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US far-right blogger's South China Sea 'explosion' claims dismissed as 'fake news'


SCMP
Sat, 23 Nov 2019 16:51 UTC
South China Sea
© Roy IssaAll calm in the South China Sea, with claims by a far-right American website of an explosion involving a US submarine dismissed
A United States defence official has rebuffed online reports by a far-right American radio host and blogger of an explosion involving a US submarine in the South China Sea.

"We have seen no indication that the reports were credible," the official told the South China Morning Post in response to claims by the Hal Turner Radio Show - a far-right American political site which has previously been accused of spreading fake news and conspiracy theories - that oceanographic instruments monitoring the South China Sea had registered a significant undersea explosion.

Quoting unnamed military sources, the Turner website also said there were significant radiation readings around the area of the alleged explosion, and even posted questions on whether China had detonated a nuclear device to warn Washington following the passage of legislation in support of the ongoing anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
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Brick Wall

'A day of rage': Palestinians to protest US decision on illegal Israeli settlements


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 21:58 UTC
Palestinians protest
© AFP 2019 / ABBAS MOMANI
Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza Strip will gather Tuesday to protest the US' recent announcement that it will no longer consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as violating international law, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official announced Monday.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that "the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law." The declaration was met with censure from the international community. Both the United Nations and the EU consider Israeli settlements on Palestinian land a blatant violation of international law.


Comment: See: Pompeo gives away the Palestinian West Bank and any chances for a lasting peace


According to UN Security Council resolution 2334, "Israel's establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders."

Comment: Imagine having your land, your livelihood and the lives of the people you know and love taken away from you - piece by piece by horrible piece.

What would you do?

See also:

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Heart

'Treat him like any Australian citizen or journalist': Pamela Anderson pleads for Julian Assange with PM Scott Morrison


RT
Tue, 26 Nov 2019 15:38 UTC
Assange
© Reuters / Henry NichollsA man walks past an artwork depicting WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on a building near Westminster Magistrates Court
Actress Pamela Anderson has called on to Australia's prime minister to pick up the phone and appeal to US President Donald Trump to free Julian Assange, warning it his extradition would set a precedent harmful to all journalists.

The Australian national, founder of whistleblower website WikiLeaks, is looking at up to 175 years in prison under the Espionage Act if he is sent over to the US. He is currently in a UK jail as doctors and supporters are sounding alarm over his health - damaged by prison conditions, solitary confinement, and years of being locked inside the Ecuadorean embassy, where he had asylum.

Anderson characterized as "psychological torture" the way Assange was extracted from the embassy and put in maximum security prison, in a personal plea to PM Scott Morrison to "save an Australian hero" from the horrifying prospect of extradition to the US.

The Sydney Morning Herald obtained a transcript of Andersons' speech that she was to deliver in the Australian Parliament House, but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts.
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Bell

'I've dreamt about this day': Three US friends freed after spending 36 years in prison for murder they didn't commit


RT
Tue, 26 Nov 2019 15:00 UTC
Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart
© Twitter/Baltimore City State's Attorney OfficeAlfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart
Three teenagers from Baltimore, wrongfully convicted of killing a school student in cold blood, have been exonerated after spending more than three decades of their lives in jail.

Childhood friends Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins, and Andrew Stewart were arrested in 1983, when they were 16, and subsequently convicted of gunning down a 14-year-old student at Harlem Park Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Authorities said at the time that the boy was shot in the neck with a 22-caliber handgun in an attempt to steal a fancy jacket he was wearing.

The men have always insisted they were innocent. Nevertheless, they spent 36 years behind bars... until they were exonerated in court on Monday. Their release became possible after Chestnut successfully filed a request to gain access to sealed court records last year, and the state prosecutor's office launched a review of the case.


Comment: A real tragedy; their lives stolen by lying cops and crooked prosecutors. Who knows how many other people are sitting in prison cells in the same situation.

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Brick Wall

Twitter suspends Andy Ngo for reporting facts about trans murders

Chrissy Clark
The Federalist
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:01 UTC
andy ngo
Andy Ngo, Editor-at-large for The Post Millennial, was suspended from Twitter on Monday after responding to Chelsea Clinton's tweet about the number of trans murders in the United States.

Clinton quote tweeted the Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT advocacy group and political lobbying organization, and cited data about deaths of transgender persons in the U.S.

Comment: Never let the facts get in the way of a good progressive narrative. Anyone who tries to use facts is hateful.

See also:

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People

Protesters attack UN peacekeepers over inaction after deadly 'Islamist' militant attack in Congo


RT
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC

Comment: Yes, 'Islamist', if you can quite believe it. Somehow even southern Africa has acquired radical jihadi terror groups...


Congo UN peacekeepers and protesters
© AFP / Ushindi Mwendapeke Eliezaire
A militant attack, which killed eight civilians in the city of Beni, has sparked protests in DR Congo with angry locals targeting authorities and UN peacekeepers, accusing them of inaction and inability to curb violence.

The mass protests were triggered by a Sunday raid on the north eastern city, believed to be carried out by Islamists from the so-called Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group. It is the latest tragedy in the persistent violence that has left over 2,000 people dead in the city alone over the last five years.


Comment: Ok wait, what? The 'ISLAMISTS' of the 'Allied DEMOCRATIC FORCES'??


Protesting the government's lack of action, a crowd several hundred strong gathered near the local city hall. The demonstration promptly got violent, and the mob looted and torched the city hall.

Comment: We're not as informed as we'd like to be about African wars, but what seems to be happening here is that the ADF - rather like the SDF in Syria actually - has been groomed and inserted into the Congolese situation specifically to extend the war there, and more generally to incorporate sub-Saharan Africa into the remit of the 'Endless Global war on terror'.

See also:

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Attention

Why the impeachment fight is even scarier than you think

Thomas Pepinsky
Politico
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
donald trump microphone
© Getty Images
Political scientists have studied what our democracy is going through. It usually doesn't end well.

For decades, Republicans and Democrats fought over the same things: whose values and policies work best for American democracy. But now, those age-old fights are changing. What was once run-of-the-mill partisan competition is being replaced by a disagreement over democracy itself.

This is particularly evident as the president and many of his allies crow about the illegitimacy of the House impeachment inquiry, calling it an attempted coup, and as the White House refuses to comply with multiple congressional subpoenas as part of the probe.

Comment: The above is clearly highly partisan and one-sided ('Look at what Trump is doing!'). But the point of 'regime cleavage' is good to keep in mind. Many have been noting for some time the possibility of a new American civil war and this seems to add more credence to this possibility. And if this happens, of course, it will be Trump's fault.

See also:

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Megaphone

Thousands continue protests outside Georgian parliament demanding electoral reforms, police blast crowds with water cannons


RFE/RL
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 11:05 UTC
Tbilisi georgia
Police use a water cannon against demonstrators as they try to block the entrances to parliament in Tbilisi on November 26.
After issuing a 30-minute ultimatum before dawn, Georgian police used water cannons to disperse protesters near parliament and detained several activists, hours after thousands assembled in the capital demanding electoral reforms.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement early on November 26 that 28 protesters were detained for "disobedience to police and hooliganism." Earlier reports said two members of the opposition United National Movement, Ako Minashvili and Gia Tevdoradze, were among those detained.

The Health Ministry said four people were injured, three of whom remain hospitalized. Local media report that a journalist from the Mtavari Alkhi TV channel, Vasil Dabrundashvili, was among the injured. It is not clear if he is among those still in the hospital.

Police use a water cannon against demonstrators as they try to block the entrances to parliament in Tbilisi on November 26.

Comment: For insight into the situation in Georgia, see: US preparing for another color revolution: Georgia 2020

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Heart - Black

Teasing rivalry: 16-yr-old tied to a pillar, burnt alive in Mansa, Punjab

Raakhi Jagga
Yahoo! News
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Jaspreet Singh , murdered dalit
Jaspreet Singh (above) and the men who attacked him belong to the Dalit community.
A sixteen-year-old boy was tied to a pillar at an abandoned rice sheller in Mansa and burnt alive, police said on Sunday.

Three people have been arrested for the boy's murder. Both the victim and the accused belong to the Dalit community. The incident happened on Saturday, while the body was recovered on Sunday morning.

SHO, Mansa city police station, Sukhjeet Singh said, "As per our investigation, Jaspreet Singh was first tied to a pillar with a rope, and then petrol was poured over him before setting him on fire." Jaspreet died on the spot. SSP Mansa Narinder Bhargav confirmed the arrest of all three accused — Jashan Singh, Gurjeet Singh and Raju Singh.
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Life Preserver

True humanitarians: Russian special forces medics arrive in Syria's Kobane to help local residents


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:05 UTC
Russian doctors
© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresensky
The first units of the medical special forces arrived at the Russian military police base near Kobane in northern Syria, where they will provide assistance to the local population.

Special forces medics arrived near Kobane on a Mi-8 helicopter along with equipment, medicines, dressing materials.

According to surgeon Sergey Ponomarev, local residents have not had adequate medical care for a long time.
"Chronic diseases are neglected, acute [diseases], respectively, too ... We are ready to work here all the way ... After some time, the full medical team will arrive. I think we will be able to take about 100 people a day", Ponomarev told reporters.
The first medical aid point was deployed just three hours after the arrival. It has drugs and equipment for all occasions. For example, there is a telemedicine device that can connect to an X-ray, an ultrasound machine and, through a satellite, convene consultations with specialists from Russia in real-time.

Comment: Kind of reminds us of this:

US calls on Russia to help deliver aid to Rukban Camp in Syria

and this:

Russia delivers humanitarian aid to residents of Aleppo, Syria

and this:

Russia sends 72nd convoy containing 450 tonnes of aid and seasonal gifts to suffering people of Donbass

and this:

Russia sends humanitarian aid to Deir ez-Zor after breaching 3yr ISIS siege

and this:

ICRC praises Russia for aid in Syria and evacuation of 35,000 civilians from Aleppo

and this:

True humanitiarians: Russia delivers another 17 tonnes of aid to Syria

and this:

Russia invites Japan to join Aleppo humanitarian aid operation in Syria

and this:

US-backed Syrian rebels betrayed by the US, turn to Russia for aid

and this:

Russia airdrops 32 tons of humanitarian aid to Syrian city besieged by ISIS

and this:

Russia sends 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Ecuador after massive earthquake

and this:

Grateful residents return to liberated Palmyra, thank Russia for aid

and this:

Russia offers assistance to international organizations bringing humanitarian aid to Syria

and this:

Red Cross praises Russia's role in bringing humanitarian aid to Syria

and this:

Russia sends over 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan

and this:

Russia's humanitarian aid to troubled Luhansk and Donetsk regions exceeds 114,000 tons

and this:

Russia among countries delivering humanitarian aid to New Orleans after Katrina

and this:

While US and the West defame Putin, Russia quietly helps others and delivers a regular shipment of relief aid for Serbia's flood-stricken regions

and this:

Russia to aid Japan in filtering radioactive water

and the list goes on...

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