Society's ChildS

Fire

Fireworks set off Utah wildfire - 100 people forced to leave their homes

wild fire fireworks Utah june2020
© Twitter/@JustinFreevesA wildfire started by fireworks burns in the Traverse Mountains north of Lehi, Utah, on Sunday, June 28, 2020. About 100 people were ordered to evacuate their homes.
A wildfire started by fireworks forced residents of dozens of homes to evacuate early Sunday in Utah.

"This cost a lot of people a long sleepless night. ... All because someone was using fireworks," Lehi Fire Department Chief Jeremy Craft said a briefing Sunday morning.

Firefighters worked through the night against the blaze, designated as the Traverse Fire. Sunday morning, it had consumed more than 1.5 square miles. No homes were burned, Craft said, but many of them may smell smoky for days.

About 100 people from 42 homes near the communities of Lehi and Draper were ordered to evacuate. The Red Cross set up two shelters. Craft said the evacuees may be allowed to return home Sunday afternoon.

Comment: More information from RT:
Two large blazes broke out on the hills surrounding the Traverse Mountain area late Saturday night. While one of the fires was put out, the other flared up due to strong winds. Now it is spreading rapidly, moving closer to the nearby towns of Lehi and Alpine.






Dominoes

Princeton drops Woodrow Wilson's name from school due to 'racist thinking'

Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson (R) and Princeton University (L)
Princeton University will remove former President Woodrow Wilson's name from its public policy school and a residential college, the school's president announced Saturday.

Christopher Eisgruber announced the institution's decision in a statement published on the school's website. He cited Wilson's "racist views and policies" as the main factor in the decision.

"The trustees conclude that Woodrow Wilson's racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake for a school or college whose scholars, students, and alumni must firmly stand against racism in all its forms," the statement read.

NPC

Fox capitulates to the mob as The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters

The Simpsons
© 20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collection"The Simpsons" episode, "Orange Is The New Yellow."
Fox has released a statement on casting for non-white characters on "The Simpsons."

"Moving forward, 'The Simpsons' will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters," the network said Friday.

The move comes as several television shows have pulled episodes featuring blackface from their streaming platforms, and amid a nation dealing with controversial depictions of race on TV and film.

Bullseye

About time! Four men charged for allegedly attempting to tear down Andrew Jackson statue

jackson statue Lafayette  protests
© Tasos Katopodis / Getty ImagesProtestors attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House on June 22, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Four men have been charged in federal court for allegedly attempting to tear down the statue of former President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. on Monday. They have each been charged with destruction of federal property and one has been arrested, the Department of Justice announced Saturday.

Connor Matthew Judd, 20, was taken into custody Friday, according to the DoJ. The other three men, Lee Michael Cantrell, 47, Ryan Lane, 37, and Graham Lloyd, 37, were allegedly seen on video attempting to tear down or damage the statue along with Judd.

Judd is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Comment:


Pistol

Shooting at Walmart distribution center in Red Bluff, CA, worker and gunman killed, 4 wounded

walmart shooting red bluff CA
© Michael DalyAn SUV sits at the entrance of a Walmart distribution center in Red Bluff, Calif., on Saturday, June 27, 2020. A man drove the vehicle into the front of the building before police say he opened fire on workers
A worker was killed and four others were wounded Saturday after a gunman drove his SUV into a Northern California Walmart distribution center and used an assault rifle to fire upon workers during a shift change.

Two Red Bluff police officers opened fire on the suspect, who was carrying an "AR-type weapon" and had fired multiple shots at the officers, authorities said. The Tehama County Sheriff's Office announced several hours after the afternoon attack that the shooter died at a hospital.

During a news conference outside the warehouse, Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston told reporters a motive for the attack had not been determined. He identified the shooter only as a 31-year-old white male with a history at the distribution center, which lies on the outskirts of Red Bluff, about 120 miles north of Sacramento.

Comment: From the Record Searchlight:
Tehama County sheriff's officials early Sunday morning said the Red Bluff Walmart Distribution Center shooting suspect, who was killed in a gunfight with police, was fired from the center last year.

The suspect, Louis Lane, 31, of Redding was fired from the distribution center in February 2019 because he did not show up for work, sheriff's officials said.

Lane showed up at the distribution center at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday and crashed his sport-utility vehicle into the employee entrance to the building, officials said. After the SUV caught fire, Lane got out and opened fire inside the building.



Cardboard Box

Wirecard's 'lost' billions leaves thousands in UK unable to access their money

wirecard
© REUTERS/Michael DalderFILE PHOTO: The headquarters of Wirecard AG, an independent provider of outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payment transactions is seen in Aschheim near Munich, Germany April 25, 2019.
Thousands of people in the UK are unable to access their money owing to the fallout from the scandal to hit payments firm Wirecard.

The UK licence of Wirecard Card Solutions has been frozen by the regulator after its German parent company filed for insolvency.

It means people are temporarily unable to access cash held with financial apps in the UK using Wirecard technology.

Some have spoken of their frustration, but their money should be safe.


Comment: That doesn't sound like a guarantee.


Comment: See also: Billions of euros confirmed missing from Germany's Wirecard


Attention

Apocalyptic science: How the West is destroying itself

Corona capitalism
© Peter J. Thompson/National Post filesCritical Theory drives government policies and shape public attitudes: Capitalism is oppressive. Private property rights cause environmental destruction. Prosperity causes climate change.
If you live in a Western nation like Canada in the 21st century, you have more freedom, prosperity and peace than most of the rest of the world at most other times in history. Yet these countries have never been at greater risk. The threat is not pandemics, climate change or war but something more insidious.

Modern Western civilization grew out of the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. The ascendancy of reason in human affairs produced the scientific method and later the Industrial Revolution. Add in the rule of law, individual liberty, private property and capitalism, and you have the basic recipe that has raised most of humanity out of poverty over two centuries.

New academic doctrines are moving the world, or at least the West, from this triumph to decline. They dismiss science โ€” real science โ€” in favour of political agendas, in which theory trumps facts.

Few people are familiar with Critical Theory and its related doctrines, yet these ideas today drive government policies and shape public attitudes. Capitalism is oppressive. Private property rights cause environmental destruction. Prosperity causes climate change.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Up

US smashes daily coronavirus case record as states reimpose restrictions & critics blame Trump after cheering protests for weeks

coronavirus test, closed store
© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton; Reuters / Mike BlakeFILE PHOTOS.
As several states move to reintroduce containment measures, the US has again topped its one-day record for new Covid-19 cases. Tallying more than 45,000 infections, the spike could undo a falling trend in fatalities.

Friday saw the US case count jump by 45,242, according to data collected by Reuters, putting the total number of infections in the country at nearly 2.5 million.

Stop

Twitter closes Graham Linehan account after trans comment

Graham Linehan
© Graeme Robertson/The GuardianGraham Linehan said he had appealed against the suspension to Twitter.
The Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been permanently suspended from Twitter for breaching the site's rules on banned words.

Twitter said the account, which uses the handle @glinner, had been suspended after "repeated violations of our rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation".

Linehan's account was closed after he reportedly tweeted "men aren't women tho" in response to a post by the Women's Institute wishing their transgender members a happy Pride.

Following the suspension, a post credited to Linehan's handle "Glinner" on the parenting website Mumsnet asked for support.

Burka

Facebook bends the knee, agrees to censor Trump ads after mass advertiser boycott

Mark Zuckerberg
© Erin Scott | ReutersFacebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, October 23, 2019.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said the company will change its policies to prohibit hate speech in its advertisements.

Under its new policies, Facebook will ban ads that claim people from a specific race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, gender, sexual orientation or immigration origin are a threat to the physical safety or health of anyone else, Zuckerberg said.

"I am committed to making sure Facebook remains a place where people can use their voice to discuss important issues," Zuckerberg said. "But I also stand against hate or anything that incites violence or suppresses voting, and we're committed to removing that content too, no matter where it comes from."

Comment: See also: