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Syrian Army begins operation to clear ISIS from east of the Golan Heights

ISIS golan heights
© @A7_Mirza/Twitter
On July 23, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies kicked off a military operation to defeat ISIS terrorists in southern Syria, east of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Government forces liberated the villages of Ma'alaqah and Um Lawqas as well as some nearby hills in the northern part of the ISIS-held pocket.

On July 24, the SAA-led force continued its advance aiming to capture the town of Tasil and the nearby villages of Saudah, Ain Thakar and Adawan. The general goal of the effort is to shorten the frontline against ISIS. This will allow the SAA to focus their main efforts on more fortified areas located in the central and southern parts of the pocket.

Arrow Down

Rent-a-protester: Casting agency offers actors 20 pounds to protest Qatari leader outside Downing Street

thani
© Julien Mattia/ Global Look Press
Qatar ruler Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
A UK casting agency has offered actors £20 ($26) to stage a '500-strong anti-Qatar' protest outside Downing Street on Tuesday, when the Gulf country's leader meets with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Screenshots of emails sent to the would-be actors were posted on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Tour manager Andy Washington was among those who posted the call, which asked for candidates to "fill space" outside Number 10 as Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani meets the Tory leader.

Actors received an email by casting agency Extra People, which read: "This is NOT a film or TV production."


X

Denver Post runs letter to editor suggesting President Trump should be executed for treason

Trump
© 123Yahoo
The Denver Post published a letter to the editor suggesting President Donald Trump should be executed for treason.

The letter criticized the president and Sen. Cory Gardner (R., Colo.) following Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, and said Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who passed atomic bomb secrets to Moscow, were executed for "far less."


Comment: And that right there is the definition of insanity.


The letter, written by Suzanne Gagnon of Lakewood, was in response to the paper's editorial last week, which gave tepid praise of Gardner. The editorial argued the Republican senator "deserves credit" for taking a tough stance against Russia and sponsoring legislation to add Russia to the state sponsor of terror list.

"Sen. Cory Gardner is insipid, at best," Gagnon wrote in her letter to the editor published Saturday. "His words are always carefully chosen and, if challenged, their intent open to 'spinning' to his own advantage. No surprise here he didn't call President Donald Trump out by name.

"The legislation he has proposed is weak, not tough; it's simply more wordsmithing," she said. "Gardner is certainly not the only politician I take issue with, but I don't see the Denver Post championing anyone else like you champion Gardner."

Microscope 1

The PC war on science: The new ideological attacks against evolution have nothing to do with religion

bubble gum
© Molly Cranna
While the social sciences were once seen as biology's ugly cousin, in the last five years, the field has emerged from the shadows to exact its revenge. Instead of eagerly exploring where exciting, new scientific advances will take us, some academic researchers are content on doing an about-face turn to effectively halt biology's progress, sending us back 150 years to metaphorically reinvent the wheel.

When it comes to understanding human behavior, it has become increasingly acceptable to denigrate biology and evolution as sexist, and to dismiss the scientific method more generally. Consider some of the papers that have been published in academic journals lately, claiming that science consists of "male insecurity," that women care about the way they look because of the patriarchy and that a commitment to empiricism and objectivity leads women to be "devalued and marginalized."

As well, an online Coursera lecture on "Science and Philosophy" from the University of Edinburgh equated evolutionary biology with creationism, claiming that both are based in faith. The course claimed that evolution is no better than "fairy tales" and questioned whether we should teach it in schools without a disclaimer that it isn't scientific.

Comment: It's amazing how the wholesale adoption of ideology can make one completely lose one's mind. When science and the ideology are at odds, an intelligent person would investigate and reconsider the ideology based on the new information. Only the ideologically possessed would have the audacity to throw away the science in favor of a position with no basis in reality.

See also:


Biohazard

Kraft recalls Taco Bell cheese dip over fears of botulism contamination

salsa queso kraft botulism
© Kraft
Kraft Heinz Co said on Tuesday it was voluntarily recalling about 7,000 cases of its Taco Bell Cheese Dip as the product showed signs that it could allow for the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism.

The company said it was recalling 15-ounce cases of it's Taco Bell Salsa Con Queso Mild Cheese Dip that had "best when used by" dates ranging from Oct. 31, 2018, to Jan. 23, 2019.

"Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled," the company said in a press release.

Comment: Is this seemingly dramatic rise in food contamination merely due to the abomination that is mass food production or is something else happening?


Stop

Court rules man's Facebook rant about ex violated restraining order

Facebook
© JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Unintended communication through social media may amount to a violation of a restraining order and does not get First Amendment protection, Maine's Supreme Court has ruled, in an appeal case.

Richard Heffron III, 39, of Bath, Maine, was convicted last year for violating a protection order arising from abuse. He did so by posting messages on his Facebook page about his former girlfriend that he was forbidden by state law to contact. In fact, at the time when the threatening rants were posted, the female victim was no longer his Facebook friend and has blocked him from her page.

In Maine, just like in many other states in the US, a person may seek court protection to help stop domestic violence. A restraining order allows the protected person to ask for police intervention if the individual it targets tries to come near or communicate with them.

Comment: Here's Richard Heffron's message: "IM GONNA RUN YOU DOWN EVERY CHANCE I CAN TODAY AND TOMORROW AND THE NEXT DAY AND THE NEXT." Sounds like he was going to violate that restraining order one way or another. He's been sentenced to 21 days in jail.


Stock Down

Income stagnation and rising poverty: Millions of UK families earning less than 15 years ago

mother child
© PA
Millions of "just about managing" families are no better off today than those in 2003, new research from the Resolution Foundation indicates.

The remarkable income stagnation for so many reveals that the economy has been failing to generate income for people over many years despite record levels of people in work.

In 2003, households on the lower half of incomes typically earnt £14,900.

In 2016/17 that figure had fallen to £14,800, the research shows.

Both figures are adjusted for inflation and housing costs.

There are over eight million low and middle income households, just under half of which have children.

Comment: A number of factors will be at play in the economic and probable societal collapse of the UK; from the failed privatisation of public services, the 2008 banking collapse, over a decade of outsourcing of jobs abroad, illegal (and expensive) wars, a preference for financial speculation over production, government imposed 'austerity'- the list goes on. But one of the main drivers contributing to the decline is that, like a number of other Western countries, but particularly the UK and US, the establishment is powerful and made up of greedy and deluded character disturbed individuals. And what we see are the fruits of their labour:


Brick Wall

Three MS-13 members arrested after illegally crossing border into Texas

MS-13 gang members
© U.S. Border Patrol/Rio Grande Valley Sector
During a two-day period that began on Friday, U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector arrested three members of the MS-13 gang. All three had traveled to the U.S. via Mexico from El Salvador, according to Rio Grande Valley Sector officials.

Agents arrested the first MS-13 gang member on Friday near the South Texas border town of Hidalgo. The Weslaco Station agents learned of the migrant's gang affiliation during a biometric background investigation at the station.

Bullseye

Support for Israel would start to shrink if U.S. television showed "Killing Gaza" documentary

Ali Ahmed Qudeh, in Khuza'a
© "Killing Gaza"
Ali Ahmed Qudeh, in Khuza'a, from the documentary "Killing Gaza".
If documentary films like "Killing Gaza" appeared regularly on American television, public opinion would start turning against Israel overnight. The film, just released by Dan Cohen and Max Blumenthal, is inspiring and sickening. It is being screened at special showings, but has not yet been released to theaters. Fortunately, you can download it here.

Cohen and Blumenthal arrived in Gaza on August 15, 2014, during a brief ceasefire in Israel's savage air and land assault on the besieged territory. Visitors to this site will recall Cohen's powerful posts and photographs at the time, and in 2015 Blumenthal published an indispensable book,The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.

"Killing Gaza" is a strong addition to their previous work. In the background are scenes of mass destruction, like a Mediterranean version of Berlin in 1945. But the heart of the film are interviews with more than 30 individual Gazans, shown in all their humanity, who are given a chance to speak for themselves in ways that you will never encounter in the U.S. mainstream. The two reporters ranged across the open air prison territory, listening to witnesses and survivors at a half dozen different locations. Then Cohen was able to return several times over a two-year period, following up with the subjects, until Israel stopped him from coming.

No Entry

Twitter removes access for 143,000 apps in new crackdown

Twitter
© AFP Photo/JOSH EDELSON
Twitter said Tuesday it had removed more than 143,000 apps from the messaging service since April in a fresh crackdown on "malicious" activity from automated accounts.

The San Francisco-based social network said it was tightening access to its application programming interfaces (APIs) that allows developers to make automated Twitter posts.

"We're committed to providing access to our platform to developers whose products and services make Twitter a better place," said Twitter senior product management director Rob Johnson.

"However, recognizing the challenges facing Twitter and the public -- from spam and malicious automation to surveillance and invasions of privacy -- we're taking additional steps to ensure that our developer platform works in service of the overall health of conversation on Twitter."

Comment: See also: