Bo Winegard
QuilletteFri, 06 Mar 2020 00:01 UTC
Orthodoxy whether of the right or of the left is the graveyard of creativity.
~Chinua Achebe
Until a week ago, I was a tenure-track assistant professor at a small college. Then I was fired. And although I am but one professor at one small college in one small town, I want to persuade you that, if you care about free speech and free inquiry in academia, you should be alarmed by my termination. My troubles began in October 2019 when I was invited to address an evolutionary group at the University of Alabama. I had decided that I would discuss human population variation, the hypothesis that human biological differences are at least partially produced by different environments selecting for different physical and psychological traits in their populations over time. I planned to defend this view as most consistent with a Darwinian understanding of the world.
My first day in Tuscaloosa was uneventful. On the second day, I visited a class and had an enjoyable discussion with students about various topics, including human evolution and social signaling. I was then supposed to meet professors and students for lunch, but instead my guide delivered me to an empty room where I received a number of texts from my host: The professors had found my RationalWiki entry, which accuses me —
inter alia — of writing "racist bullshit for the right-wing online magazine Quillette."
© Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz
Joe Biden
FOX News host Tucker Carlson said Joe Biden's success is good news for the Democratic establishment and the candidate will be pliable for the "stronger forces around him" to mold him into whatever type of leader they tell him to be.
"
Joe Biden is fading and uncertain," Carlson said Wednesday. "Weak leaders are vessels for the stronger forces around him. And no force in Amercian politics is stronger — more aggressive or better organized — than the narrow little interest groups that comprise the Democratic coalition. There's a reason Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia swung far so far from the center after he was caught wearing a Klan costume. Northam was badly wounded, on the brink of resigning. Democratic interest groups swooped in and took control of his administration. Now, it looks nothing like it once did."
"Every power center in America is arrayed against Donald Trump — and we'd add to that list, the government of communist China, which would badly like to return to the compliant American leadership of yesterday," Carlson said on his primetime show. "All of these groups will be working tirelessly for Joe Biden. They'll use whatever tools they possess, some of them public, many not. Above all, they'll have the media, which needless to say is already playing its prescribed role."
© Keystone / Andrea Fasani
A man in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown, and not far from the Swiss border
Quarantined Italian towns are buckling under the strain, major cities are emptying out and some of those infected say they are being stigmatised as Europe's worst outbreak of coronavirus takes hold.
As of Thursday night, 3,916 cases had been detected as Italy aggressively tests for the virus. Out of that number, 197 people have died.
Eleven towns are under lockdown - 10 in Lombardy and one in Veneto - and schools have been closed across the country as the government tries to contain
a virus about which there are still many unknowns.
Stories that have emerged since the outbreak began reflect the contrasting nature of the virus's impact, from the reassuring accounts of people cured to the suffering of those who have died or are in a critical condition. The heavily pregnant wife of "patient one", the 38-year-old man who was Italy's first confirmed locally transmitted case, was dismissed from hospital on Thursday; her husband, a marathon runner and amateur footballer, remains in intensive care.
Comment: What a barmy spectacle this has all been. We blame the media, but only partially. It's just doing what it always does, selling newspapers - attracting clicks, these days. Besides the impetus from governments, international bodies and Big Pharma, public figures of every hue - including those usually critical of mass media - have been harping on since the very beginning in early January about how what is essentially just another round of flu is in fact 'The Plague'.
Then, when governments gradually, tentatively roll out quarantine and testing measures, they rant about 'muh freedoms' and 'kommie-ism'. Hang on a minute! YOU actively co-created this mess. YOU helped bring this hysteria and government control down on everybody's heads. YOU are participants in this, not observers or - with a few exceptions - critics.
The thing is; the hysteria-mongers are - unwittingly - correct. 'We' are all pro-actively dooming each other because the species mass unconscious knows, at some level, that 'we' are all doomed. Self-isolation is, in some respects, the way to go from here on out. The masses, especially in larger urban areas - after two decades of spooking them with false-flag terrorism, combined with the increasingly extreme planetary and cosmic weather - are a freaky, freaked-out herd, and you do not want to be around that when a pandemic takes off for real.
If you're wondering what makes us so 'chill' about all this, it's because we've seen this coming for many years. The population is gradually being weakened by crap diet, EM smog, propaganda, and terrible health advice (not least dangerous, untested vaccines). Because of this, we will not be surprised when what might otherwise be just another innocuous 'seasonal flu' comes around and wipes out much of the population. This Coronavirus aint it, but you can be sure that the vaccines they push as a result of it will do their part to contribute to, down the road, an actual pandemic.
In the meantime, we've been strengthening our resistance to viruses - of both the biological and psychological kinds - by optimizing our diet, expanding our knowledge base, and applying EM counter-measures. Together with 'communing with like minds' and networking about issues and events, thereby disentangling from the frequency fence that corrals the wider body politic, this all serves to build faith and resilience against whatever's coming down the pipeline...
Chris Tomlinson
BreitbartTue, 03 Mar 2020 02:14 UTC
© SVT Play/Screenshot from the video
Loubna Stensaker Goransson and Naouel Aissaoui are debating on a headscarf ban in schools
A teacher in Sweden has expressed strongly-worded opposition to a mooted ban on religious headscarves in schools, saying that those opposed to the garment have no place in the country at all.
Naouel Aissaoui, who is employed as a teacher in the municipality and follows the Muslim faith, said she will defy any ban on the Islamic headscarf, also known as the hijab, which she wears.
Aissaoui engaged in a conversation with centre-right Moderate Party member Loubna Stensåker Göransson, who is supportive of a ban on the hijab in local schools, and said she associates the veil with the oppression of women and religious indoctrination.
Comment: RT provides more detail on the
debate:
The heated exchange between Naouel Aissaoui, a school teacher in the Swedish municipality of Skurup, and local politician Loubna Stensaker Goransson was over a ban on veils in public schools, which Goransson and other council officials enacted in December. The decision angered many educators, and Aissaoui is among those leading the pushback.
[...]
She sees the controversial piece of clothing as a tool of oppression and sexualization of little girls, and not as a symbol of purity and goodness, as Aissaoui does.
The televised clash over the Skurup controversy was a microcosm of a larger debate over immigration in Sweden. The rapid influx of migrants put a strain on the country's welfare system and a surge in crime as ethnic gangs wedged their way into the shadow economy. There is also a strong sentiment among many Swedes that the newcomers have no intention of integrating culturally and would rather isolate themselves in their own communities than adopt the customs of their hosts.
But talking about the negative side of welcoming droves of asylum seekers is a challenge, since Sweden has long hailed its open-door policy towards refugees as a matter of national pride, which opened a window of opportunity for politicians, who previously remained on the margins.
The Skurup headscarf ban was pushed by the right-wing anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) party, which used to be a political pariah, but saw a rapid surge in popularity over the past several years. The SD has a majority in the municipality council and has found allies in people like Goransson, who is a member of the Moderates, to enact the headscarf ban.
Others became vocal opponents of the ban. Mattias Liedholm, the headmaster of Skurup's largest school, declared the ban illegal and said he would not enforce it. His uncompromising position however was not shared by as many fellow Moderates as he probably hoped, so last week he announced he was leaving the party.
The SD's suggestion to people not happy with the policy is remarkably similar to that of Aissaoui.
"If you find it so important to wear a headscarf, you go to Saudi Arabia or Iran. The police are happy to lend a hand if you forget that headscarf," said Lars Nystrom, a Skurup council member for the SDs.
See also:
© Getty/MSNBC/Twitter
Thursday on MSNBC's "The Eleventh Hour" with Brian Williams,
New York Times Editorial Board Member Mara Gay and the host accepted without question a tweet that (jokingly) said that Michael Bloomberg could have given every American one million dollars with the five hundred million dollars he spent on his short-lived presidential campaign. In reality, $500 million divided by 327 million Americans is about $1.53 per person.
"When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear," Williams said.
The tweet read: "Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. Population, 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million and have had lunch money left over."
Comment: That this could make it to air, with no one in the long line of 'fact-checkers' realizing the math was wrong, something an 8-year-old child could have done, just goes to show the level of journalism we're exposed to. The people who are feeding news and opinions to the largely undiscerning public are unable to think. If MSNBC and the
New York Times aren't able to do basic math, think about all the other topics they're reporting on and how very wrong it more than likely is.
See also:
Laura Bliss
CityLabSat, 07 Mar 2020 02:41 UTC
© Paul Yeung/Bloomberg
Plenty of seats available.
As coronavirus infections rise around the globe, demand for air travel is projected to hits its lowest point since the last financial crisis.
Airlines around the world could lose up to $113 billion in revenue this year if COVID-19 continues to spread, the International Air Transport Association forecast on Thursday.
With travelers scarce, some carriers are turning to a troubling practice, the
Times of London reports:
flying planes with no passengers, in order to hang on to take-off and landing slots. On Thursday, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, posted a letter he sent to air travel regulators after learning of airlines operating "ghost flights" during the global outbreak. "Bad news for the environment, airlines & passengers,"
he tweeted.
The custom stems from the way airports manage their limited runway capacity. More than 200 of the world's busiest airports allocate specific time slots to airlines, which often pay top dollar for them. To manage demand, airlines are required to use their slots at least 80 percent of the time, or risk losing them to a competitor.
In order to maintain that 80/20 ratio, flying empty jets around is not an entirely uncommon industry practice, nor is it illegal. But given the growing scrutiny of air travel's climate toll, it is frowned upon, especially by U.K. regulators. Several British carriers that have since gone extinct, including British Mediterranean Airways, BMI, and Flybe (which
declared bankruptcy this week amid plummeting demand for air travel), have all been reported to fly empty or mostly empty planes from London Heathrow in the past.
CBSFri, 06 Mar 2020 07:31 UTC
© Hays County Sheriff's Office
Krystle Concepcion Villanueva
A Hays County jury convicted a woman Thursday of capital murder for the stabbing death of her 5-year-old daughter.
Krystle Concepcion Villanueva, 27, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killing of Giovanna Hernandez.
It happened back on January 5, 2017. Police were called to the home in Kyle where Villanueva lived with her daughter, the child's father, and the father's parents.
Her father-in-law had called 911 to report that Villanueva had attacked him without warning from behind, stabbing him in the back and head before he was able to run away.
Villanueva had remained in the house. A SWAT team entered the home when they learned the child was possibly in danger.
They found the girl had been stabbed to death and decapitated, the Hays County District Attorney's Office said. Villanueva was taken into custody and blood testing later revealed the presence of alcohol and marijuana in her system.
RTSat, 07 Mar 2020 05:59 UTC
© Hindustan Times via Global Look Press
Site of the suicide bombing on the Jammu-Srinagar highway
Two more suspects have been nabbed in the deadly Pulwama terror attack - which killed 40 Indian troops and spiked hostilities between India and Pakistan - including a 19-year-old bomb maker who supplied chemicals from Amazon.
The two men - Waiz ul Islam, 19, and Mohd Abbas Rather, 32 - were arrested by India's counter-terror force, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on Friday, alleging Islam procured bomb ingredients such as ammonium nitrate from the online retail titan. The teen, whose father is a government employee, is also accused of personally bringing items to the terror cell that carried out the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
Rather, for his part, is said to have harbored the militants in his home in the leadup to last year's attack, including IED builder Mohammed Umar and the suicide bomber himself, Adil Ahmed Dar.
The two men are set to appear before the NIA Special Court in Jammu on Saturday.
The attack - which took place in the disputed Kashmir territory - brought tensions between India and its nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan to a boiling point, resulting in an Indian bombing raid on a JeM training camp, in turn triggering a reprisal by Islamabad which saw an Indian fighter jet downed and its pilot taken prisoner.
Jefferson Graham
USA TODAYFri, 06 Mar 2020 04:01 UTC
© SXSW.com
The South by Southwest music, film and technology conference, is the latest victim of coronavirus concerns.
The city of Austin declared a local disaster Friday that will prevent the event from taking place, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said at a news conference,
even though there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in the Austin area.
SXSW, as it's known, had vowed to go on, despite recent developer conferences that were canceled by Facebook and Amazon.
Officials of SXSW described themselves as "devastated" by this development.
"This is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place," the company said in a written statement. "We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation."
RTFri, 06 Mar 2020 03:36 UTC
© REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
A software glitch that should have been discovered and repaired instead shipped by default with all new 737 MAX planes, resulting in a pair of horrific crashes that killed a total of 346 people and forced the grounding of 737 MAX planes worldwide. The error had been concealed by Boeing executives and ignored by FAA regulators, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee found in its preliminary report delivered on Friday.
The scathing results of the committee's investigation came just days before the anniversary of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302's disastrous demise shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa. Less than six months before that, Lion Air flight 610 had also crashed immediately after takeoff from Jakarta.
Comment: See also: