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Bacon

Woke mob terrorizes Tennessee smokehouse after false rumors of 'Back The Blue' donation

Shuford’s Smokehouse
A Tennessee restaurant was forced to cancel a nearly $1,000 order after woke mobsters launched a harassment campaign based on unsubstantiated rumors perpetuated by local media that it planned to donate the food to a "Back the Blue" rally.

Shuford's Smokehouse in Chattanooga said its business began receiving online threats from self-proclaimed social justice warriors warning they would tear down the decades-old diner for its apparent donation to a pro-police function. Shuford's owners, however, clarified that the order was no giveaway, but instead a clear-cut business transaction.

"A lady placed an order Tuesday for food for Saturday. She said she was taking it to the [pro-police] Back the Blue Rally in Chattanooga. It was just a business transaction. We did not donate the food," Madison Davis, daughter of restaurant owner Jeff, told the Tennessee Star.

Comment: CNN is also jumping on the shaming for social justice bandwagon. See: 'It's activism, not journalism': CNN publishes shame list of companies that DIDN'T join Facebook boycott
CNN has named and shamed a list of brands that haven't joined a movement to boycott Facebook for all manner of alleged social justice offenses, drawing criticism online for its "bizarre" activism campaign.

'Companies do nothing' is not a news story, yet that's exactly what CNN reported on Wednesday. After a slew of major brands - including Unilever, Adidas, Ford, Volkswagen, Microsoft, and Levi Strauss - temporarily pulled their advertising from Facebook, CNN called out a list of firms that have yet to fall in line with their counterparts, implicitly calling on them to do so.

According to the report, only three of the largest spenders on Facebook ads last year have joined the protest. The list of those who haven't includes Walmart, Home Depot, Uber, Netflix and American Express, and CNN shook down their spokespeople for comment. Some ignored the call; others, like Home Depot, said they were watching the boycott movement "closely."

In calling these firms out, CNN is doing the work of the Stop Hate For Profit campaign. Organized by the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center and others, the campaign wants businesses to "hit pause on hate" and pull their advertising from Facebook for the month of July.

Facebook's alleged offenses are laid out on the campaign's website, and include charges as innocuous as its listing of right-wing news site Breitbart as a "trusted news source," right up to accusations of "blatant voter suppression" and "promoting hate, bigotry, racism, antisemitism and violence."

In response, the campaign wants Facebook to submit to "identity-based hate" audits, root out and remove everything from "Holocaust denialism" to "climate denialism," use AI to spot hateful discussion in private groups, and remove "misinformation relating to voting."

Pundits and commentators on Twitter slaughtered CNN for its apparent PR work for the campaign.

"A news outlet joining a political pressure campaign like this is bizarre," wrote Republican adviser Matt Whitlock. "It's activism, not journalism."

CNN's activist push on behalf of the boycott campaign is that much more baffling given that Facebook actually bent the knee last week and agreed to censor "hate or anything that incites violence or suppresses voting."

This apparently includes advertising critical of "immigrants, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers" - basically, a major plank of President Donald Trump's platform - according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

CNN itself didn't spend a single dollar on Facebook advertisements in the last week of June. However, the news outlet has spent nearly $400,000 on Facebook ads since May 2018. Presumably, the network will now cease its own ad campaign entirely. CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia, has also not joined the boycott, and made no public comment on any future plans to do so.



Snakes in Suits

Chris Cuomo attacks gun-toting St. Louis couple's self-defense claims without any hint of irony over own altercations

Chris Cuomo
© REUTERS/Mike SegarFile photo of CNN host Chris Cuomo
CNN's Chris Cuomo apparently forgot his own history of public aggression when he sparred on TV with a St. Louis man who said he feared for his life when he and his wife pointed guns at protesters marching by their home.

The on-air spat began with Cuomo asking Mark McCloskey, the Missouri lawyer who was videoed brandishing a rifle outside his home on Sunday, "How do you feel about becoming the face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement?" McCloskey said he and his wife feared for their lives after a crowd of about 500 people broke through their neighborhood's iron gates and threatened to kill them and their dog.

"Any pretense of protests, as opposed to terrorism, ended when they broke through the gate," he said.

Comment: Cuomo is a despicably, disingenuous hypocrite.


Hardhat

Stonewall Jackson removed from Richmond's Monument Avenue

Stonewall Jackson statue removed
© AP Photo/Steve HelberWork crews work to remove the statue of confederate general Stonewall Jackson, Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues in the city, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
Work crews wielding a giant crane, harnesses and power tools wrested an imposing statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson from its concrete pedestal along Richmond, Virginia's famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday, just hours after the mayor ordered the removal of all Confederate statues from city land.

Mayor Levar Stoney's decree came weeks after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of the most prominent and imposing statue along the avenue: that of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which sits on state land. The removal of the Lee statue has been stalled pending the resolution of several lawsuits.

The Jackson statue is the latest of several dozen Confederate symbols to be removed from public land in the U.S. in the five weeks since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked a nationwide protest movement.

Comment: Richmond's black mayor used emergency powers to remove "a symbol of white supremacy". This raises the question, just how racist is Richmond if this can happen and no one is stopping it?






NPC

Cancel culture bites back: Harvard grad fired by Deloitte after threatening to stab anyone who thinks 'all lives matter'

Claira Janover stab all lives matter tiktok
© TikTok/@cjanoverA tearful Claira Janover blamed Trump supporters for losing her job
A Harvard graduate has reportedly lost her job after posting a now-viral TikTok video in which she vowed to assault anyone who didn't support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The internet had mixed feelings about her firing.

Claira Janover became an overnight sensation after several news outlets caught wind of a video in which she threatened to attack anyone "entitled" enough to believe that "all lives matter."

"I'ma stab you, and while you're struggling and bleeding out, I'ma show you my paper cut and say, 'My cut matters too,'" she declared in the TikTok clip.

Comment: Considering the non-stop abuse most conservative voices in social media are subject to, it's understandable to have a small frisson satisfaction to see one woke lefty actually suffer some consequences for their irresponsible rhetoric.


No Entry

India reportedly weighing 5G ban on Chinese firm Huawei after border skirmishes

  • Indian government ministers discussed the country's 5G rollout plans and whether Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Huawei and ZTE should be allowed to participate, according to a report from the Times of India.
  • It comes after the Indian government said it would block 59 Chinese apps such as TikTok and WeChat, claiming they are a threat to national security.
  • India and China tensions have been on the rise over a border clash that has left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Huawei logo
© Omar Marques | LightRocket | Getty ImagesIn this photo illustration, the Huawei logo and Chinese flag is seen displayed on an Android mobile phone.
Huawei could be banned from participating in India's 5G network rollout, just months after it was given the green light to participate in the country's trials for the technology.

It comes after the Indian government said it would block 59 Chinese apps such as TikTok and WeChat, claiming they were a threat to national security.

Comment: The Sino-Indian border conflict is a remnant of British rule in the subcontinent due to its failure to demarcate the border with China. Low level eyeball-to-eyeball conflicts are the strategy adopted by the soldiers of both nations since then, except during the brief 1962 war.

In 1962, a Chinese response to unprepared Indian troops left India losing part of its territory and demoralised India's first prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who ruled India during the crucial initial 17 years after its independence. But this increased Indian resolve and spurred the modernization of Indian forces, which helped them to handle Pakistan in 1965 and defeat them in the 1971 war.
The aftermath of the war saw sweeping changes in the Indian military to prepare it for similar conflicts in the future, and placed pressure on Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the Chinese attack on India. Indians reacted with a surge in patriotism and memorials were erected for many of the Indian troops who died in the war. Arguably, the main lesson India learned from the war was the need to strengthen its own defences and a shift from Nehru's foreign policy with China based on his stated concept of "brotherhood". Because of India's inability to anticipate Chinese aggression, Prime Minister Nehru faced harsh criticism from government officials, for having promoted pacifist relations with China. Indian President Radhakrishnan said that Nehru's government was naive and negligent about preparations, and Nehru admitted his failings.
...
The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who resigned his government post to allow for someone who might modernise India's military further. India's policy of weaponisation via indigenous sources and self-sufficiency was thus cemented. Sensing a weakened army, Pakistan, a close ally of China, began a policy of provocation against India by infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir and ultimately triggering the Second Kashmir War with India in 1965 and Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. The Attack of 1965 was successfully stopped and ceasefire was negotiated under international pressure. In the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 India won a clear victory, resulting in liberation of Bangladesh (formerly East-Pakistan)
Will Narendra Modi, who is as popular as Jawaharlal Nehru, meet a same fate while handling China? Only time will tell.

Chinese support for Pakistan along with intermittent border disputes continue to evoke anti-Chinese sentiments among Indian citizens, and calls for banning Chinese products. Despite these popular sentiments, the reality is that China is India's largest trading partner. In Indian democratic politics, the opinions of the opposition parties are transient and focus on rejecting the ruling party's decisions:
Insisting that India carried out a "digital strike" to protect the data of countrymen, Prasad sought to know why the TMC was opposing the ban on Chinese apps.

"We are witnessing a strange trend in Bengal; the ruling TMC had earlier asked why we were not banning the apps, now they want to know why we are banning the apps. This is strange, why can't they stand with the government at the time of crisis," he said.

Trinamool Congress MP had on Wednesday termed the Centre's decision to ban 59 Chinese apps including TikTok an "eyewash and an impulsive decision", and said the Union government should substitute them with Indian apps as the livelihood of many people associated with these applications had been affected.
The US could yet be surprised by India allowing Huawei to deploy 5G there in the near future:

Huawei set to abate 'spying fears' by signing 'no-back-door' agreement with India


SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: MindMatters: The More You Sound Like Everyone Else, The Less Interesting You Are

blind leading blind
There's a reason teenagers want to be individuals, yet end up sounding like carbon copies of their peers: they actually want to be like everyone else. And while most grown-ups probably think they've grown out of such mindless conformity, they haven't. Adults discussing hot-button issues sound like clones of each other for the same reason: they're not actually thinking for themselves.

College and university professors, the mind vice of social media like Twitter, mainstream political pundits, or just everyday peer-group influence: all provide the material with which to form convictions and opinions that are not really your own. It may be comforting to know you're just like everyone else, and all the evil is within the people you disagree with, but it doesn't make you original, authentic, or right. And to anyone looking in from the outside, you just sound like a mindless automaton speaking someone else's words.

Today on MindMatters we discuss these issues: conformity, originality, authenticity, and breaking free from the prison of ideological language designed not to find the truth, but as a weapon to bludgeon one's ideological enemies.


Running Time: 01:06:57

Download: MP3 — 61.3 MB


Eye 1

UK gov's lockdown easing is setting us up for a fall

coronavirus london
© AFP / TOLGA AKMEN
Amid clear signs of a resurgence in Covid-19, governments are easing lockdown restrictions. But don't you worry - they've found a way to make sure they can point the finger of blame at the public.

Good news, everyone! Covid-19 is over! It's gone, buggered off back to its lab or bat cave or wherever, defeated by a mighty, amicable and cohesive effort from governments across the globe.

That's all I can infer from the way some governments are acting. Lockdowns are loosening faster than badly tied shoelaces. Here in the UK, our government is so confident that it has even stopped holding its daily press briefings.

Comment: The factions controlling governments appear to be testing the waters by reimposing lockdown in some regions whilst elsewhere they're setting the situation up for their next possible move:


Sherlock

How many govt. demands for data? Zoom backtracks on promise to release privacy report

Zoom
© Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
How many government demands for user data has Zoom received? We won't know until "later this year," an updated Zoom blog post now says.

The video conferencing giant previously said it would release the number of government demands it has received by June 30. But the company said it's missed that target and has given no firm new date for releasing the figures.

It comes amid heightened scrutiny of the service after a number of security issues and privacy concerns came to light following a massive spike in its user base, thanks to millions working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a blog post today reflecting on the company's turnaround efforts, chief executive Eric Yuan said the company has "made significant progress defining the framework and approach for a transparency report that details information related to requests Zoom receives for data, records or content."

Comment:


NPC

How we end racism? Twitterati mocks Portland mob for torching a statue of an elk

elk statue portland oregon
© FILE PHOTO Wikipedia / EncMstr
A mob in Portland, Oregon, has torched a statue of an elk, prompting observers to theorize that perhaps the animal was a "slave owner" or a "white supremacist".

Demonstrators on Wednesday night lit fires around the downtown landmark, quickly engulfing the horned effigy in flames. Videos show a small inferno wrapped around the base of the landmark.


Comment: Still think these 'protests' are about George Floyd or racism?


Bug

SOTT Focus: Ghislane Maxwell Finally Arrested by FBI. Is She The Center of The Entire Epstein Case?

ghislaine Maxwell
Two senior law enforcement officials say that Ghislane Maxwell was arrested on charges that she conspired with Jeffery Epstein to sexually abuse minors and is expected to appear in federal court later Thursday. The six-count indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that Maxwell helped Epstein groom girls as young as 14 years old, going back as far as 1994. "In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims," the indictment says.


Comment: As of 2 July 2020, at 22:30 CET, Maxwell remains unsuicided, and has been taken into custody by US Marshals.

'Q' followers are all excited about this, apparently believing it heralds sweeping imminent mass arrests of Swamp creatures the whole Empire over.

If only.

More likely, it's taken an entire year to follow up on Maxwell because LOTS of backroom deals had to be worked out first. For instance, also reported today is a ruling by the judge in the defamation case Alan Dershowitz brought against Virginia Giuffre that her legal team must "destroy all files" they have on Epstein - over 1,000 of them - because her lawyers allegedly "came into possession of them improperly."

We do wonder, however, if some action finally took place today because of last week's sacking of Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), by US Attorney General William Barr, apparently at Trump's insistence.

The fact remains, however, that everyone who's anyone is either implicated in this scandal, or stands to lose a lot from it 'going wrong'. For one thing, former FBI director James Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, remains one of the SDNY prosecutors handling the Epstein case, and Maxwell has just been transferred from New Hampshire to that jurisdiction to face criminal charges...

Update (July 3): The details of the charges against Maxwell have been released by acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, and they are revolting:
Strauss described in detail how Maxwell "played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend and groom minor victims for abuse," pretending to take an interest in the girls' lives, taking them shopping and to the movies, and convincing them to let Epstein pay for their schooling and travel, thus placing them in his debt.

"Maxwell then tried to normalize sexual abuse" by discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the girls, even being physically present while the girls gave Epstein massages, the prosecutor explained, thereby putting the victims at ease and leaving them "susceptible to sexual abuse."

As for her false testimony, "Maxwell lied because the truth as alleged was almost unspeakable," Strauss stated. "Maxwell enticed minor girls, got them to trust her, then delivered them into the trap that she and Epstein had set for them."
Former Israeli spy Ari Ben-Menashe has claimed Maxwell was a Mossad agent like her father and that the pair used underage girls as bait to blackmail world leaders. This would hardly be the first time an intel agency used the "honeypot" trap to gain leverage on politicians. That particular spy operation is most well-known for having entrapped Mordechai Vanunu after he blew the whistle on Israel producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona plant. He was arrested in Rome by the Mossad, drugged and taken back to Israel where he served 18 years in prison for "treason," 11 of those years in solitary confinement.

Another piece of damning info on Maxwell is that she apparently inquired to her realtor in New Hampshire about the flight patterns over the property she would eventually purchase. The realtor described the inquiry as "very strange." It's only strange if you're not wanted by the FBI!