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Bad Guys

Consumer giants Heinz and Unilever under fire for advertising on Pornhub

Food porn

Heinz ran a controversial ad on Pornhub earlier this year.
Two of the world's largest consumer goods retailers are in damage control mode after walking into a maelstrom of controversy for running advertising campaigns on Pornhub.

Unilever and Kraft Heinz, who own a raft of popular brands, ran ads on the leading porn website earlier this year.

Unilever ran a campaign for its Dollar Shave Club grooming company, which delivers razor blades and other cosmetic products through the mail. "If you use our bathroom products you won't have to visit this site as much," one of the cheeky ads claimed.

Dollar Shave Club's creative director Matt Knapp said it advertised on the porn behemoth because it "has guys' backs." "It's not expensive, but interestingly, the exposure that you can get and the impressions are huge," he told the marketing journal Mi3 in August.

Snakes in Suits

Request by 12 Scottish MPs for decriminalization of personal use drug possession blocked by Home Office

Glasgow

Proposals to introduce drug consumption rooms in Glasgow have been blocked
The possession of illicit drugs for personal use should be decriminalised, a report by MPs has said.

The Scottish Affairs Committee also recommended the UK government should back safe consumption rooms in Scotland in a bid to tackle drug misuse.

Drug-related deaths in Scotland reached an all-time high of 1,187 last year.

The Home Office said it had no plans to decriminalise drug possession and that doing so would not eliminate crime associated with the illicit drug trade.

All UK drugs misuse legislation is currently reserved to Westminster.

Comment: See also:


Pistol

Wife defending husband and daughter kills home intruder with assault rifle, source says

Street signs
A Florida woman defended her husband and child when she shot and killed an armed suspect who broke into her home.

Officers in Hillsborough County responded to a 911 call on Oct. 30 reporting a home invasion in progress in Lithia, about 25 miles from Tampa.

Investigators arrived on scene and found a male suspect dead in a ditch outside the home on the side of the road.

The preliminary investigation showed that two unknown males, who were wearing masks, had broken into the home and made demands, police said.

The male victim, later identified as Jeremy King, told Bay 9 News that the suspects pointed guns at him, demanded money and threatened him.

People

What race are you guys?': Buffalo Wild Wings employees fired after asking party to move to appease racist regulars

Buffalo Wild Wings
© Reuters / Rick Wilking
Two managers at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in a Chicago suburb were fired after asking a group of multiracial customers to change tables, in order to appease two "racist" customers who regularly visit.

Buffalo Wild Wings in Naperville, Illinois fired a service manager and shift manager that were working at the time of the incident, following a complaint made by Mary Vahl on Facebook.

According to the post, Vahl's husband was asked "What race are you guys?" when they showed up with a party of 18 last week. The host then explained that their group was seated at a table near two "regular customers" who were known racists. The Vahls' party consisted mostly of African-Americans.

"These seats are reserved and we will have to move your group," one employee told the Vahls, who refused to relocate. They ultimately decided to leave and instead go to a nearby Hooters.

Attention

German politicians in fear as US-linked neo-Nazi group moves Green MPs to top of their 'kill list'

Ozdemir/Roth
© Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke/Fabrizio Bensch
Cem Ozdemir of the German Green Party • Bundestag VP Claudia Roth
Top members of Germany's Green Party received death threats from a hardcore far-right group unambiguously threatening to "execute" them in public, sending shockwaves through the local political elite.

Cem Ozdemir and Claudia Roth reported receiving threats attributed to the Atomwaffe Division Deutschland (Nuclear Weapons Division Germany), a local offshoot of an American neo-Nazi group. Ozdemir, a former co-chairman of the Green Party and a high profile politician with a Turkish background, said that the email flagged him as the number one target on the AWD's 'hit list'.

"At the moment, we are planning how and when we will execute you; at the next public rally? Or will we get you in front of your house?" German newspapers quoted from the chilling message.

Ozdemir took the letter seriously, although he is no stranger to threats - Turkish nationalists, for instance, once vowed to assassinate him for attacking President Recep Tayyip Erdogan several years ago.

Roth, currently a Vice President of the Bundestag, was listed second on the hit list. The threats are the latest in "a long list of attempted intimidation against local politicians and civil society, against Jews and Muslims, against female artists and immigrants," she said.

Star of David

BDS panic at a feverish pitch

Boycott Israel sign
© Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Protester at Palestinian solidarity event in Berlin
The Czech parliament's decision to pass a resolution condemning the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as anti-Semitic last week is only the most recent example of how the panic over BDS has reached a fever pitch.

This latest round of attempts to stop public criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians began in Britain in May. Jeremy Hunt, at the time foreign secretary and running for the leadership of the Conservative Party, attacked supporters of BDS by declaring that "boycotting Israel - the world's only Jewish state - is anti-Semitic."

Far more unnerving, Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, passed a resolution that same month that condemned BDS as inherently anti-Semitic.

Several days later, Germany's commissioner on anti-Semitism Felix Klein warned that "I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere, all the time, in Germany," in a statement made just days before the annual al-Quds march - a Palestine solidarity event - in Berlin.

Car Black

Border line: Dozens of US vehicles slink out of Syria into Iraq during Trump's partial pullout

US forces evacuated their positions alongside Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria last month, shortly before Turkey started a military operation in the border area, but left several hundred troops behind in the war-torn country, with President Trump recently confirming that the US would be "keeping the oil."

The Syrian Arab News Agency has published footage it says shows US military vehicles leaving Syrian territory and being transferred into Iraq at the Al Waleed border crossing point. According to SANA, the convoy included a total of 55 vehicles.

Syrian media reported that a column of US troops had crossed the border with Iraq last week, with a Pentagon official later confirming that the crossing had taken place, but refusing to discuss the details of the forces' movement "for security reasons."


Target

US military convoy under fire from Turkey-backed militants in Syria, no casualties

US troops
© Reuters/file/Murad Sezer
US troops seen behind Turkish border walls during a joint US-Turkey patrol in northern Syria.
American troops heading toward the Iraqi border have been attacked from land held by Turkish-backed militants in northern Syria, Russia's Ministry of Defense has claimed. The attack comes amid a US withdrawal from the region.

The convoy was traveling along the M4 motorway - which runs parallel to the Turkish border through land captured by Turkey during its anti-Kurdish 'Peace Spring' offensive last month - when it was attacked near the town of Tell Tamer, the ministry reported on Sunday. A statement from the ministry:
"As part of deconfliction exchange, information has been received from the US side that on November 3 a convoy of American servicemen...was fired upon from the territory controlled by the pro-Turkish Syrian National Army."
Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Yellow Vest

Greeks stage protest march against migrant policy - govt takes in 40,000 refugees in last 4 months

greece protest illegal migrants
© Ruptly
Thessaloniki citizens protest latest wave of illegal migrants coming to Greece
Residents of a Greek city slated to host a fresh wave of asylum seekers took to the streets to protest the move, amid growing anger over the influx of refugees that have poured into the country.

Anti-migrant protesters in the northern city of Thessaloniki called on Athens to expel all illegal immigrants and close the border to migrants. Footage from the march showed demonstrators carrying banners and Greek flags, while an activist at the front of the procession held an icon of the Virgin Mary.

Activists think that their Orthodox beliefs are under siege by an "Islamic threat," according to Ruptly video agency.

Comment: The Greeks, already financially belabored by the EU and IMF, is now being forced by them to deal with caring for thousands of illegal migrants simply because of their geographic location. NIMBY writ large.


Arrow Down

Weekend #22: Hong Kong vandals set fire to Xinhua news agency office and storefronts, blockade metro stations - UPDATE: Hong Kong city councillor attacked

hong kong vandalism nov 2019
© Thomas Peter / REUTERS
Police pass burning barricade to break up thousands of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, China Nov. 2, 2019.
Radical protesters in Hong Kong have ransacked the office of the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, ramping up their months-long campaign of violent disobedience against Beijing.

The office in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district was attacked amid the latest demonstration against the central Chinese government. Images from the scene showed smashed windows in the lobby, a graffiti-sprayed interior and a small fire which was quickly doused.

It is believed to be the first time that the office of the agency was targeted by the radicals since the mass protests started in June over a now-scrapped extradition bill. The news outlet later condemned the vandalizing of its premises, and published a video showing the damage that was done.
hong kong protest
© Global Look Press / Xinhua

Comment: As the Western destabilization campaign against China continues, it's having predictable consequences: UPDATE 03/11/19: The violence continues, spilling over into business areas:
At least six people are injured after a political argument outside a mall in Hong Kong spiraled into a violent knife attack, according to local media. The assailant was beaten by bystanders and is among those hurt.

A tense political dispute is said to have broken out between the suspect and a group of people in CityPlaza mall in the Tai Koo district. A person then took a knife from a bag and assaulted several individuals.

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES


South China Morning Post later posted a video where the man is seen clinging to a person described as councilor Andrew Chiu. The screaming mob eventually wrestles the man to the ground. Chiu, seemingly in a state of shock, leans against a wall as he cups his hand over the side of his head.
A video showing a suspect behind a knife assault in Cityplaza allegedly attacking district councillor Andrew Chiu, before being subdued by others. Earlier, people had gathered at the Tai Koo mall for a human chain amid anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Video: Karen Zhang pic.twitter.com/3rE8nin3kp

— SCMP Hong Kong (@SCMPHongKong) November 3, 2019
[The tweet has since been deleted]

Several hundred protesters had assembled at the mall on Sunday, where they chanted slogans and reportedly vandalized a restaurant. Riot police arrived at the scene to disperse the mob. Demonstrators also damaged turnstiles at a Sha Tin MRT train station, and were seen hurling projectiles at police.