Society's Child

The Chinese boycott EU tourism over terror fears

Alix Culbertson, Monika Pallenberg
Express
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 04:33 UTC

The continent is now bottom of the list for many Chinese who previously saw the continent as a dream destination with its fascinating mix of culture, cuisine, shopping and history. The most recent attacks in Germany and France are only adding to the fear anyone in Europe could be the next victim.

Monday's axe attack on a train in Wuerzburg, Germany, has meant the continent is now officially a no-go area for many Chinese after four Hong Kong people were among those seriously injured by 17 year old Afghan refugee.

An unnamed married couple, their 26 year old daughter, Tracy Yau Hiu-tung and her 31 year old boyfriend, Edmund Au Yeung were all injured by the teenager who was shot dead by German police as he fled the scene on Monday. The 63 year old father and Mr Au Yeung are fighting for their lives at the University Hospital of Wuerzburg, with one of the men sustaining a severe head injury and the other serious injuries to his abdomen, Dr Georg Ertl, hospital director, said.

The two women were also injured while the older couple's 17 year old son managed to escape the attack on the train they had boarded as part of a visit to Germany following a trip to England for a wedding.

Since the incident, many Chinese people have taken to the internet to discuss whether it is safe to travel to Europe.

Comment: The ramp up of fear and uncertainty around the world is having its calculated effect. It is one of the screws being tightened in order to program, and thereby control, the mindset and behavior of the people. The decline in tourism to Europe will be a swift and significant blow to the financial stability of the continent and blamed on the refugees.

Tourism helps Iceland rise from the ashes of 2008 financial meltdown

RT
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 12:23 UTC

© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
File photo of the Northern Lights as seen above the ash plume of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in the evening

The country worst affected by the global financial crisis eight years ago has made a miraculous turnaround. Iceland saw an unexpected GDP surge of 4.2 percent in the first three months of the year.

The growth is explained by a significant rise in tourism.

Tourism has been steadily growing since the beginning of the decade, and is currently a larger source of revenue than exports of fish and aluminum. The number of visitors in 2016 may beat last year's record of 1.3 million, according to June data.

Foreign travelers have flocked to the country partly thanks to the popularity of the fantasy TV drama Game of Thrones. Some episodes of the show were filmed in Iceland. Local travel agencies are currently offering tours to the locations featuring the series' legendary landmarks.

Spending data confirms the Icelandic economy is on an upswing. Tourists have spent 26 billion krone ($212 million) in the country this year using credit and debit cards.

Comment: Of course it also helps that Iceland's people have taken their fate into their own hands in other ways:

'The Detailed Interview' - Smartphone app lets users play refugee interrogator

RT
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 15:56 UTC

With Europe in the midst of a refugee crisis, two Dutch journalists have set out to change people's perceptions. They are doing so with a smartphone app that lets users talk to actors portraying refugees, and ask them tough questions.

The app is meant to do several things, the main being to alter perceptions of refugees, another to explain that it's not easy becoming a refugee in the Netherlands - particularly important, seeing as misperceptions about the ease of the process fan the flames of far-right movements in the Netherlands and EU as a whole.

'The Detailed Interview', as the app is called, lets users select tough questions from make-believe refugees from Syria and Guinea, who in turn explain why and how they fled their homelands, and what motivates them in their lives.

TSA agent films upskirt video and is arrested on voyeurism charge

Phil Helsel
NBC News
Wed, 20 Jul 2016 17:38 UTC

A Transportation Security Administration agent in Seattle was arrested after allegedly being spotted using a phone to take video up a woman's skirt at the city's airport, according to authorities.

Nicholas Fernandez, 29, was arrested on a charge of voyeurism Tuesday, Seattle police said in an arrest report. The incident occurred on an escalator, and not in a security line.

"TSA does not tolerate illegal, unethical or immoral conduct," a spokesperson for the TSA said in a statement.

"When such conduct is alleged, TSA investigates it thoroughly. When appropriate, TSA requests that it be investigated by a law enforcement authority. When an investigation finds that misconduct has occurred, the appropriate action is taken."

Comment: The TSA is heavily populated with thieves and perverts:

Plane crashes into house in Illinois shortly after explosion is heard

RT
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 17:20 UTC

A plane has crashed into a house in Plainfield, Illinois. Nearby residents tweeted that they heard an explosion before the impact into the house. Firefighters from neighboring Joliet are on the scene in the Brighton Lakes subdivision.

The crash occurred around 11:15 in the morning local time, Joliet police told WMAQ. A charred piece of the plane is lying partly in the street and partly in a driveway, photos by Twitter user @chargers250 show.

"I heard something coming down like a torpedo then a loud crash and a lot of wind," a witness told photojournalist Si Gifter.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries on the ground, and it is unknown how many people were on the small plane, the Federal Aviation Administration told WMAQ.

Online fundraiser sees staggering success in drive to put Tony Blair on trial in civil court for illegal Iraq War

RT
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 17:09 UTC

Roger Bacon, whose son Matthew was killed serving in Iraq, told RT that any money raised in a civil case by military families against Tony Blair will be donated to the Iraqi people to improve their lives.

Matthew Bacon, a British Army major, was killed by a roadside bomb while traveling in a lightly-armored Snatch vehicle in Iraq in 2005.

His bereaved father described to RT his awe at the staggering success of the Iraq War Families Campaign's crowdfunding drive to fund a full legal examination of the Chilcot Report for evidence challenging the legality of the war.

The online fundraiser hit its first target of £50,000 (US$66,000) within a day of launching on Tuesday, and it is now rapidly approaching its secondary target of £150,000.

Roger said the funds are needed to hire a "firm of lawyers to look at the Iraq report, to see just what kind of illegalities or misuse of constitutional powers have taken place."

Max absurdity: German tabloid to snub Russian Olympic team's medal count

RT
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 16:58 UTC

German tabloid Bild said it will not report Russian athletes' medal count during the Rio 2016 Olympics if they are allowed to compete by the IOC. The move comes after a WADA report recommended a total ban on the Russian team in light of new doping allegations.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president, Thomas Bach, have distanced themselves from "making a clear decision" on the "doping-infected" Russian Olympic team, Walter Straten, Bild's chief sports editor, claimed in an article on Wednesday.

"We won't do that!" wrote Straten, who is also a member of Bild's editorial board.

"Should Russia be allowed to participate in the Games, Bild will have it exempted from the medal count. Declare Russian athletes' results null and void!"

Comment: This scandal is getting beyond absurd:

American Airlines backs stewardess who announces over intercom she was "watching" Muslim passenger, then kicks him off flight

Adam Boult
The Telegraph
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 16:57 UTC

Muslim passenger was asked to leave an American Airlines flight after a flight attendant told him over the plane's public address system: "I will be watching you."

Mohamed Ahmed Radwan had boarded the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Detroit, Michigan last December when the incident occurred.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has now filed a complaint to the US Department of Transportation, accusing American Airlines of "discriminatory conduct".

A letter from CAIR staff attorney Maha Sayed dated 20 July says: "As Mr Radwan took his designated seat, a female flight attendant loudly announced: 'Mohamed Ahmed, seat 25-A: I will be watching you.'"

Comment: The xenophobia and racism in the US has reached absurd levels. As Boing Boing's Rob Beschizza astutely notes:

The same way bad police use "felt threatened" as an excuse for beatings and killings, bad airlines have settled on "felt uncomfortable" as their lawyer-approved all-bases-covered method of booting Muslims from flights.

Federal agents and police are infiltrating anti-fracking protest movements

Lee Fang and Steve Horn
The Intercept
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:19 UTC

$anti-fracking protest$

When more than 300 protesters assembled in May at the Holiday Inn in Lakewood, Colorado — the venue chosen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for an auction of oil and gas leases on public lands — several of the demonstrators were in fact undercover agents sent by law enforcement to keep tabs on the demonstration, according to emails obtained by The Intercept.

The "Keep it in the Ground" movement, a broad effort to block the development of drilling projects, has rapidly gained traction over the last year, raising pressure on the Obama administration to curtail hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and coal mining on federal public lands. In response, government agencies and industry groups have sharply criticized the activists in public, while quietly moving to track their activities.

The emails, which were obtained through an open records act request, show that the Lakewood Police Department collected details about the protest from undercover officers as the event was being planned. During the auction, both local law enforcement and federal agents went undercover among the protesters.

The emails further show that police monitored Keep it in the Ground participating groups such as 350.org, Break Free Movement, Rainforest Action Network, and WildEarth Guardians, while relying upon intelligence gathered by Anadarko, one of the largest oil and gas producers in the region.

Comment: The U.S. has a history of infiltrating protest movements, to disrupt and destroy their activities:

China's Lama initiates Buddhist Kalachakra ritual in Tibet for first time in 50 years

Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 16:21 UTC

An important Buddhist rite, the Kalachakra, began in TIbet on Thursday, for the first time since it happened 50 years ago.

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama, formally started the tantric Kalachakra ceremony Thursday morning. The four-day event takes place at the New Palace of the Panchen Lama in Xigaze, a city within China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The Kalachakra, which means the "wheel of time," includes a series of tantric teachings and initiations given by gurus to help Buddhists through the cycle of life.

A throne, several meters high and covered in yellow silk, was placed on a new 200-square-meter platform in the southern part of the palace. A traditional Tibetan ribbon has been put up on both sides of the throne to symbolize good fortune.

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Society's Child

The Chinese boycott EU tourism over terror fears

Tourism helps Iceland rise from the ashes of 2008 financial meltdown

'The Detailed Interview' - Smartphone app lets users play refugee interrogator

TSA agent films upskirt video and is arrested on voyeurism charge

Plane crashes into house in Illinois shortly after explosion is heard

Online fundraiser sees staggering success in drive to put Tony Blair on trial in civil court for illegal Iraq War

Max absurdity: German tabloid to snub Russian Olympic team's medal count

American Airlines backs stewardess who announces over intercom she was "watching" Muslim passenger, then kicks him off flight

Federal agents and police are infiltrating anti-fracking protest movements

China's Lama initiates Buddhist Kalachakra ritual in Tibet for first time in 50 years

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