Society's Child

A massive anti-war movement is needed right NOW

Michael Krieger
Libertyblitzkrieg
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 13:44 UTC

An alleged new 'chemical incident' in Syria reminds of a similar series of events we saw last year. We are told to believe that each time the U.S. pulls back from the war on Syria the Syrian government is responding with a 'chemical attack' that pulls the U.S. back in.

- From Moon of Alabama article: Syria - Timelines Of 'Gas Attacks' Follow A Similar Scheme

If you're genuinely against U.S. wars for profit, power and empire the current moment represents our best opportunity to push back aggressively and launch a real grassroots anti-war movement. The entrenched forces who'll stop at nothing to get their war with Iran and Russia going seem to believe that time's running out. As such, they're resorting to increasingly comical and preposterous interpretations of "events" to get their conflagration going. The war sales-pitch has become increasingly desperate and nonsensical, which provides us with a window of opportunity to push back.

It's hard to keep track of the timeline of events these days, but it was just last week that the British foreign office was caught deleting a tweet in which it had falsely claimed it confirmed the nerve agent used in the Skripal poisoning had been produced in Russia.

Comment: A couple of short great videos that can be used to make the case for No War in Syria:

Palestinian Ministry of Health: More than 100 people critically injured by Israeli attack of March of Return protest

Middle East Monitor
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 03:45 UTC

© Alresalah
Representatives of the Palestinian Ministry of Health express their concerns on the crisis in Gaza during a press conference on 28 June 2017

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that 105 Palestinians have been seriously injured by Israeli occupation forces since March 30 during their participation in demonstrations of the March of Return.

At a news conference in front of Al-Shefa Polyclinic, Ashraf Qedra, the ministry's media spokesman, said: "There have been about 3078 injured people, 105 of whom are still in a critical condition and are in intensive care units in hospitals."

Qedra explained that "the Israeli occupation forces have intentionally fired unarmed civilians participating in the marches." The ministry reported that 129 citizens have been injured in the head and neck.

The ministry has also documented the injury of 176 people in upper body parts, and 1027 in the lower part of their bodies, according to Qedra.

He continued: "The ministry has also reported that 51 people have been injured in the abdomen and chest, and 68 have been injured in the basin."

Qedra explained that there have been about 305 injured children under the age of 18, and about 78 injured women.

While you probably think same-sex attraction is fixed, researchers don't

Jeremiah Keenan
The Federalist
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

'They've already lost the scientific battle, and so they've taken it to the legislative front to enforce their views.' Jordan Peterson's comment applies generally to sexual orientation.

Tucker Carlson asked Jordan Peterson last week whether his views on sex and gender were rare in academia. "You can't be one of many people who has these views where you live and work," Carlson said.

Carlson was inviting Peterson to complain about leftist homogeneity in the ivory tower, but as usual Peterson refused to take the bait. "I think they're more common than you think," he said. "My views on gender, for example, and sex - they're shared widely among people in the psychometric personality community.... This isn't contentious; the only people it's contentious around are gender ideologues. They've already lost the scientific battle, and so they've taken it to the legislative front to enforce their views."

It's high time we Jews ditched Zionism for the sake of everyone

Robert A. H. Cohen
Patheos
Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

When Israeli soldiers shoot, maim and kill unarmed Palestinian protestors living under Israeli siege in Gaza - where has Zionism taken us?

When a nation descended from refugees turns it back on African asylum seekers because they will dilute the Jewish purity of the State - what moral integrity does Zionism have?

When the President of the Board of Deputies in Britain describes a left-wing religious Jewish group as "a source of virulent antisemitism" because they openly criticise Israel - what madness has Zionism created?

As Israel turns 70 later this month, Zionism, the political ideology that propelled the Jewish State into existence, is showing all of its failings and exposing the destructive force it's always been for Palestinians and, indeed, for Jews.

For everyone's sake, it's high time we ditched it.

Ted Cruz takes Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to task

Jim E
The Political Insider
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 22:47 UTC

About. Damn. Time.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz just asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg what millions of Americans have been begging to ask: Does Facebook censor conservatives?

During Zuckerberg's congressional testimony, Cruz brought up reported conservative censorship on Facebook. First Cruz laid the trap, asking Zuckerberg if he thought Facebook was a neutral public forum:

Comment: Transcript of Ted Cruz's questioning (for the full hearing see here):

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TEX): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Zuckerberg, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Mr. Zuckerberg, does Facebook consider itself a neutral public forum?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, we consider ourselves to be a platform for all ideas.

CRUZ: Let me ask the question again. Does Facebook consider itself to be a neutral public forum, and representatives of your company are giving conflicting answers on this? Are you a ...

ZUCKERBERG: Well ...

CRUZ: ... First Amendment speaker expressing your views, or are you a neutral public forum allowing everyone to speak?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, here's how we think about this: I don't believe that - there are certain content that clearly we do not allow, right? Hate speech, terrorist content, nudity, anything that makes people feel unsafe in the community. From that perspective, that's why we generally try to refer to what we do as platform for all ideas ...

CRUZ: Let me try this, because the time is constrained. It's just a simple question. The predicate for Section 230 immunity under the CDA is that you're a neutral public forum. Do you consider yourself a neutral public forum, or are you engaged in political speech, which is your right under the First Amendment.

ZUCKERBERG: Well, senator, our goal is certainly not to engage in political speech. I am not that familiar with the specific legal language of the - the law that you - that you speak to. So I would need to follow up with you on that. I'm just trying to lay out how broadly I think about this.

CRUZ: Mr. Zuckerberg, I will say there are a great many Americans who I think are deeply concerned that that Facebook and other tech companies are engaged in a pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship. There have been numerous instances with Facebook in May of 2016, Gizmodo reported that Facebook had purposely and routinely suppressed conservative stories from trending news, including stories about CPAC, including stories about Mitt Romney, including stories about the Lois Lerner IRS scandal, including stories about Glenn Beck.

In addition to that, Facebook has initially shut down the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day page, has blocked a post of a Fox News reporter, has blocked over two dozen Catholic pages, and most recently blocked Trump supporters Diamond and Silk's page, with 1.2 million Facebook followers, after determining their content and brand were, quote, "unsafe to the community."

To a great many Americans that appears to be a pervasive pattern of political bias. Do you agree with that assessment?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, let me say a few things about this. First, I understand where that concern is coming from, because Facebook in the tech industry are located in Silicon Valley, which is an extremely left-leaning place, and I - this is actually a concern that I have and that I try to root out in the company, is making sure that we do not have any bias in the work that we do, and I think it is a fair concern that people would at least wonder about. Now ...

CRUZ: Let me - let me ask this question: Are you aware of any ad or page that has been taken down from Planned Parenthood?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, I'm not. But let me just ...

CRUZ: How about moveon.org?

ZUCKERBERG: Sorry.

CRUZ: How about moveon.org?

ZUCKERBERG: I'm not specifically aware of those ...

CRUZ: How about any Democratic candidate for office?

ZUCKERBERG: I'm not specifically aware. I mean, I'm not sure.

CRUZ: In your testimony, you say that you have 15,000 to 20,000 people working on security and content review. Do you know the political orientation of those 15,000 to 20,000 people engaging engaged in content review?

ZUCKERBERG: No, senator. We do not generally ask people about their political orientation when they're joining the company.

CRUZ: So as CEO, have you ever made hiring or firing decisions based on political positions or what candidates they supported?

ZUCKERBERG: No.

CRUZ: Why was Palmer Luckey fired?

ZUCKERBERG: That is a specific personnel matter that seems like it would be inappropriate to speak to here.

CRUZ: You just made a specific representation, that you didn't make decisions based on political views. Is that accurate?

ZUCKERBERG: Well, I can - I can commit that it was not because of a political view.

CRUZ: Do you know, of those 15 to 20,000 people engaged in content review, how many, if any, have ever supported, financially, a Republican candidate for office?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, I do not know that.

CRUZ: Your testimony says, "It is not enough that we just connect people. We have to make sure those connections are positive." It says, "We have to make sure people aren't using their voice to hurt people or spread misinformation. We have a responsibility, not just to build tools, to make sure those tools are used for good."

Mr. Zuckerberg, do you feel it's your responsibility to assess users, whether they are good and positive connections or ones that those 15 to 20,000 people deem unacceptable or deplorable?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, you're asking about me personally?

CRUZ: Facebook.

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, I think that there are a number of things that we would all agree are clearly bad. Foreign interference in our elections, terrorism, self-harm. Those are things ...

CRUZ: I'm talking about censorship.

ZUCKERBERG: Well, I - I think that you would probably agree that we should remove terrorist propaganda from the service. So that, I agree. I think it is - is clearly bad activity that we want to get down. And we're generally proud of - of how well we - we do with that.

Now what I can say - and I - and I do want to get this in before the end, here - is that I am - I am very committed to making sure that Facebook is a platform for all ideas. That is a - a very important founding principle of - of what we do.

We're proud of the discourse and the different ideas that people can share on the service, and that is something that, as long as I'm running the company, I'm going to be committed to making sure is the case.

CRUZ: Thank you.

THUNE: Thank you, Senator Cruz.

Yea, sure he is. A slippery eel that one is.

Craig Murray: Yulia Skripal is clearly under duress

Craig Murray
Craig Murray Blog
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 21:32 UTC

Only the Russians have allowed us to hear the actual voice of Yulia Skripal, in that recorded conversation with her cousin. So the one thing we know for certain is that, at the very first opportunity she had, she called back to her cousin in Russia to let her know what is going on. If you can recall, until the Russians released that phone call, the British authorities were still telling lies that Sergei was in a coma and Yulia herself in a serious condition.

We do not know how Yulia got to make the call. Having myself been admitted unconscious to hospital on several occasions, each time when I came to I found my mobile phone in my bedside cabinet. Yulia's mobile phone plainly had been removed from her and not returned. Nor had she been given an official one - she specifically told her cousin that she could not call her back on that phone as she had it temporarily. The British government could have given her one to keep on which she could be called back, had they wished to help her.

Comment: Craig Murray's explanation is clear, logical, and most frighteningly, probably correct. The Skripals' fate is precarious.

Fake News: The weapon of choice for a handful of countries

Grete Mauter
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC

It goes without saying that recently 'fake news' has become one of the most trending search phrases on the net. Moreover, representatives of Collins English Dictionary have gone as far as to name it official Word of the Year for 2017, and there's a very good reasons for this term to enjoy such popularity. For instance, it was used by American President Donald Trump, who accused leading Western media sources of spreading deceitful reports by describing them as 'fake news'.

The uncontested prevalence of such news could be observed during all the major political campaigns of recent years: presidential election in the US and France, parliamentary elections in Germany, Brexit and Catalan referendums... Perhaps there is no country in this world that escaped fake news as they are being manufactured and distributed via social media on the global scale, as there are whole "troll factories" and even all sorts of government bodies that justify their existence by claiming that they're engaged in a "fight against disinformation".

The Guardian experts tasked with analyzing disinformation campaigns in the online media came to a conclusion fake news is not just a Western problem, as it can be found in the media space of pretty much every corner of the world. In Brazil, for example, since early 2016, the popularity of false news reports has exceeded the coverage enjoyed by the mainstream media. This can be explained by the corruption scandal and the subsequent impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. According to the BBC, out of the five most popular (according to the number of reposts) news reports in Brazil, three were false. In India, the main distributor of false reports is the WhatsApp messenger, as The Guardian adds.

Comment: It will be all about what is in the regulatory board's idea of programming (MSM) or deprogramming (Alt. News) to make the determination (for the entire populace) on what is considered 'fake news'.

Facebook has always been one big cash grab

Rich Lowry
New York Post
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 19:18 UTC

Once again, Mark Zuckerberg is sorry.

The founder of Facebook, who has apologized for privacy breaches throughout much of his company's existence, is back at it, on a much larger stage than ever before.

The proximate cause is the Cambridge Analytica controversy. In violation of Facebook's rules, the Trump-linked political consultancy schemed to get access to the data of 87 million users. This has made Facebook a scapegoat for Trump's victory on par with the Russians and James Comey (at least before the FBI director got fired and became a Trump adversary).

In 2012, Barack Obama's re-election campaign did a less-underhanded version of the same thing as Cambridge. The great chronicler of the Obama digital operation, Sasha Issenberg, wrote of how its " 'targeted sharing' protocols mined an Obama backer's Facebook network in search of friends the campaign wanted to register, mobilize, or persuade."

Comment: Question is, why is Facebook under the gun now? Or is it simply that they got caught with their pants down? See also: Facebook now busted for handing data on millions of users to Hillary Clinton campaign

Foreign mass media infringed on Russian law, pedaled propaganda in election coverage

RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:36 UTC

The Upper House Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty has registered more than 1,000 incidents of the western mass media meddling in the recent Russian presidential polls. The overall number of negative reports relating to the election was some 55 times bigger than ones with a positive outlook.

"Over the period of our monitoring we have found over 1,000 mass media reports that described elections or mentioned them indirectly, but these were not just informational reports. Foreign mass media have deliberately engaged in propaganda, in Russian and on Russian territory," head of the commission, Senator Andrey Klimov, was quoted as saying Wednesday by TASS.

Most of these reports originated from the US mass media, Klimov noted.

"They [US media] published over a half of the total number of reports, and also mass media from Great Britain, France and Germany. Over the campaign period for one positive report we counted 55 reports or articles that were deeply negative."

Klimov also said that 12 Russian-language outlets belonging to western mass media directly violated Russian law when they released propaganda targeting Russian voters.

"Most of them are organizations that get their funding in the United States, usually through the US State Department as they are parts of the so-called BBG [Broadcasting Board of Governors]."

Western journalists had attempted to sully President Vladimir Putin's reputation, promoted candidates that had the weakest voter support and also slandered the electoral process, according to Klimov.

British ambassador to UN makes bizarre comment about Karl Marx at emergency Security Council meeting

Simon Rite
RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:47 UTC

Yes, that is the British ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, and yes, this is what she actually wore yesterday to the highest council meeting on Earth when it is ostensibly on the verge of nuclear Armageddon.

For anyone putting their faith in urbane, sensible diplomats with an unsurpassed knowledge of history to guide the world through the current troubled waters, Britain's current UN representative is unlikely to reassure them.

If language is an essential tool for diplomats to convey information, Karen Pierce conveyed perhaps more than she intended about herself when attempting to evoke Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx to criticise Russia over an alleged chemical attack in Syria.

In an exchange with Russia's envoy Vassily Nebenzia, Pierce used a Lenin quote to criticise Moscow's use of vetoes at the UN, and Nebenzia responded by saying Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin were "frequent visitors" in London.

Comment: Touché!!!

That probably went completely by Pierce's head, but what Nebenzia was alluding to was contemporary British support for radicals.

That's when Pierce hit back with this mind-bender:

"In respect of Karl Marx, I think he must be turning in his grave to see what the country that was founded on many of his precepts is doing in the name of supporting Syria by condoning the use of chemical weapons on Syrian territory."