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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Yoda

Jordan Peterson speaks out on Patreon's deplatforming controversy (UPDATE)

Jordan Peterson
© CC BY-SA 2.0 / Gage Skidmore / Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson
Peterson defends controversial YouTuber and pledges to help look for solutions

In a new post on Patreon today, Jordan Peterson has articulated his position on Patreon's deplatforming of controversial YouTube personality Carl Benjamin, aka Sargon of Akkad. In the post, Peterson states: "I am an admirer of Sargon, and he was a great friend of mine when I was in deep trouble two years ago. I think there is no excuse for deplatforming him (particularly when his fundamental crime was defending himself against neo-Nazis)."

Benjamin was booted from Patreon after a video surfaced of him deriding Neo-Nazis by using a racist term in an ironic way. Whatever you may think of Benjamin's language in the video, it was not in violation of Patreon's policies. Benjamin was well within his right to express himself, and the fact that he was deplatformed for exercising free speech as opposed to committing some kind of harmful action is problematic to say the least.

Comment: Sargon of Akkad on his dispute with Patreon:


UPDATE: Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin give more information on their Patreon-like enterprise:





Attention

Hollywood crash scene: Dump truck barrels down hill & crashes into Crimea water park

Waterpark
A dump truck driver in Crimea should be thanking his lucky stars after he lost control of his truck on a hill, plowed into a water park, then landed sideways - and survived to tell the tale. The entire incident was caught on film.

The footage begins with the truck going far too fast down a hill in the Crimean resort city of Yalta. It narrowly misses a smaller vehicle before breaking through a fence, crashing into a hotel water park, and finally landing sideways.

Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident, which was like a Hollywood crash scene.

Map

Pepe Escobar: An historical journey into Crimea

Kerch Harbor in the Russian controlled Sea of Azoz
© Asia Times
Kerch Harbor in the Russian controlled Sea of Azoz.
We are at the remains of Panticapaeum, the capital of the Kingdom of Bosphorus, founded in the second quarter of the 6th century BC on both sides of the Kerch Strait.

We start our walk on the hilltop of Mithridates, in the heart of modern Kerch, where "terrible" king Mithridates of Pontus (134 - 64 BC) was killed. Greek geographer Strabo (63 BC - 23 AD) said Panticapaeum was the mother country of "all the Milesian cities of Bosphorus". It was a big city that boasted a convenient harbor and a shipyard.

As we climb higher, we come across an obelisk celebrating victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is one of the last ridges in eastern Crimea. To the left is Kerch harbor with no warships, only coastguard patrol boats. To the right, the dark blue Sea of Azov, the Kerch strait - now one of the geopolitical hot spots of the young 21st century - and far in the distance is Krimsky Most, the Crimea bridge.

Crossing the bridge - a 19km-long engineering marvel, built in only two years - is as smooth as it gets and takes less than 15 minutes. On the right, work proceeds on the rail bridge, which will be ready next year.

Snowflake

Fashion line Prada faces backlash over new holiday collection - slammed on Twitter as 'racist'

pradamalia jewelry racist
© Prada
The Pradamalia collection, featuring a variety of characters, is being slammed as racist.
'The devil really does wear Prada'

Prada is facing a fury of backlash online for its latest collection featuring characters many are calling racist.

The company issued an apology Friday and said it would be pulling all Pradamalia products from its stores after people were quick to point out the problem with the imagery.

Pradamalia, "a new family of mysterious tiny creatures that are one part biological, one part technological, all parts Prada," can be found on T-shirts, wallets, necklace charms, earrings and in ad campaigns.

Star of David

Bibi's scandal-plagued son Yair Netanyahu: He'd 'prefer' if 'all the Muslims leave' Israel

Yair Netanyahu
© Flash90
Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is seen in Tel Aviv on November 26, 2017.
PM's son declares there will be no peace until one of the land's two major religions departs, and he rather it wasn't the Jews

Yair Netanyahu has said there will not be peace in the land of Israel until either all the Jews or all the Muslims leave - and he would prefer the latter.

The son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted the comment on Facebook on Thursday:

"There will not be peace here until:
1. All the Jews leave the land of Israel.
2. All the Muslims leave the land of Israel.

"I prefer the second option," he added.

Comment: RT adds:
The 27-year-old defended his thoughts on Saturday, asking why the same people who have been calling to "evacuate the settlers and establish a Palestinian state free of Jews" were angered by his words.

Many on social media were indeed unimpressed with the younger Netanyahu's Facebook posts, with one person instead stating that he should be the one to leave Israel.


Ben White, author of the book Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel, questioned who "radicalized" the prime minister's son.


And another person referred to him as the "third Trump brother."

Yair Netanyahu is no stranger to the spotlight, or to controversy. In May, he came under fire for posting "F*** Turkey" on Instagram amid a diplomatic row between Israel and Ankara.

In January, recordings were released which included Netanyahu, then 25, and his friends talking about spending thousands of shekels for private dances from strippers. He also appeared to offer his friends sexual favors from a woman he was in an intimate relationship with in exchange for money. Some Israeli media outlets have implied that those comments were made in jest while inebriated.

The same tapes, recorded by Netanyahu's then-driver, also revealed Netanyahu asking his friend to "spot him" some money because the elder Netanyahu had secured an "awesome" gas deal that would benefit the friend's father.



Dollar Gold

Gender gap? Chinese women at the forefront of global luxury spending

Louis Vuitton shanghai
© Reuters / Carlos Barria
A woman shops in a Louis Vuitton store in downtown Shanghai
Modern wealth in Asia appears to be increasingly young, self-created and... female, according to a Julius Baer report. The bank says that women, especially from China, account for the lion's share of luxury spending worldwide.

Chinese rich buy nearly one third of global luxury goods and take the lead in the consumption growth, Julius Baer revealed in its annual report. The world's second-largest economy took the crown from Japan long ago, which used to be the number one luxury consuming country in the world during the 1980s-1990s.
women luxury spending
© Julius Baer Wealth Report
But the rising interest in high-end goods is especially remarkable among women, the analysts believe, dedicating its thematic piece to so-called 'Womenomics' in Asia. Women in the region are increasingly becoming self-made millionaires and are more and more employed at senior levels. At least 31 percent of top management positions in the region were held by women in 2017.

"The purchasing power of women in Asia is increasingly gaining recognition, with more women in senior management positions and becoming more financially savvy," the editors of the report say.

Bulb

Indian army chief points out problems of having women in combat - SJWs freak out

indian female soldiers
© Reuters
Indian female paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the border with Nepal
Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said women are not ready for combat roles and gave reasons like they have the responsibility of raising kids and a woman officer would feel uncomfortable at the frontline and accuse jawans of peeping as she changes clothes.

In an exclusive conversation with News18, General Rawat said that while he was ready to introduce women to combat roles, the Army may not be as most jawans come from villages and they may not accept a woman officer leading them.

He also highlighted the issue of maternity leave and said the Army would not be able to give her leave if she is the commanding officer as she can't leave her unit for six months, but said objecting to the leave could create a "ruckus".

Comment: Everything Gen. Rawat says is common sense. He even points out that he's in favor of having women in the military. But check out the (entirely predictable) response:








Fire

40+ people injured in explosion at restaurant in northern Japan, damaged nearby buildings

japan explosion
© Twitter / Yutamorichi
More than 40 people have been injured in an explosion at a restaurant in northern Japan, police have confirmed.

The blast occurred in the city of Sapporo. The cause of the explosion is currently unknown.

One person is in critical condition, according to fire department officials cited by The Japan Times.

Several people were rushed to hospital by ambulance following the blast.

Comment: On Thursday in Queens, NY, footage showed a dramatic backdraft engulfing firefighters in an area also associated with restaurants, although the cause was yet to be determined.

See also:


Bulb

Another tool in the trade war: China to introduce low glyphosate residue limits in food imports

china limits glyphosate residues imports

China’s action would likely decrease the global use of glyphosate as a desiccant, a practice that leads to higher levels of the herbicide in harvested crops.
China is set to introduce maximum residue limits (MRLs) of 200 parts per billion (ppb) or lower for glyphosate in all imported final food products and raw materials including grains, soybeans and other legumes before the end of 2019, according to Sustainable Pulse sources.

The Chinese introduction of low MRLs, which are officially based on health concerns following the classification of glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen in 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, has been expected by both U.S. and Australian farming organizations for some time.

China's action would likely decrease the global use of glyphosate as a desiccant. The practice, known as desiccating, pre-harvest spraying or crop topping, is favored by many 'conventional' farmers as a way to hasten the even ripening of grains, such as wheat, oats and barley, as well as legumes and other crops such as sunflowers and potatoes, even though it is not a recommended use of the increasingly controversial weedkiller. Desiccation leads to higher levels of the herbicide in harvested crops and final food products.

Arrow Down

UK life expectancy stalls across the country, declining in poorest areas

UK food bank
© unknown
Shocking' figures show that for the first time since the Second World War, the poor cannot afford sufficient calories.
Life expectancy has stalled and in our very poorest communities is even falling for the first time since the Second World War.

The trend has set in since 2011, under brutal Tory cuts, and Public Health England found death rates from heart disease and stroke are major factors.

Slamming austerity's impact on public health cash and NHS funding, the report states: "Those who have been most affected are those with the least resources - those living in deprived areas -' which could indicate a role for Government spending."

Eight out of 10 heart disease and stroke deaths are preventable and the report said tackling smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and other "drivers of inequalities" is vital.


Comment: Rates of smoking have have been declining for a long time, and obesity has been steadily rising, so it's unlikely that either are responsible for the rise in deaths, especially considering the sudden stagnation of life expectancy correlates quite tightly with austerity measures.


Comment: The British need to look to the French and the Yellow Vest movement for ideas: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Révolution Jaune? France Revolts Against Macron