Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

NPC

New book 'Superior: The Return of Race Science' perpetuates myth that studying racial differences is racist

Bo Winegard and Noah Carl
Quillette
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:01 UTC
female races
© AdobeStock
A review of Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini, Beacon Press, 256 pages (May, 2019)

The races differ also in constitution, in acclimatisation, and in liability to certain diseases. Their mental characteristics are likewise very distinct...
~Charles Darwin, 1871, The Descent of Man

Angela Saini's new book, Superior, is a cautionary tale about the historical legacy, and putative return, of what she calls "race science." As far as we can determine, there are four main theses running through the book:
  • 'Race' is not a meaningful biological category
  • Genes can only contribute to population differences on certain "superficial" traits
  • Studying whether genes might contribute to population differences on non-superficial traits is tantamount to "scientific racism"
  • Almost everyone interested in whether genes might contribute to population differences on these other traits is a "scientific racist"

Comment: Here we have yet another example of how the sciences are under attack from Social Justice academics. Whenever an area of study is deemed to be out-of-bounds, one's red flags should be raised. Political correctness is a scourge on any area of society, but within the sciences, it is truly eggregious.

See also:

      Read More...
Handcuffs

4 dead, 1 injured in motel shooting in Darwin, Australia - Gunman arrested

Neda Vanovac
ABC
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 11:05 UTC
darwin shooting
© ABC News: Clara Latter
The alleged gunman is being held at Royal Darwin Hospital.
The 45-year-old suspect, who witnesses said was armed with a pump-action shotgun, started his shooting spree at a motel in the CBD about 5:45pm before travelling in a ute to four other locations, including to the outskirts of the city and back again.

He was arrested after calling NT Police and trying to enter police headquarters in what Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said may have been an attempt to hand himself in.

The man was known to police, having been released on parole in January, and was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner told a media conference the incident was not believed to be terror-related.

Comment: This week also saw the deadliest mass shooting in the US so far this year: 12 dead, 4 injured by gunman at Virginia Beach Municipal Center

      Read More...
Biohazard

How Monsanto manipulates journalists and academics

Carey Gillam
The Guardian
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 05:00 UTC
Roundup
© Mike Blake/Reuters

Monsanto's own emails and documents reveal a disinformation campaign to hide its weedkiller's possible links to cancer.

Over the past year, evidence of Monsanto's deceptive efforts to defend the safety of its top-selling Roundup herbicide have been laid bare for all to see. Through three civil trials, the public release of internal corporate communications has revealed conduct that all three juries have found so unethical as to warrant punishing punitive damage awards.

Much attention has been paid to Monsanto conversations in which company scientists casually discuss ghostwriting scientific papers and suppressing science that conflicts with corporate assertions of Roundup's safety. There has also been public outrage over internal records illustrating cozy relationships with friendly regulators which border on - and possibly cross into - collusion.

Comment: The above is only part of the reason Monsanto (Bayer) should be considered for the Lifetime Acheivement in Planetary Evil award. They are, quite simply, despicable and psychopathic, stopping at nothing to maintain the illusion that their products are safe, injuring and killing millions in the process. The murky, under-handed corporate espionage is simply jaw-dropping. And yet the EPA still recognizes glyphosate as "extremely safe". Nothing to worry about here, obviously.

See also:

      Read More...
Stock Down

Anti-trust investigation coming? Facebook, Google regulatory woes erode $137 billion from FANG stocks

Elena Popina
Bloomberg
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 18:49 UTC
Facebook Google stock plunge
© Bloomberg
A wave of antitrust probe headlines on Facebook Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. just yanked about $137 billion from FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stocks' market values.

Some $41 billion evaporated from Facebook on Monday as a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will oversee antitrust scrutiny into whether the firm's practices harm competition in the digital market under an agreement with the Justice Department. That added to early-morning losses as the group was hammered by a report the Justice Department was preparing an antitrust investigation into Google. Some $52 billion was erased from Google's market value as the stock fell 6.9%, on pace for the lowest close since Jan. 3.

Comment: From Reuters:
Alphabet shares slide 6% on possible DoJ antitrust probe
June 3, 2019 / 6:07 PM

Alphabet Inc's shares closed 6% down on Monday following reports that the U.S. Justice Department may investigate Google for hampering competition.

The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the Trump administration, which has accused social media companies and Google of suppressing conservative voices on their platforms online.

Alphabet's market capitalization was reduced by $54 billion as its shares recorded their biggest drop outside earnings since April 2011. Facebook Inc closed 7.5% down, while Amazon.com Inc fell about 5%.

Amazon shares were also pressured by news that the company could face heightened antitrust scrutiny under a new agreement between U.S. regulators, which puts the e-commerce giant under the trade commission's watch.

Evercore ISI analyst Kevin Rippey cut his price target on the Alphabet stock by $50 to $1,200, the second lowest on Wall Street and well below the median price target of $1,350...

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post said a possible investigation could lead to a breakup.

"To break up Google, the DoJ would likely have to file a lawsuit and convince judges that Google has undermined competition. It is very rare to break up a company but not unheard of," Post wrote in a note...

The U.S. Justice Department has jurisdiction for a potential probe of Apple Inc as part of a broader review of whether technology giants are using their size to act in an anti-competitive manner, two sources told Reuters.
See also:

      Read More...
Stop

Reports allege that Huawei paused production of its smartphones after US blacklisting


Daily Mail
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 08:40 UTC
Huawei
Production lines for Huawei's smartphones have reportedly halted as the company grapples with the effects of a U.S. blacklisting.

According to a report from the South China Morning Post, the ban by the U.S. has prevented Huawei from accessing supplies that are 'crucial for international sales' including chips made by Intel and access to Google's Android operating system.

The ban may also force Huawei to reassess its goal of becoming the most popular smartphone purveyor by 2020.
      Read More...
Quenelle - Golden

Nobel Prize winner George P. Smith calls for boycott of physics contest held by Israel's Tel Aviv University

Ali Abunimah
The Electronic Intifada
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
George P Smith at award ceremony

George P. Smith at award ceremony
The 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry is urging a boycott of a physics competition in Tel Aviv in July.

George P. Smith and 19 other scientists signed an open letter last week that calls on "all students and mentors from all over the world not to participate in the next International Physics Olympiad in Israel and to stand for human rights of the young Palestinian pupils and students, including their right to education."

Smith, emeritus professor of biology at the University of Missouri, won last year's Nobel Prize in chemistry for his invention of a process to evolve proteins that can be used to develop new medicines.

      Read More...
Bullseye

School shooter drills are not only ineffective, but terrorize our kids pointlessly

Karol Markowicz
New York Post
Sun, 02 Jun 2019 21:33 UTC
school drills
As the school year meanders to a close, now is a good time for education departments across the land to make policy changes for the next year. One urgent step should be ending the insane lockdown drills our kids have to practice in their schools and tightening school security instead.

In New York City, the Department of Education implemented General Response Protocols that mandate that all public schools have four lockdown drills, in addition to fire drills, per year.

These "soft-lockdown" drills, ostensibly to prepare kids for a potential school shooter, require kids to hide in their classroom, sometimes in a closet, and remain quiet and out of view.

It would be one thing to prepare teachers and school staff for this kind of rare emergency. But having children hide in a closet and practice being quiet is at best a waste of time and at worst a way to emotionally scar the children we're trying to shield. Holding these drills four times per year is ludicrous.

Anyone who has ever played "the quiet game" with kids knows they are generally terrible at staying silent. And even if the kids somehow manage to remain quiet for an entire practice drill, there is no guarantee they will do the same in an actual lockdown situation.
      Read More...
Pumpkin

The disease is spreading: Brainwashed teenagers 'play dead' in German parliament to 'protest for the climate'


RT
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 19:59 UTC
Bundestag climate protest

Brainwashed
A group of some 20 young climate activists have used a session in the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament, to stage a so-called 'die-in' over what they labeled a 'disaster' in their government's climate policies.

The incident happened as Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble gave a speech to mark the end of a session titled "Youth and Parliament." The latter was a four-day role-playing event, in which some 300 youngsters simulated the work of the parliament.

Photos of the stunt posted to social media shows a group of 20 students lying dead on the floor in front of Schauble's podium. Others stood over them to unveil a banner with the inscription "Your Climate Policy = Disaster." However, their protest was met with boos from some of the people attending and the banner was seized by an attendee.

Comment: EnvironMENTALists.

Who is funding all this?

      Read More...
Microscope 1

Chinese twin babies with edited genes may face higher risk of premature death

Rob Stein
NPR
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 16:36 UTC
Chinese scientist He Jiankui gene edit babies
© Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The genetic variation Chinese scientist He Jiankui was trying to re-create when he edited twin girls' DNA may be more harmful than helpful to health overall, a new study says.
There are new concerns about the world's first genetically modified babies.

It appears that the genetic variation a Chinese scientist was trying to re-create when he edited twin girls' DNA may be more harmful than helpful to health overall, according to a study published Monday. The study, in Nature Medicine, involves the DNA of more than 400,000 people.

"This is a cautionary tale," says Rasmus Nielsen, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the new study.

The Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, announced last fall that he had created twin girls from an embryo whose DNA he edited in his lab using the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR.

Comment:

      Read More...
Chess

Chinese businesses consider moving production to Russia as trade war with US escalates


RT
Tue, 04 Jun 2019 17:12 UTC
skyline
© Reuters / Maxim Shemetov
Small and medium-sized enterprises in China, under pressure from Washington's trade war, are studying the possibility of moving production to Russia.

That's according to the secretary general of the China Overseas Development Association (CODA), He Zhenwei, who talked to RIA Novosti ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Trade between China and the US mainly relies on small and medium-sized enterprises, while China's bilateral trade with Russia accounts for large state-owned enterprises, He said.

"However, many Chinese export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises are now facing difficulties. The US has already raised its duties on Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent, which is tantamount to closing its doors. In case American consumers agree to pay more out of their pockets, these companies will be able to raise prices on products by 25 percent, which is hardly probable," he said.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts