Society's ChildS


Yellow Vest

Outrage as Tech giants build 'hyperscaler' data centres on fertile farmland in The Netherlands

Morgan Meaker
Wired
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 02:00 UTC
data center
© Make more Aerials/ShutterstockMicrosoft’s Agriport cloud data center in Middenmeer, Netherlands.
As soon as Lars Ruiter steps out of his car, he is confronted by a Microsoft security guard, who is already seething with anger. Ruiter, a local councillor, has parked in the rain outside a half-finished Microsoft data center that rises out of the flat North Holland farmland. He wants to see the construction site. The guard, who recognizes Ruiter from a previous visit when he brought a TV crew here, says that's not allowed. Within minutes, the argument has escalated, and the guard has his hand around Ruiter's throat.

The security guard lets go of Ruiter within a few seconds, and the councillor escapes with a red mark across his neck. Back in his car, Ruiter insists he's fine. But his hands shake when he tries to change gears. He says the altercation — which he will later report to the police — shows the fog of secrecy that surrounds the Netherlands' expanding data center business.

"We regret an interaction that took place outside our data center campus, apparently involving one of Microsoft's subcontractors," says Craig Cincotta, general manager at Microsoft, adding that the company would cooperate with the authorities.
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Evil Rays

MSM's new obsession: Labelling criticism of 15-minute cities 'conspiracy theories'

Rebekah Barnett
Daily Sceptic
Mon, 27 Mar 2023 22:14 UTC
future city
"Conspiracy theories" about 15-minute cities are "false", "unhinged", "dangerous" and "not to be believed", declare mainstream media in unified chorus.
15 minute cities
"In recent years, conspiracy theories that were once almost unheard of have spread like wildfire, with a growing number of Australians now sceptical of things like vaccines, 5G and election results," News.com.au reports in one such article, titled, 'Inside the 15-minute city conspiracy theory sucking in gullible Australians'.

The article explains that 15-minutes cities (also called Smart Cities) are a commonsense way of attempting to boost liveability for residents. City dwellers in proposed Smart Cities - including Melbourne, Paris, London, Edmonton and Oxford - will have access to everything they need within a 15 to 20-minute walk, cycle or public transport trip, and that's really all there is to it.

"Anyone who has ever faced a long and painful commute will immediately see the appeal of having the daily essentials at their fingertips," the article assures readers.

However, "gullible Australians" who cannot appreciate commonsense or convenience have been "sucked in" to a "dangerous conspiracy". These "unhinged" conspiracy theorists actually believe that Smart Cities are "part of a secret plan by global elites to restrict people's freedom and movements" - a form of lockdown justified by climate action.

Never mind that Western governments have just spent the past three years abusing their powers with gross overreach and wanton disregard for their citizens' will or wellbeing, which might make some people nervous about giving government more control over movement, commerce, energy consumption and the like. The article notes that conspiracies about 15-minute cities have been flagged as "false information" on Facebook, so that really settles it, they're definitely false.
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Stop

Body blow to activists: Whopping 82% of Berlin's voters refused to support 2030 climate neutrality

P Gosselin
Watts Up With That?
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
solar panels
© Rolf Schulten/Bloomberg/KJNPankow District, Berlin, Germany
The results of Berlin's Climate Neutrality By 2030 referendum tell us that FFF and Last Generation are fringe movements, remote of even Berlin's mainstream. It'll take a longtime for the radical climate activists to recover from this major setback.

Crushing defeat

Last Sunday's "Berlin Climate Neutrality By 2030" referendum failed resoundingly despite the more than a million euros spent in a massive run-up campaign that included plastering the city with posters, concerts by famous performers, huge support and propaganda by the media and hefty donations coming from left wing activists from the east and west coasts of USA.

Once the dust of the referendum had settled, it emerged that the "yes" side fell way short of the quorum 608,000 votes needed to pass the measure. Only 442,210 cast a vote in favor, which represents only 18% of Berlin's eligible voters. The activists expected a far greater turnout. 82% refused to lend any support.

Berlin's rejection of the climate neutrality by 2030 mandate is a massive body blow to the the radical Fridays for Future and Last Generation movement in Germany, and it will take months for the radicals to recover, it ever, from this setback.

The Berlin initiative to make the city climate neutral by 2030 was led by rich, upper class youths like Luisa "Longhaul" Neubauer. But Berliners, having been harassed for months by activists gluing themselves to the streets and blocking traffic, saw the folly of the initiative and the high costs it would entail politically and financially. They decided resoundingly they'd wanted no part of it.
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Clipboard

Congress to consider new no-fly list for unruly passengers

David Koenig
ABC News
Wed, 29 Mar 2023 12:30 UTC
TSA officer
© Unknown
Congress is taking another look at creating a new no-fly list for unruly passengers...

U.S. Senate and House members proposed a new no-fly list for unruly passengers on Wednesday, an idea that was pushed by airline unions but failed to gain traction last year.

The legislation would let the Transportation Security Administration ban people convicted or fined for assaulting or interfering with airline crew members.

It would be separate from the current FBI-run no-fly list, which is intended to prevent people suspected of terrorism ties from boarding planes.

The number of incidents involving unruly passengers dropped sharply last year after a judge struck down a federal requirement to wear masks on planes. However, incidents serious enough to be investigated by federal officials remained more than five times higher than before the pandemic.
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Book

Escobar diary account from Moscow: The Capital of the Multipolar World

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 31 Mar 2023 12:30 UTC
Moscow supermarket
A supermarket in Moscow with no shortage of food.
In Moscow you feel no crisis. No effects of sanctions. No unemployment. No homeless people in the streets. Minimal inflation.

How sharp was good ol' Lenin, prime modernist, when he mused, "there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". This global nomad now addressing you has enjoyed the privilege of spending four astonishing weeks in Moscow at the heart of an historical crossroads - culminating with the Putin-Xi geopolitical game-changing summit at the Kremlin.

To quote Xi, "changes that haven't been seen in 100 years" do have a knack of affecting us all in more ways than one.

James Joyce, another modernity icon, wrote that we spend our lives meeting average and/or extraordinary people, on and on and on, but in the end we're always meeting ourselves. I have had the privilege of meeting an array of extraordinary people in Moscow, guided by trusted friends or by auspicious coincidence: in the end your soul tells you they enrich you and the overarching historical moment in ways you can't even begin to fathom.
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Handcuffs

'QAnon Shaman' gets early release


RT
Fri, 31 Mar 2023 11:13 UTC
jacob chansley qanon shaman
© Getty Images / Win McNameeJacob Chansley, also known as the "QAnon Shaman," stands among a group of pro-Trump protesters outside the Senate chamber of the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
The Capitol riot participant has been moved to a halfway house after serving just over half of his sentence.

January 6 rioter Jacob Chansley, also known as the 'QAnon Shaman', has been granted early release from federal prison and transferred to community confinement in Arizona, officials announced on Thursday.

The 35-year-old was sentenced to 41 months' imprisonment in November 2021, after pleading guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding for his involvement with the January 6 US Capitol riots earlier that year.

Comment: Good for Chansley! It's not surprising that this has been done quietly, without a lot of fanfare. Carlson's footage exposed the lie of January 6th for what it was. Chansley should be suing the state for wrongful conviction!

See also:

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Blackbox

9 killed in Army Black Hawk helicopter crash in Kentucky

Sharon Johnson, Rebecca Reynolds, Dylan Lovan
Associated Press
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
helicopter crash kentucky
U.S. Army investigators are trying to determine what caused two Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters to crash during a routine nightime training exercise in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers aboard. No one was hurt on the ground.

Nondice Thurman, a spokesperson for Fort Campbell, said the deaths happened Wednesday night in southwestern Kentucky during a routine training mission.

A statement from Fort Campbell said the two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, part of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed around 10 p.m. Wednesday in Trigg County in southwest Kentucky. The 101st Airborne confirmed the crash about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of Fort Campbell.
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Arrow Down

Disney cuts Marvel Entertainment Chair Ike Perlmutter following massive layoffs

Katie Jerkovich
Daily Wire
Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00 UTC
disney
Disney has confirmed that Marvel Entertainment Chairman Issac "Ike" Perlmutter is out following massive layoffs by the House of Mouse as part of its cost-cutting efforts.

Marvel Entertainment is a subsidiary of the Disney Company.

Perlmutter was let go along with Marvel Entertainment's co-president Rob Steffens and chief counsel John Turitzin, Variety reported.

Comment: Go woke up, go broke:

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Stock Down

Whopping 82% of Berlin's voters refuse to support net zero 2030 as referendum fails

Will Jones
The Daily Sceptic
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 11:03 UTC
reading shocking news on phone
A key vote for Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2030 in Berlin has failed to reach the turnout threshold to be deemed valid, with just 18% turning out to vote in favour, in a major setback for activists. Pierre Gosselin in Watts Up With That? has more.
Last Sunday's 'Berlin Climate Neutrality By 2030' referendum failed resoundingly despite the more than a million euros spent in a massive run-up campaign that included plastering the city with posters, concerts by famous performers, huge support and propaganda by the media and hefty donations coming from Left wing activists from the east and west coasts of the USA.

Once the dust of the referendum had settled, it emerged that the 'yes' side fell way short of the quorum 608,000 votes needed to pass the measure. Only 442,210 cast a vote in favour, which represents only 18% of Berlin's eligible voters. The activists expected a far greater turnout. 82% refused to lend any support.

Comment: See also:

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No Entry

'Trans Day of Vengeance' protest in DC cancelled, organizers claim there was a 'credible threat to life and safety'

Cassandra MacDonald
Timcast
Fri, 31 Mar 2023 08:44 UTC
trans day of vengeance cancelled
The "Trans Day of Vengeance" protest scheduled to take place in DC on April 1 has been cancelled.

One of the event organizers, Our Rights DC, said that the event would not be taking place due to "a credible threat to life and safety," but did not elaborate on what the threat was.

The group blamed the outrage over a transgender shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, killing six people at a Christian school in Tennessee on Monday — including three children.

Comment: It looks like both sides have bowed out. From New York Post:
Conservative Matt Walsh cancels college talk after 'threats' amid Nashville shooting

A conservative pundit outspoken about his anti-transgender views canceled a Thursday college campus speech after threats to his family in the wake of a deadly Nashville, Tenn., school shooting.

Matt Walsh, who lives in Nashville with his wife and children, revealed Wednesday he was postponing the talk at Washington and Lee University in Virginia because of the "potential danger" at his home.

"Due to threats against my family and other serious security concerns in Nashville this week, I cannot leave my family and fly to another state. I hate to push the event off but my wife and kids come first," the conservative commentator wrote in a Twitter thread.

Walsh — a columnist for the Daily Wire, which is based in Nashville — didn't specify the nature of the threats.

"The threats to my family only make me more determined to fight this evil. I will not let any harm come to my children or my wife. And I will not let these psychopaths scare me into silence. Neither of those things will ever happen, I promise you," he wrote.

The commentator was among those named in an NBC reporter's since-deleted tweet that appeared to link Monday's Covenant School shooting massacre to his and others' anti-trans views.
...

"The event was coming together well and everything was perfectly fine. May have been some protests planned but nothing major. The potential danger is at home, which is why I need to be at home," Walsh said.
See also:

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