellow Vest

Tens of thousands of Quebecois stage mass march against plandemic tyranny

quebec protest masks
© Jean-Claude Taliana/Radio-CanadaProtesters chanted "liberté" as they marched from the main gates of McGill University on Sherbrooke Street to the CBC/Radio-Canada building on René-Lévesque Boulevard.
On August 8th, tens of thousands of citizens in Montreal took the streets to protest the draconian and unscientific push towards tyranny under the pretext of public health.

Legacy news outlets controlled by the globalist deep state either failed to cover this event, or gave it a passing mention, despite it being a tremendous outpouring. Such manifestations, given that they have not been promoted or financed by corporatist oligarchs and their fake news media outlets, are a good indicator that tremendously more are, or have now, woken up.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown Montreal last Saturday to protest against the Quebec government's mandatory mask regulations.

The protesters — the vast majority of whom did not wear masks — carried signs and wore t-shirts indicating a variety of motivations and ideologies in opposition to face coverings.

Some demanded freedom, some were critical of the Coalition Avenir Québec government, Premier François Legault or public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda, and others espoused various theories about COVID-19 and U.S. politics.

"I find it illogical," said Nathalie Warren, who travelled from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. for the protest.

"Say we go into a restaurant," she said. "We walk in wearing a mask, because, what, COVID is there? Then we sit down and we can take the masks off because, what, the COVID is gone?"

Oil Well

Is the OPEC+ alliance beginning to crumble?

Saudi Arabia
© AP Photo / Hasan Jamali
It's been a wild and bumpy ride for OPEC+ this year. The consortium, consisting of the traditional members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus oil and gas superpower Russia, was largely responsible for the huge collapse in oil prices toward the end of April. After a huge drop in oil demand corresponding with the devastating spread of the novel coronavirus around the world, an OPEC+ strategy meeting turned into a spat between Russia and Saudi Arabia which then turned into an all-out oil price war and massive global oil glut. The oil storage shortage created by this glut would go on to push the West Texas Intermediate crude benchmark into previously-unthinkable negative territory, closing out the day on April 30th at nearly $40 below zero per barrel.

OPEC+ has since reconciled and once again banded together to address the oil market crisis, making myriad pledges and severe production cuts to bolster crude oil prices. But many of the countries that made those pledges have fallen far short of their promises. "OPEC reached a historic deal to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day in April, but a number of countries fell significantly short in meeting their production targets," reports Markets Insider.

Light Sabers

'Save Pear from Apple': Small app developer battles IT giant to keep its fruit logo

logos
© prepare.com; Reuters / Mike Segar
The developers of a meal planning app, which has a pear as its logo, say Apple has taken them to court over it, but the five-man team is reluctant to give in to the corporation.

The people behind Prepear software have launched a petition on Change.org, asking Apple to drop its lawsuit which calls on them to change their pear-shaped logo.

The Cupertino-based corporation claims that Prepear's emblem, which it described as "a minimalistic fruit style with a proper-angled leaf," confuses buyers into thinking that the app is affiliated with Apple.The logo "quickly calls to thoughts Apple's popular Apple Symbol and produces a very similar commercial effect," it stated.

However, the Prepear team said that they have "clearly done nothing wrong," insisting that their logo is completely different from the famous 'bitten apple.'

Megaphone

'I am a product of a child molester; do I deserve to be loved?' RT speaks to victims of horrific Berlin pedophile abuse scandal

window
© Getty Images / SanyaSM
When a famed sex educator convinced Berlin authorities to house young orphans with known pedophiles, the bizarre scheme led to shocking abuses. Two of his victims spoke to RT in a revealing new documentary.

Dr. Helmut Kentler was a star amid the loosening of sexual morals that started in the 60s. A psychologist and sex educator, he lived as an openly gay man and would even by today's standards be seen as a progressive. He set up his Pedagogical Center in Berlin to spread his ideas, and this center would eventually be tasked by the city's senate with placing vulnerable children into care.

Kentler, in a shocking move that was supported by Berlin's left-wing senate of the early 1970s, decided to house these boys with known pedophiles, well aware that these predators would have sex with them. That didn't bother Kentler, who argues as recently as 1999 that pedophilia "can have a very positive effect on a boy's personality development." In a parliamentary hearing in 1981, he claimed that pedophiles made for great foster fathers, as they "fell in love with" the boys. The practice was allowed to continue until 2003.