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Another clueless celebrity: Jim Carrey urges people to delete their Facebook account because it 'profited from Russian interference in US election'

Jim Carrey
© AP
Jim Carrey
Delete your account.

That's what Jim Carrey says Facebook users should do, as the actor looks to pull the mask off fake news.

The star of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "The Mask" said on Twitter on Tuesday that he's dumping his Facebook stock and deleting his page because the social media giant profited from Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election via spreading false news with Russian origins, and says the company is still not doing enough to stop it.

The 56-year-old Carrey encouraged other investors and users to do the same. He ended his tweet with the hashtag "unfriendfacebook."

Facebook has not responded to Carrey's tweet, but founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said stemming the flow of misinformation is among the company's foremost goals.

Comment: Jim Carrey must have missed the news that there is absolutely zero evidence that proves Russia interfered in the US election.


Eye 2

Court hears how 'dark web' pedophile blackmailed victims into performing degrading acts

Matthew Falder
© National Crime Agency / AFP
Matthew Falder
One of the UK's most prolific pedophiles blackmailed his victims into performing degrading acts such as eating dog food and licking toilets before sharing photos of them on the dark web, a court heard.

Cambridge University graduate Matthew Falder admitted to 137 offences relating to 48 people, including the extortion of indecent abuse images from his victims. The court heard he distributed the pictures on the dark web and 'hurtcore' websites, which are hosts of material depicting rape and abuse.

Falder, 29, of Edgbaston, Birmingham, had racked up so many offences it took as long as 35 minutes for them to be read out in full.

The scientist, who pursued his illicit acts for at least eight years, also admitted to encouraging a young person to rape a four-year-old boy.

Eye 1

ACLU: Boston police used social media surveillance to spy on Black and Muslim protesters

boston police
© Josh Reynolds / Reuters
Boston police used social media surveillance to spy on citizens and specifically on black and Muslim protesters, collecting thousands of posts "irrelevant to law enforcement concerns," the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The data mining program, called Geofeedia, was run by the Boston Regional Intelligence Center between 2014 and 2016, gathering social media posts about political and social activism, religious issues, and personal matters.

"This system explicitly targeted users' First Amendment protected speech and association," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated on Wednesday.

"It collected thousands of social media posts about political and social activism, current events, religious issues, and personal matters irrelevant to law enforcement concerns," the report said.

"It treated ordinary citizens discussing ordinary affairs as justifiable targets of surveillance."

Stormtrooper

Fancy Bears leaks docs revealing Canadian sports figures' role in pressuring sports federations to toughen sanctions against Russia

canada flag
© Matthew Stockman / Getty Images North America / AFP
Hacker Group Fancy Bears has leaked documents obtained from Canadian winter sports federations, revealing that North American officials are among the fiercest agitators against Russia.

In their latest leak, the hackers emphasized the fact that an independent investigation into alleged doping scheme in Russia was held by a Canadian lawyer, Richard McLaren, acting on behalf of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which is based in Montreal, Canada.

The notorious report published in 2016 resulted in numerous sanctions against Russia, with an Olympic ban from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games being among the most recent penalties.

The emails published on the hacker group's website show Canadian sports figures exerting pressure on the international sports federations in an attempt to toughen sanctions against Russia.

Attention

Portugal is confronting its role in the slave trade with a planned monument sparking fierce debate over race and history

Portuguese President Marcelo de Sousa
© Moussa Sow/AFP via Getty Images
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Goree Island in April 2017
Over five centuries after it launched the Atlantic slave trade, Portugal is preparing to build a memorial to the millions of Africans its ships carried into bondage.

Citizens of Lisbon voted in December for the monument to be built on a quayside where slave ships once unloaded. Yet although the memorial has broad support, a divisive debate has ignited over how Portugal faces up to its colonial past and multiracial present.

"Doing this will be really good for our city," said Beatriz Gomes Dias, president of Djass, an association of Afro-Portuguese citizens that launched the memorial plan.

"People really got behind the project, there was a recognition that something like this is needed," said Gomes Dias. "Many people told us this is important to bring justice to Portugal's history here in Lisbon, which is a cosmopolitan and diverse capital with such a strong African presence."

However, some fear that history risks being hijacked by politics.

"I think it's a good idea, but those behind this monument want to perpetuate a particular vision which, up to a certain point, is a myth," said historian João Pedro Marques.

Bullseye

Big military spendings make us broke, not safe

Defense budget
Backing down from nuclear war would make us a lot safer than piling more money into the Pentagon.

We're all tense. Hearing about our fellow citizens in Hawaii scrambling around, looking for a place to hide from a nuclear bomb, will do that to you. So will contests between two unstable world leaders over the size of their nuclear buttons.

Now, some politicians say they'll protect us by adding massive amounts to the Pentagon budget. This seems like a no-brainer: feel threatened, give more money to the military. But it isn't.

Practically everyone from the president on down, though, seems to take it as a given. "In confronting these horrible dangers," Donald Trump said during his State of the Union, "I'm calling on Congress" to "fully fund our great military."

The president and his party are now looking to add somewhere between $30 and $70 billion more in military spending to their budget for next year - on top of the increases for this year. Democrats seem willing to go along, with a few caveats.

Comment: See also: The biggest existential threat facing the West is not Russia or China but the intellectual bankruptcy of its political and military leaders


Handcuffs

BBC correspondent was detained for 17 hours in Indonesia over disputed tweet

Indonesian soldiers aid Papua
© 2018 Antara Foto/M Agung Rajasa/via Reuters
Indonesian soldiers along with a local resident unload food and medical aid in Ewer, Asmat District, in the remote region of Papua, Indonesia January 29, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto.


Authorities Restrict Independent Journalism in Papua


Last week, Indonesian authorities arrested a BBC correspondent for tweets she made while reporting from Papua. The journalist, Rebecca Henschke, was questioned for a total of 17 hours by immigration and military officials before being freed.

Henschke, based in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, went to Papua to report on both the measles outbreak, which has killed roughly 100 indigenous Papuan children, and on how logging and deforestation have destroyed forests where the staple food, sago palm, grows, leading Papuans to eat more instant noodles and cookies. She had a travel permit, a requirement for foreign journalists traveling to Papua.

She was arrested the day she arrived, February 1, after tweeting a photo of supplies on a river dock, writing, "aid coming in for severely malnourished children in Papua - instant noodles, super sweet soft drinks, and biscuits." Another tweet said, "Children in hospital eating chocolate biscuits and that's it."

Comment: It wouldn't be the first time that the BBC was caught misrepresenting the facts - if that is what actually happened. But even if so, it was an extreme reaction to detain someone for a tweet - an official response would have sufficed!


USA

Cops sneak up on tattoo shop owner, beat him without mercy (VIDEO)

cop sneak up man
Three Colorado cops beat a cigar smoking tattoo shop owner unprovoked and without mercy. Now the man is suing and will likely win now that video backs up his story.

A Colorado man is suing Sgt. Steven Holton and Detective Ben Russell of the Westminster Police Department and North Metro Drug Task Force for excessive use of force he and his attorneys say caused lasting painful injuries.

Since 1988, David Martinez has been the owner of Davian's Tattoo: Body Tattoo and Piercing and has been in business. Martinez claims he was beaten last summer without provocation by Holton and Russell and now has the video to prove it.

People 2

European women fight back with anti-migrant violence campaign video

120db campaign
© YouTube
Screenshot of the 120db campaign video
The campaign that was launched by German women against migrant violence is becoming very successful. Its video has over 1.5 million views and women from all over Europe are using the 120db hashtag.

The 120 decibel (120db) movement is named after the noise level of the "rape alarms" some women in Germany carry in their handbags. Its campaign was launched last week by a group of women who are increasingly worried about migrant violence and sexual assaults.

Comment: Further reading:


Pirates

ISIS video shows jihadists waiting in French countryside to attack "Paris before Rome"

jihadist sniper
© Al-Faqir Media video
The pro-ISIS group that last month depicted the invasion of Washington this week declared "Paris before Rome," depicting a terrorist invasion that began with cells in the countryside outside Paris before attacking the city.

Al-Abd al-Faqir Media released what they called "a cinematic film about the invasion of the Islamic State of the capital of degeneracy ... in the near future, inshallah."

The video opened with a man visiting an ISIS social media account on a computer and a recording of deceased ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani: "The time is now -- we want Paris before Rome and before al-Andalus, after we make your lives miserable and bomb your White House and Big Ben and Eiffel Tower." Sacking Rome has been a cornerstone of ISIS theology since the beginning of the caliphate.

Showing a map of France, the group showed a rendering of a drone approaching Paris from the southwest, "type: al-Burraq," which is a drone used by the Pakistani Air Force, "belonging to the caliphate army - location: the western countryside of Paris."

Comment: We wonder if this laughably absurd video is intended more for those Muslims who are gullible enough to take it seriously and do something stupid or for the Western masses to remember to be very afraid.

It's funny how drones now feature in terrorist propaganda videos, especially considering the recent incident of a swarm of drones attacking Russian bases in Syria: