Society's Child

South African musician plays guitar while undergoing brain surgery

Fox News
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 11:00 UTC

© OnyekaValentine Ilorah for Department of Neurosurgery, Inks Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, via AP
In this photo supplied by the Department of Neurosurgery, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, taken earlier this month during surgery South African musician, Musa Manzini, plays a guitar during brain surgery.

His skull still open, a South African musician with a brain tumor played several notes on his guitar during a successful operation to remove most of the growth.

Musa Manzini's guitar-playing helped guide the medical team in their delicate task while preserving neural pathways, said Dr. Rohen Harrichandparsad, one of the neurosurgeons. Manzini was given local anesthetic during what doctors call an "awake craniotomy" this month at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban.

"It increased the margin of safety for us, in that we could have real-time feedback on what we were doing intraoperatively," Harrichandparsad said Saturday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

The procedure is not uncommon, and there have been several cases in other countries of musicians playing an instrument or singing during similar operations. The intention was to test Manzini's "ability to produce music," which requires the complex interaction of pathways in the brain, the doctor said.

Comment: See also: Flutist plays during operation as doctors cut out her brain tumor

Sharia law must come first: Germany declares law banning child marriages unconstitutional

Soeren Kern
Gatestone Institute
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 10:15 UTC

© Andreas Praefcke/Wikimedia Commons
The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), Germany's highest court, has ruled that a new law that bans child marriage may be unconstitutional because all marriages, including Sharia-based child marriages, are protected by Germany's Basic Law. Pictured: The Bundesgerichtshof building in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The ruling, which effectively opens the door to legalizing Sharia-based child marriages in Germany, is one of a growing number of instances in which German courts are - wittingly or unwittingly - promoting the establishment of a parallel Islamic legal system in the country.
"Germany cannot, on the one hand, be against child marriages internationally, and on the other hand, be for such marriages in our own country. The best interests of the child cannot be compromised in this case. (...) This is about the constitutionally established protection of children and minors!" - Winfried Bausback, Bavarian lawmaker who helped draft the law against child marriage.
"We should consider one more thing: judgments are made 'in the name of the people.' This people has clearly expressed through its representatives in the Bundestag that it no longer wants to recognize child marriage." - Commentator Andreas von Delhaes-Guenther.

The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), Germany's highest court of civil and criminal jurisdiction, has ruled that a new law that bans child marriage may be unconstitutional because all marriages, including Sharia-based child marriages, are protected by Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz).

The ruling, which effectively opens the door to legalizing Sharia-based child marriages in Germany, is one of a growing number of instances in which German courts are - wittingly or unwittingly - promoting the establishment of a parallel Islamic legal system in the country.

Comment: This is what happens when you have an overabundance of SJW minded judges in the courts. Law is only there to be deconstructed and turned into an avenue to further shape the 'utopian' agenda. The cost is the degradation of a country's sovereignty and cultural identity. The misguided notion that more 'tolerance' will lead to more 'understanding' will have exactly the opposite effect. Say goodbye Germany. France and the UK are right behind you. See also:

Patreon's partisan censorship costing content creators big bucks as users drop the site

Charlie Nash
Breitbart News
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 22:05 UTC

Creators on crowdfunding site Patreon are reporting heavy losses in financial backers as users are fleeing the platform in protest over its censorship of political commentators, including Sargon of Akkad.

On Thursday, popular author Jordan B. Peterson declared, "I have lost about 2000 Patreons @Patreon since the debacle with Sargon of Akkad. I know [Dave Rubin] is having the same trouble."

Comment: Jack Conte's high-handed interference with his company's state raison d'etre ("a membership platform that provides business tools for creators to run a subscription content service as well as ways for artists to build relationships and provide exclusive experiences to their subscribers, or "patrons.") will cost him in the end. In the not too distant future, other services that will perform the same function, but without bias, will supplant Patreon.

Not satire: Analysts touting hilarious idea that Russian operatives promoted sex toys on Instagram to 'sow discord' in the US

Hanna Kozlowska
Quartz
Mon, 17 Dec 2018 17:15 UTC

Two reports produced by independent researchers for the US Senate Intelligence Committee, released today (Dec. 17), show that Instagram was a much more significant tool in the hands of Russian operatives trying to influence US politics than previously thought-and was at times potentially more powerful than Facebook.

Between early 2015 and late 2017-during which the US elected Donald Trump as president - accounts associated with the Kremlin-sponsored Russian Internet Agency created more content on Instagram. These posts also received more engagement on Instagram than on Facebook, even though there are more ways to engage on Facebook, researchers from cybersecurity company New Knowledge, Columbia University and software research and development firm Canfield Research found in the 100-page report (pdf).

"Instagram was perhaps the most effective platform for the Internet Research Agency. Approximately 40% of its accounts achieved over 10,000 followers (a level colloquially referred to as "micro-influencers" by marketers); twelve accounts had over 100,000 followers ("influencer" level)," researchers said.

Bishops revolt against removal of Christmas carol's reference to Mary's virginity

RT
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 12:07 UTC

The popular Christmas carol 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' has been updated to remove a reference to Jesus' mother's virginity, and clergymen are warning parishioners not to be "squeamish" about Mary's womb.

The line "offspring of a virgin's womb" has now been replaced with "offspring of the favored one" in the carol that will be sung in churches all across the UK over the Christmas period.

Not everyone is a fan of the remix, however. Senior Church of England clergy are warning choirs against opting for the updated version in their services, saying the new text could mislead those less familiar with Christian faith.

Comment: Surely the clergy involved in the 'remix' have better things to worry about than updating a Christmas carol - although for those squemish, it's very telling about their mental state. Besides, they'd all be better off educating themselves on the true history of Christianity:

Also check out SOTT radio's:

"We've had enough": France's Yellow Vests describe deteriorating quality of life

Alex Lantier
World Socialist Web
Mon, 17 Dec 2018 12:00 UTC

"Yellow vest" protesters mobilized for a fifth day of action in France on Saturday, facing a new police crackdown and clashes centered in provincial cities, as fewer protesters traveled to Paris.

Yellow Vest protesters on Opéra square

The interior ministry claimed that some 66,000 people had protested across France, down by half after the brutal crackdown organized the previous week in Paris. The mobilization in the capital was certainly smaller this Saturday, as thousands marched and clashed with police in large provincial cities across the coutnry.

In Paris, several thousand protested and 144 people were held in preventive detention, amid a new massive police clampdown in the capital. Large parts of the city and subway system were shut down, as armored cars, water cannon, horse-mounted military police, and riot police firing rubber bullets and tear gas occupied much of the city.

Comment: Amnesty International's damning report of violence by France's police on protesters, journalists and children

Comment: See also:

And check out SOTT radio's:

Anything goes: Tanks on Maidan, president's gold bath, outrageous Ukraine fakes by disgraced Spiegel reporter

RT
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 20:52 UTC

One wonders just how outrageous 'fake news' must be in order to get busted, but Der Spiegel's ex-star reporter Claas Relotius got away with it all while writing for several outlets - maybe because it was about places like Ukraine.

Titled 'Bribing prohibited' Relotius' piece on the new Ukrainian police has all the elements of his trademark style: dramatic narrative, likeable heroes - and entirely made-up 'facts'.

The 'report', published by the Swiss magazine Reportagen in June 2016, tells a tale of two young people - Dimitri and Valeria - who became members of the rebranded police force of post-Maidan Ukraine. Given the recent revelations over his fictional reporting, it's now unclear whether Relotius met the duo in reality, but the story makes for a very compelling read indeed.

It states that each day before going on patrol, Dimitri and Valeria have been coming to the center of Kiev to pray near the "altar" erected in memory of those who died during the 2014 Euromaidan unrest. The two were among the protesters back then, it reveals, describing how they recall burning buildings, the "smell of corpses," a man "with a child in his arms" shot dead beside an old well - and a ruined wall, where dozens were "slayed by snipers" and "rolled over by tanks."

Wait, what? Given that the majority of victims in Kiev - both protesters and law enforcement officers - were killed over two days of murky clashes in February 2014, the "smell" of dead bodies appears to be a little of an exaggeration. No "old wells" could immediately be found in central Kiev, and there's nothing to back up the story about a "man with a child" either.

Comment: See also:

'Freegans' in Singapore find treasure in trash

Times of Malta/Reuters
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 19:57 UTC

© Times of Malta
Filipina domestic workers grab free items during a giveaway of donated and dumpster dived items at the house of Singaporean freegan Colin Lau.

A new movement in Singapore that seeks to reduce the amount of consumer waste in the affluent city-state is scavenging for unwanted goods, some in near-mint condition, that migrant workers can send home for the holidays.

"Freegans", broadly defined as people committed to cutting wasteful production and consumption, have connected with thousands of foreign labourers from lower-income countries, many of whom cannot afford the products sold in the city's shiny shopping malls.

In Singapore, the luxurious backdrop for the movie Crazy Rich Asians, what passes as trash for one household ends up in a shipping container on its way to the home country of a migrant worker.

"We should give whatever we have in excess to the poor instead of throwing it away," said Colin Lau, a member of the "Freegan in Singapore" Facebook group whose 6,500 members includes Singaporeans and foreigners.

Some members like Lau search dumpsters and rubbish bins, retrieving discarded items and re-using them or sharing with others in an effort to save money and the environment.

China's One Belt One Road is engine of growth for Eurasia, trade volume over $5 trillion for past five years

RT
Sun, 23 Dec 2018 19:33 UTC

© Reuters/Bobby Yip
A passerby casts a shadow over a map illustrating China’s “One Belt, One Road” megaproject at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, China, on January 18, 2016.

It's been five years since Beijing announced the ambitious multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Chinese companies have already built 82 economic and trade cooperation zones in 24 countries along the BRI routes.

The project has created more than 240,000 jobs in BRI countries, according to China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi.

"Over the past five years, trade volume in goods between China and countries involved in the initiative exceeded $5 trillion, and direct investment stands at over $70 billion," said Yang Jiechi, head of the office of Foreign Affairs of China's Communist Party.

He explained that under the framework of the initiative, over 11,000 freight trains are already running between China and Europe. They link nearly 100 cities across the region.

Courageous Gaza photographer vows to continue documenting protests despite narrow escape from IDF sniper fire

Ahmad Kabariti
Mondoweiss
Sat, 22 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC

Mohamed Asad shortly after he was grazed by bullet and his camera destroyed. December 21, 2018.

Gaza photographer Mohammed Asad tells the story of how he miraculously survived gunfire yesterday, just a few feet away from Mohammed al Jahjuh, 16, who was shot dead in the neck by a bullet fired by Israeli soldiers during the ongoing demonstrations near Israel's fence.

"Unlike the past 38 protests, everything was almost quiet except for seven to eight stone throwers, and no burning tires. I had just decided to go home with dozens of photos I took. But I felt someone thought it was time for me to leave, and he sent a bullet to my camera. He was an Israeli military sniper."

"Everything took place in less than a second. When I turned my back to the fence, my camera's strap jumped forward and a sudden sting scratched my cheek. Then I realized a bullet had penetrated the photographic apparatus. But I was completely confused because [Mohammed] al Jahjuh was bleeding and writhing in pain," Asad told Mondoweiss.

Comment: Killing the messenger - Israel targets journalists and photographers to hide their wholesale slaughter of unarmed Palestinians:

New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good...

parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

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sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Society's Child

South African musician plays guitar while undergoing brain surgery

Sharia law must come first: Germany declares law banning child marriages unconstitutional

Patreon's partisan censorship costing content creators big bucks as users drop the site

Not satire: Analysts touting hilarious idea that Russian operatives promoted sex toys on Instagram to 'sow discord' in the US

Bishops revolt against removal of Christmas carol's reference to Mary's virginity

"We've had enough": France's Yellow Vests describe deteriorating quality of life

Anything goes: Tanks on Maidan, president's gold bath, outrageous Ukraine fakes by disgraced Spiegel reporter

'Freegans' in Singapore find treasure in trash

China's One Belt One Road is engine of growth for Eurasia, trade volume over $5 trillion for past five years

Courageous Gaza photographer vows to continue documenting protests despite narrow escape from IDF sniper fire

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