Society's ChildS


Propaganda

The New York Times admits key falsehoods that drove last year's coup in Bolivia

Evo Morales
© AP Photo/Marco UgarteIn this Nov. 27, 2019, photo, Bolivia's former President Evo Morales pumps his fist after a press conference at the journalists club in Mexico City.
In November 2019, Bolivia's three-term left-wing president, Evo Morales, was forced by the country's military and police forces to flee to Mexico after Morales, the prior month, had been officially certified as the winner of his fourth consecutive presidential election. It was unsurprising that Morales won. As the Associated Press noted in 2014, his governance was successful by almost every key metric, and he was thus "widely popular at home for a pragmatic economic stewardship that spread Bolivia's natural gas and mineral wealth among the masses."

While Morales's popularity had marginally waned since his 2014 landslide victory, he was still the most popular politician in the country. On the night of the October 21, 2019, vote, Bolivia's election board certified that Morales's margin of victory against the second-place candidate exceeded the ten percent threshold required under Bolivian law to avoid a runoff, thus earning him a fourth term. But allegations of election fraud were quickly voiced by Morales's right-wing opponents, leading to his expulsion from the country on November 11.

Once he fled, Bolivia's first-ever president from the country's Indigenous population was replaced by a little-known, white, far-right senator, Jeanine Áñez, from the country's minority European-descendent, Christian, wealthy region. Her new, unelected government promptly massacred dozens of Indigenous protesters and then vested the responsible soldiers with immunity. Seven months later, Áñez predictably continues to rule Bolivia as "interim president" despite never having run for president, let alone having been democratically elected.

Comment: See also:


Question

Setup? Chicago cops napped, made coffee, popcorn while looters ravaged city

sleeping police officer during chicago riots
© APA Chicago police officer lies on a couch inside Congressman Bobby Rush's burglarized congressional campaign office in Chicago. Congressman Bobby Rush's Campaign Office via AP
Some Chicago cops napped, made coffee and popcorn, and stayed out of harm's way in a local Congressional office while looters ravaged the Second City's South Side, according to reports.

US Rep. Bobby Rush said at least eight cops and supervisors ducked into his district office at 54th Street and South Wentworth Avenue on June 1 while looting stemming from George Floyd protests went largely unchecked outside, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

Comment: As woke world protests 'systemic racism' in the USA, Black-on-Black murders break 60-year-old record in Chicago


People 2

J.K. Rowling writes about her reasons for speaking out on sex and gender issues

J.K. Rowling
© Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
This isn't an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it's time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.

For people who don't know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who'd lost her job for what were deemed 'transphobic' tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn't.

My interest in trans issues pre-dated Maya's case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. I've met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media. On one level, my interest in this issue has been professional, because I'm writing a crime series, set in the present day, and my fictional female detective is of an age to be interested in, and affected by, these issues herself, but on another, it's intensely personal, as I'm about to explain.

All the time I've been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a 'like'. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly 'liked' instead of screenshotting. That single 'like' was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.

Comment: Good on Rowling for standing up and pointing out just how dangerous these new "trans friendly" policies are! Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how empathetic and understanding she was in her explanation. Anyone who's not in full support of everything being pushed by these radicals is an evil, hateful bigot.






Map

Best of the Web: Seattle militants set up new 'autonomous zone' as Portland's attempt is overtaken by 'Warlord'

Seattle protesters
© Unknown
Militant leftists in Seattle are now attempting to set up their own "autonomous zone," free of police, after the Portland version was overtaken by an armed "warlord" just one day in. One of the leaders of the Portland version has also already been accused of sexual assault and threatened to commit suicide after admitting that they are a "serial abuser."

The Portland militants began setting up their "autonomous zone" late Wednesday evening using barbed wire fences. Apparently, walls and fences are no longer racist.


Comment: Update: June 11, 2020 Portland's police-free 'autonomous zone' fails and is abandoned:
Portland Protest
© Sergio Olmos/ReutersPortland Protest
Police used stun grenades, rubber bullets and other "crowd control munitions" to try and prevent protesters from destroying and repurposing sections of chain-link fence outside the Multnomah County Justice Center. Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking police from using tear gas against protesters.


It was the 14th consecutive night of anti-racism and police brutality protests in Portland in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of the Minneapolis police department.

Thousands of people thronged the city's parks, bridges and streets with various forms of protest, including a skateboard march.


Since the protests began, Portland has selected a new police chief and Mayor Ted Wheeler has vowed to redirect at least $7 million of police funding to help communities of color.
UPDATE: 11/6/2020 Trump: Democrats' unable to maintain law & order in Seattle:
CopFreeZone
© A person stands at the abandoned police department's East Precinct as the protesters established what they call an autonomous zone in Seattle, Washington, US Reuters/ Lindsey WassonA person stands at the abandoned police department's East Precinct as the protesters established what they call an autonomous zone in Seattle, Washington.
Seattle has been overrun by "domestic terrorists," US President Donald Trump said, slamming "Radical Left Democrats" after a self-styled anarchist commune was set up around an abandoned police station in the city.

Calling for "LAW & ORDER" in his standard all-caps style on Wednesday night, Trump decried the situation in Seattle following days of heated protests over police brutality, blaming its Democratic leadership for losing control of the city.


Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before. Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2020
See also:


Handcuffs

Every country has bad cops: Russian National Guardsman caught on tape threatening to plant drugs on Moscow man

russian national guard
© Sputnik / Evgeny Odynokov
A member of the Russian National Guard has been sacked after a video emerged of the serviceman threatening to plant drugs on a Moscow man. The guardsman was fired after the clip went viral, causing uproar on Russian social media.

Shared widely on Telegram channel Baza, the footage shows two employees of the National Guard conducting a routine check after a neighbor complained about loud music.

In the video, a law enforcement office asks the apartment's owner, "Do you want to go to prison?" The man replies, "For what?" In response, the serviceman answers: "I'll toss you some drugs and you'll go to jail - understand? For five years. Do you want that?" The conflict was filmed on a hidden camera and quickly published online.


Following the publication of the footage, the National Guard conducted an official investigation, established the identity of the serviceman in question, and fired him.

Comment: On the positive side, he didn't actually plant the drugs. Unlike these guys:


USA

Poetic justice: Man critically injured after Confederate soldiers' monument is torn down and falls on his head in Virginia

confederate statue toppled virginia
The Confederate military member statue was one of four beheaded before being pulled down at the Portsmouth Confederate Monument as police watched on Wednesday.
A protester has been left critically injured after a Confederate statue that was being torn down during a demonstration Portsmouth, Virginia came crashing down on his head Wednesday night.

The man, believed to be in his thirties, had been part of a group of protesters attempting to topple the statue yesterday evening, WAVY News reported.

According to one witness, the group had attached ropes around the base of the statue and had been pulling away at it for 'some time', when the monument eventually gave way and fell forwards.

Comment:
"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day be day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except the endless present in which the party is always right." - George Orwell, 1984
See also:


Cut

'They're at it again': Hollywood actors blasted for cringey 'racism responsibility' video

celebrity video racism
© Twitter / @MarlowNYC
An impressive lineup of Hollywood celebrities has banded together to "take responsibility" for racism in a video that many on social media were quick to ridicule for over-the-top and cringeworthy "virtue signalling."

The video, produced in black and white, with sombre music playing in the background, features celebrities including Kristen Bell, Justin Theroux, Sarah Paulson, Debra Messing and Julianne Moore, among others.

One by one, the actors declare that they take responsibility "for every unchecked moment," "for every unfair stereotype," and for every time they ignored a racist comment because it was "easier" to say nothing.

Comment: See also: Do French Lives Matter? Where was the outrage when police were maiming protesters in France?


Pistol

Man drives car into Seattle protest crowd, shoots bystander: police

seattle protest shooting
A man drove his car into a crowd of protesters in Seattle on Sunday, then shot and wounded a demonstrator who confronted him as he came to a stop, according to police and eyewitness video.

Seattle police said firefighters took the man who was shot to the hospital and that he was in stable condition. No one else was injured, the police said.

Comment: A little more context from The Seattle Times:
...

According to the statement of probable cause outlining the police case against him, Fernandez claimed he was about to get carjacked and feared for his life. He told police protesters yelled at him, kicked his car and attempted to grab him through his open, driver's side window — and that the man he shot had reached into his car and grabbed the steering wheel, the statement says.

...

Nearly simultaneously, "a male aggressively approached the barrier that was keeping people away from the East Precinct building," breached the barrier and yelled to officers, "I just had to shoot somebody, they tried to jack my car," the statement says.

Police say Fernandez said he was driving around the area of the protest and thought he could get through, so he continued driving on 11th Avenue, then grabbed an unholstered gun from his front passenger seat and shot the man who reached in his window and grabbed the steering wheel.

When asked why he shot the man, Fernandez told an officer he "was getting barricaded by everybody and was fearing for his life," the statement says.

...




Cupcake Choco

ASU revokes job offer for incoming journalism dean after microaggression complaints, tweet calling some police 'good'

Sonya Forte Duhé
© Loyola University New OrleansASU revoked its offer for Sonya Forte Duhé to take over as dean of the journalism school.
Arizona State University revoked a job offer from its incoming journalism school dean after students and faculty accused her of "microaggressions," including a tweet that called some police officers "good."

Sonya Forte Duhé was due to take over as dean of ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on July 1, but her offer was revoked on Monday after former students lodged complaints about comments they perceived as rude. Duhé was also criticized for her #BlackOutTuesday post that called some police officers good, in light of the George Floyd protests.

In a since-deleted tweet, Duhé wrote, "for the family of George Floyd, the good police officers who keep us safe, my students, faculty and staff. Praying for peace on this #BlackOutTuesday." One of Duhé's former students, Whitney Woods, responded by calling the professor racist. "There is no way in hell that black lives matter to you," Woods tweeted. "You are one of, if not, THE most racist human that I have ever encountered in a professional setting." After the tweet, Woods, a black woman, claimed that the former Loyola University-New Orleans (LOYNO) professor told her that her hair was too messy for television.

Dominoes

Rocket blast hits Baghdad's Green Zone, triggers sirens at US embassy on eve of 'strategic dialogue'

Iraqi
© Reuters / Thaier al-SudaniFILE PHOTO: Iraqi security forces at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq
At least one rocket was fired into the heavily fortified Green Zone compound in the Iraqi capital, with a loud blast reported in the area. The attack reportedly resulted in no casualties and only minor damage.

A Katyusha rocket landed within the Green Zone in the early hours of Thursday morning, setting off sirens at the US embassy, Reuters reported, citing a witness. Nobody was killed in the blast, according to Iraq's Security Media Cell, which added that the rocket is believed to have been fired from a nearby sports stadium.

A local reporter shared footage of the aftermath of the explosion, purporting to show smoke rising from the Green Zone, which houses a number of diplomatic facilities.

Comment: The stated aim of these talks is to organize the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and so one would expect that any attempts to hinder this dialogue may also be an attempt to scupper the possibility of US withdrawal: