Society's ChildS


Propaganda

Best of the Web: Move over, Jayson Blair: Meet Hamilton 68, media fraud's new king

FBI counterintelligence Clint Watts hamilton 68
Former FBI counterintelligence agent and “disinformation” expert Clint Watts, the spokesman for Hamilton
Ambitious media frauds Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair crippled the reputations of the New Republic and New York Times, respectively, by slipping years of invented news stories into their pages. Thanks to the Twitter Files, we can welcome a new member to their infamous club: Hamilton 68.

If one goes by volume alone, this oft-cited neoliberal think-tank that spawned hundreds of fraudulent headlines and TV news segments may go down as the single greatest case of media fabulism in American history. Virtually every major news organization in America is implicated, including NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and the Washington Post. Mother Jones alone did at least 14 stories pegged to the group's "research." Even fact-checking sites like Politifact and Snopes cited Hamilton 68 as a source.

Comment: SOTT readers will be well aware of Hamilton 68. It has been reporting on Hamilton 68's nefarious activities for years. It's good to know how deep the rabbit hole goes though.


Sheriff

Tennessee sheriff opens new investigation into two deputies after Tyre Nichols bodycam video is released

tyre nicols murder police brutality
© Memphis Police DepartmentA view from a camera mounted above the intersection where Memphis police caught up with Tyre Nichols, who died three days later. Authorities released footage of the deadly encounter between Nichols and police Friday.
Tyre Nichols, 29, was severely beaten during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 according to bodycam footage, dying three days later

The Shelby County sheriff's office has placed two deputies on administrative leave following the release of bodycam footage Friday evening of a traffic stop on Jan. 7, showing officers severely beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols. He later died of his injuries.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, Jr. said he decided to launch an internal investigation after watching the video.

"Having watched the videotape for the first time tonight, I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols," Bonner said on Twitter.

He added: "I have launched an internal investigation into the conduct of these deputies to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated. Both of these deputies have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of this administrative investigation.

Comment: The Post Millennial reports that the leftist shock troops are out right on schedule:
Antifa vows to 'burn it all down' in NYC following death of Tyre Nichols

On Friday, Antifa called for activists to riot in New York City in the wake of five former officers of the Memphis Police Department being charged with the murder of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols.

According to the Daily Mail, the outlet obtained a poster that told Antifa to assemble at various locations throughout NYC and then "Burn It All Down."

The Memphis Police Department said they will release the body cam footage from the incident Friday night at 7pm, EST.
[...]
On Thursday, Joe Biden called for "peaceful protest" in the streets of Memphis and he released a statement and said, "I join Tyre's family in calling for peaceful protest. Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice."

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday also called for "peaceful protest."

Chief Davis said the death of Tyre Nichols was "heinous, reckless, and inhumane"

"I expect our citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to protest, to demand action and results. But we need to ensure our community is safe in this process," Davis continued.

"None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens," Davis said.

The Nichols family has asked that protests remain peaceful.

Other cities across the country are bracing for violence, including Portland, Oregon, where Antifa members have posted plans for violence on the social media platform Mastodon.

"I think it is going to be a VERY long weekend here in this good ole sh*thole country," one Mastodon user wrote. "Urging my friends, again, to tighten up the opsec. Wear a mask, leave your phone at home, and wear eye protection — evidence has shown the cops are aiming at your eyes in hopes of blinding you. F*ck this country."

"EVERY SINGLE MURDER caused by the police should ignite within us a rage that is unstoppable," another person wrote. "The cops should fear us. We have been too quiet. Too peaceful. Too passive. The fires need to burn."

Police Departments from cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Seattle have also been placed on high alert for potential rioting.



Fire

Georgia governor declares state of emergency over Atlanta protests, mobilizes 1,000 National Guard troops

Kemp/Riot
© Unknown/KJNGovernor of Georgia Brian Kemp • Protest in Atlanta
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Jan. 26, allowing up to 1,000 Georgia National Guard troops to be bought in to help deal with violent protests that have broken out in recent weeks, with further demonstrations anticipated over the weekend.

The declaration is effective immediately and will expire on Feb. 9, unless extended by the governor.

Specifically, the state of emergency is being activated owing to "unlawful assemblage, violence, overt threats of violence, disruption of the peace and tranquility of this state, and danger existing to persons and property," according to the declaration, under which all resources of the state of Georgia will be made available to assist in the ongoing response to the state of emergency.

Comment: See also:

Antifa riots in Atlanta: Police arrest 6 in night of chaos after violent protesters lit cop car ablaze, smashed windows


Take 2

Germany apologizes after African Union accuses it of insult

Africa signage
© Eduardo Soteras/AFPSummit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Germany's attempt to mock the trip of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Africa has backfired after the African Union chided Berlin over the use of a stereotypical emoji. The criticism prompted Berlin to issue a hasty apology.

On Tuesday, the German Foreign Office tweeted that Lavrov had embarked on a tour of Africa "not to see leopards, but to bluntly claim that Ukraine's partners 'want to destroy everything Russian'." The word 'leopards' was depicted in the form of an emoji.

Local officials, including Ebba Kalondo, spokeswoman for African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki, were unimpressed by the pun.

Attention

Urgent public health warning issued over lost radioactive capsule in Western Australia

CNN alert
© CNNLost capsule alert to the public
A missing radioactive capsule lost somewhere between Perth and a Pilbara mine site over an area of 1,400 kilometres has sparked an urgent health warning.

In an emergency press conference on Friday afternoon, WA's chief health officer urged people to stay away from the capsule if they see it because of its radioactive properties.

The capsule is tiny - 6mm diameter by 8mm high.

The radioactive gauges are commonly used in mining. It went missing from a truck sometime after January 10.

WA radioactive substance risk alert

The radioactive capsule could be anywhere along the more than 1,400 km journey between Malaga, in Perth and Newman in WA's remote north.
map WA
© unknownLost capsule route Western Australia

Camcorder

Pfizer consultant assaults James O'Keefe, Project Veritas journalists after being confronted over comments on 'mutating' COVID-19 virus

Jordan Walker pfizer project veritas
© Project VeritasPfizer scientist Jordan Walker reacts as he is confronted by a Project Veritas film team
Walker eventually attempted to snatch the iPad out of O'Keefe's hands, and following a brief struggle, he smashed it on the ground.

On Thursday, Project Veritas released shocking footage of a high-level Pfizer employee becoming irate at James O'Keefe and other journalists after he was confronted over his comments regarding the company "mutating" the Covid-19 virus.

Jordan Trishton Walker, who serves as director of Worldwide R&D Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning at the pharmaceutical giant, also attempted to destroy an iPad containing undercover recordings of him made by Project Veritas, and eventually called the cops.

After secretly recording Walker on what he thought was a date, O'Keefe walked up to his table and revealed that it had been a sting operation.

Heart - Black

Mozart Group trains Ukrainians to 'kill Russians' - founder

Mozart Group
© AFP / Juan BarretoUkrainian soldiers train with the Mozart Group near Donetsk, Russia, September 22, 2022
Despite its professed humanitarian mission in Ukraine, the Mozart Group is a private military company training Ukrainian soldiers to kill Russians, its founder and CEO told RT's Afshin Rattansi on Saturday's episode of 'Going Underground.'

Founded by US citizens Andrew Milburn and Andrew Bain last March, the Mozart Group has been described as the Western answer to the Wagner Group - the Russian private military company currently fighting the Kiev forces for control of the key Donbass city of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine).

Speaking to Rattansi, Milburn was keen to dispel any comparison between Mozart and Wagner. He told the RT host that his group's mission is "purely humanitarian," and that Mozart's members primarily work to supply and evacuate civilians living near the front lines.


Comment: Ukraine's very own White Helmets!


However, the group's other mission is the training of Ukrainian soldiers, which often takes place "very close to the front line," Milburn, a former US Marine Corps commander, said.

"Sadly in this war - in any war actually - the more of the adversary you take off the playing field, or kill, the less the danger is to your own guys," he said. "Why do we train guys? It isn't simply to defend themselves, it's to kill the enemy."

Camcorder

Some thoughts on Project Veritas' Pfizer scoop

pfizer scientist directed evolution veritas
© Project Veritas
Last week, Project Veritas released secretly recorded video of a Pfizer employee named Jordon Trishton Walker. As in other cases, Project Veritas appears to have approached Walker with a potential romantic partner (likely a sex worker paid by Project Veritas), who gradually gained his trust over a period of days. On his third date at a New York City restaurant, Walker made the following four statements about virus research at Pfizer, at different moments in the conversation:
One of the things we're exploring is like, why don't we just mutate it ourselves so we could create - preemptively develop new vaccines, right? So, we have to do that. If we're onna do that though, there's a risk of like, as you could imagine - no one wants to be having a pharma company mutating fucking viruses.

Don't tell anyone. Promise you won't tell anyone. The way it would work is that we put the virus in monkeys, and we successively cause them to keep infecting each other, and we collect serial samples from them.

You have to be very controlled to make sure that this virus that you mutate doesn't create something that just goes everywhere. Which, I suspect, is the way that the virus started in Wuhan, to be honest. It makes no sense that this virus popped out of nowhere. It's bullshit.

From what I've heard is they are optimising it, but they're going slow because everyone is very cautious - obviously they don't want to accelerate it too much. I think they are also just trying to do it as an exploratory thing because you obviously don't want to advertise that you are figuring out future mutations.

Comment: A fairly balanced assessment, aside from the crack about PV possibly using a sex worker to obtain the footage. Veritas is fueled by whistleblowers who frequently are also the volunteers who go undercover to make the recordings. eugyppius is taking a cheap shot at those folks who see wrongdoing and are willing to do something about it.


Attention

Zookeeper mauled to death by brown bear in Uzbekistan

The brown bear pounces on the man
© East2WestThe brown bear pounces on the man and attacks him before dragging his limp body across the enclosure, the footage shows.
Distressing footage captures the moment a zookeeper was mauled to death by a brown bear in Uzbekistan — after he forgot to close a security gate.

The employee, identified only by the initials A.G., entered the enclosure at a zoo in Andijan earlier this month to feed the bear, when he neglected to secure a gate separating him and the beast.

Hair-raising video taken from a nearby security camera shows the worker turning around and spotting the dangerous animal coming up behind him.

The zookeeper then quickly tries to scurry out the exit, but the bear pounces on him, the footage shows.

Bomb

Russia didn't blow up gas pipeline - Nord Stream boss

Managing Director of Nord Steam 2 AG Matthias Warnig
© Global Look Press / dpa / Jens BüttnerManaging Director of Nord Steam 2 AG Matthias Warnig speaks to journalists in Schwerin, Germany, on August 11, 2020.
Moscow was not behind the undersea "sabotage" in September 2022, Matthias Warnig believes.

Russia is unlikely to be behind an attack last September on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to Matthias Warnig, the head of Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG - two Swiss-based companies operating the undersea Russian gas pipelines. Warnig, who is said to have long-standing personal ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, spoke to German newspaper Die Zeit recently.

"The Russians? No," he responded, when asked about Moscow's potential complicity in the incident that left both Nord Stream 1 strings and one Nord Stream 2 string severely damaged. Die Zeit published a lengthy profile interview on Wednesday, detailing Warnig's relations with Putin and his work for companies affiliated with Russia.

Comment: See also: