Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 13 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Star of David

BDS progresses: Gives Israel a black eye; legal blow to pro-Israel lobby

Asa Winstanley
Middle East Monitor
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 01:00 UTC
Boycott Israel banner
© Dominique Faget/AFP
The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) had a landmark legal victory against Israel last week. The European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously against the convictions of Palestinian-rights campaigners by French courts for BDS protests they staged more than a decade ago.

In September 2009 and May 2010, the group of 11 activists entered a supermarket in Illzach, a town in north-east France, wearing t-shirts bearing the words "Boycott Israel". They chanted slogans and passed out flyers urging shoppers not to buy Israeli goods, and also asked them to sign a petition requesting the supermarket chain to stop stocking such products altogether. Their actions were entirely peaceful, so much so that the company did not even file any legal charges against them.

However, the public prosecutor took a different view and launched a case against the activists, claiming that they had incited "hatred or discrimination" by calling for a boycott of Israel. This was, of course, entirely spurious. And entirely political, because France's Minister of Justice had ordered local prosecutors to go after BDS activists. They were sentenced in French courts to pay punitive fines and costs. It was an object lesson in "justice" against the "crime" of standing up for equality and human rights.

Now, after a long legal struggle, the French BDS activists have been vindicated completely. The tables have been turned, and France has been ordered to pay each of the activists about €7,000 in damages, plus their legal costs.

Comment: Israel conflates the pushback against BDS with an anti-Semitism stigma, a double punch. Deflection has always been Israel's signature move. There is a lot of ground to be made up if the BDS movement is to achieve its goals.

See also:

      Read More...
Burka

California's Governor Newsom declares facemasks mandatory in public

Vanessa Romo
NPR.org
Thu, 18 Jun 2020 06:30 UTC

Comment: Submit, or else...


Gavin Newsom
© Jeff Chiu/AP
California Governor Gavin Newsom
Californians are required to wear face coverings in high-risk settings as the state continues to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the statewide order on Thursday. It follows new guidance from the California Department of Public Health that asymptomatic or presymptomatic people can still spread the disease.

Newsom told Los Angeles' ABC7:
"Our numbers are going up, not going down. Hospitalization numbers are just starting to creep back up, and I'm very concerned by what we're seeing. We think the most impactful thing we can do, short of going back to a stay-at-home order, is wearing face coverings when we can't practice physical distancing."
In the latest guidance, the Department of Public Health explained, "The use of face coverings by everyone can limit the release of infected droplets when talking, coughing, and/or sneezing, as well as reinforce physical distancing."

People will be required to wear masks or other coverings in public spaces, including while taking public transportation, seeking medical care, shopping and in most work scenarios.
      Read More...
Eye 2

'Deplorables' redux: Susan Rice says Trump's supporters in Senate belong 'to the trash heap of history'

Morgan Phillips
Fox News
Sat, 20 Jun 2020 16:21 UTC
susan rice
© Fox News
Susan Rice
Susan Rice, former Obama administration national security adviser and potential VP pick for Joe Biden, said on Friday that President Trump's supporters in the Senate belong "to the trash heap of history."

Speaking on MSNBC about Biden's vice presidential decision, Rice said this election is about "getting Joe Biden in the White House," someone who could "remove Donald Trump and consign those who supported him in the Senate to the trash heap of history." Rice said Biden was someone who could "heal and unify the nation."

Comment: Susan Rice plays the race card on MSNBC in a bid to polish her potential VP credentials:


Some are not impressed:


Susan certainly has a lot of chutzpah considering the trail of scandals she has been involved in, from her complicity in Hillary's abandonment of US ambassadors in Benghazi to illegal unmasking of members of the Trump campaign organization and White House staff members:

      Read More...
Handcuffs

After arresting presidential challenger, Belarus's Lukashenka says 'revolution' thwarted


RFE/RL
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 16:34 UTC
Lukashenka

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka claims to have thwarted an attempt to foment revolution in the Eastern European country, a day after his government ordered the arrest of a popular, would-be presidential candidate, prompting thousands to take to the streets to protest what they see as increased harassment of opposition leaders.

Speaking at a government meeting on June 19, Lukashenka said that forces "in the East and West" were trying to destabilize Belarus but that their "masks have been torn off" and the "puppets and puppet masters abroad" identified.

In the afternoon, dozens of people gathered in central Minsk for a final day of signature gathering for would-be candidates in the August 9 presidential election.

The participants were lining up along Independence Boulevard when police pushed them to a nearby square, amid reported disruptions of Internet connections in the area.
      Read More...
Red Pill

It's absurd to feel guilty about 200yo crimes while ignoring the West's recent destruction of Iraq and Libya

Neil Clark
RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 16:29 UTC
statue and al nuri mosque
© Reuters / Eddie Keogh; Global Look Press / Khalil Dawood
By focusing on the historical crimes of Western imperialism, we are in danger of forgetting that some terrible wrongs were done more recently in US-led 'regime-change' operations for which no one has yet apologized.

We live in strange times. Ordinary people are being encouraged, some would say gaslighted, to feel guilty over bad things done by Western powers hundreds of years ago, over which not even their great grandparents had any control. Yet at the same time they are expected to ignore or forget about equally awful things which happened in living memory.

The dominant hegemonic narrative has it that exploitative 'imperialism' - and the attitudes of racial superiority that went with it - ended with the demise of the old European empires. But that is absurd. Arguably an even worse form of it has emerged in recent decades, one which has caused an enormous amount of death and destruction around the world.

Yet while the 'old' imperialism and anyone associated with it is completely beyond the pale, the new turbo-charged, 'politically correct' imperialism, which often masquerades under a 'progressive' or 'humanitarian' banner, gets off very lightly. Consider what has happened these past 30 years.
      Read More...
Bullseye

'Destructive course': US seeks space superiority by making up threats - Russian Foreign Ministry


RT
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 16:25 UTC
US Space Force
© US Space Force/Handout via REUTERS
Washington's Defense Space Strategy is provoking an arms race in outer space and threatening international security while trying to blame a nonexistent Moscow threat, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has said.

"To justify the implementation of this destructive course, which provokes an arms race in outer space and destabilizes the international security situation, Washington has resorted to the usual tactics of blaming others," the MFA said in a statement on Friday.

In the US Defense Space Strategy, the declassified summary of which was published on Wednesday, the Pentagon simply asserts that "China and Russia have weaponized space and turned it into a warfighting domain." Without offering any evidence or specifics, the Pentagon references the 2014 Russian military doctrine as envisioning the possibility of challenging the US operations in orbit.
      Read More...
Stock Down

UK's economic crisis has Chancellor considering 4-day work week

Ashley Cowburn
Independent
Sat, 20 Jun 2020 15:52 UTC
rishi sunak
© Reuters
MPs and campaigners are urging the chancellor to consider a four-day working week as a way to overhaul the economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.


Comment: Note how this is worded: they're using 'coronavirus' as the reason for the dire economic situation and the need for an 'overhaul' - even though the economy has been in a downward spiral since the last crash in 2008 - and yet the coronavirus itself had little effect on the economy, mainly effecting old people and the vulnerable, it was the unjustified and tyrannical lockdown that caused the damage and accelerated the destruction of the economy.


In a letter to Rishi Sunak, seen by The Independent, the signatories including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Green MP Caroline Lucas, argue reducing working hours provide greater opportunities amid growing levels of unemployment.

The calls come after Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's prime minister, suggested employers could consider a four-day working week in response to the Covid-19 crisis, which she said would "certainly" boost the tourism industry.


Comment: There's worsening issues like soaring unemployment and millions are visiting food banks and yet New Zealand's PM thinks there's opportunities for tourism?


Comment: It's notable that even before this crisis countries have been touting a reduced work week, as well as Universal Basic Income:

      Read More...
Passport

Supreme Court rules against terminating DACA program - Justice John Roberts makes political stand

sundance
Conservative Treehouse
Thu, 18 Jun 2020 14:52 UTC
SCOTUS US supreme court judges
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Supreme Court (Front L-R) Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., (Back L-R) Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh pose for their official portrait at the Supreme Court building November 30, 2018 in Washington.
A supreme court ruling today has blocked the termination of a court-admitted unconstitutional executive action known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). The background of the DACA controversy, and the prior position of the court on the sister program DAPA, makes this ruling the most political ruling yet by Chief Justice John Roberts. [pdf link to ruling here]

The court decision was a 5-4 ruling. Justice Roberts sided with the four liberal justices in blocking the termination of the executive program. What makes this ruling outrageous is within the majority opinion of the court they recognize the Trump administration has the legal and constitutional authority to terminate the program; but the court, specifically John Roberts, doesn't like the way in which the administration might do it.

The crux of Justice Roberts' opinion is openly political. The majority admit there is no constitutional protection for DACA recipients, and the Trump administration has the authority to dissolve and reverse the protections under the previous executive action; however, Roberts specifically cites his concern with deportation.

Comment: Some background on Obama's DACA executive order:

      Read More...
Star of David

Hypocrisy: Israeli war crimes fugitive receives German peace prize

Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
Sat, 20 Jun 2020 12:30 UTC
Tzipi Livni
© Ralph Alswang/Brookings Institution
Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni
Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni has evaded arrest or questioning in the UK, Belgium and Switzerland over her role in war crimes in Gaza.

Human rights defenders are urging Germany's Brückepreis to withdraw their 2020 award from Tzipi Livni, an Israeli politician who has bragged about her role in war crimes against Palestinians.

The citation for the Bridge Prize, as it is known in English, says that Livni is being honored for promoting "free thinking, democracy, openness and humanity" and for "her freedom-oriented peace policy."

The prize is given to individuals who have dedicated their life's work to democracy and peaceful understanding among peoples and comes with a cash award of $2,800.

Comment: 'Separation between the yolk and white': Tzipi Livni's Zionist vision for Jews and Palestinians

      Read More...
Network

Canada's Shopify, BlackBerry develop COVID-19 contact tracing app with local governments

Moira Warburton, David Ljunggren
Reuters
Thu, 18 Jun 2020 21:46 UTC
blackberry canada
© REUTERS/Mark Blinch
A Blackberry logo hangs behind a Canadian flag at their offices on the day of their annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo, Canada June 23, 2015.
Canadian technology firms Shopify Inc and Blackberry Ltd have been working with provincial and federal governments on a coronavirus contact tracing app expected to launch in July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

The app is set to roll out nationally after a launch in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, currently slated for July 2.

Test-and-trace programs have emerged as an important tool to identify and contain the spread of the coronavirus, becoming more urgent as Canadian provinces gradually reopen their economies after three months of lockdown. On Thursday, Canada officially hit 100,000 cases.

Comment: The app announcement is receiving some sharp criticism on Twitter:





See also:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts