Society's Child

'Extremely concerning': Russia's Olympic Committee and diplomats file complaints over police raid on biathletes in Italy

RT
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 12:18 UTC

© Tiziana Fabi / AFP
Alexander Loginov at the IBU Biathlon World Championship in Rasen-Antholz, Italy. February 15, 2020.

Moscow diplomats and sporting officials have urged Italy to explain why its police barged into the rooms of Russian biathletes mere hours before a world championship event.

The Russian Embassy in Rome demanded that Italy explain the reasons behind police searches conducted in the hotel rooms of Russian athletes on Saturday. The diplomats urged local authorities to guarantee all "necessary conditions" for Russians to train and participate in international tournaments in the country.

Moscow's Olympic Committee (OKR) asked its Italian counterpart and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) to explain the situation in detail, querying whether Italian police had any grounds or authority to carry out the searches. The OKR called the whole incident "extremely concerning."

Historical inaccuracy and 'human chess' - Auschwitz Memorial slams Amazon's Nazi-hunting series

RT
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 22:16 UTC

The Auschwitz Memorial in Poland has criticized Amazon's 'Hunters' for sensationalizing the suffering of inmates at the notorious Nazi death camp, in particular a gruesome game of "human chess" depicted in the new series.

The horrors of the Holocaust are extensive and well documented. However, the writers of Amazon's 'Hunters' evidently needed to make the systematic slaughter of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies and homosexuals even more comically macabre.

The show, which premiered on Amazon Prime on Saturday, stars Al Pacino as a Holocaust survivor turned Nazi hunter, tracking down German war criminals hiding in the US. Flitting between 1970s America and the death camps of World War II, the series claims to be "inspired by true events."

Student murders prompt University of Utah to overhaul campus safety

Rahma Ahmed
ABC News
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 01:31 UTC

© Rick Bowmer/AP Photo
The University of Utah campus is shown from Rice-Eccles Stadium Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, in Salt Lake City.

Two highly publicized student murders has caused one university to implement significant changes to its campus safety, including a $13 million building to house the school's police department.

Both incidents, which involved the deaths of female students at the University of Utah, sparked conversations about the safety on campus and the operations of its police department.

Lauren McCluskey, a track athlete at the university, was found dead in a parked car near a residential hall on campus in October 2018.

McCluskey's former boyfriend, Melvin Rowland, shot and killed the 21-year-old and later killed himself on the same night.

Afghanistan: UN reports over 10K civilian casualties in 2019

RFE/RL
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:12 UTC

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has reported that 3,404 civilians were killed and 6,989 were injured in violence there in 2019.

According to the report issued on February 22 by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 2019 was the sixth consecutive year that civilian casualties have topped 10,000. However, the figures marked a 5 percent drop compared to 2018.

"Almost no civilian in Afghanistan has escaped being personally affected in some way by the ongoing violence," UNAMA head Tadamichi Yamamoto said.

Yamamoto urged all sides to "seize the moment to stop the fighting. Civilian lives must be protected and efforts for peace are under way," he said.

On February 22, a partial truce came into effect across the country.

The Taliban and U.S. and Afghan forces have agreed to a "reduction in violence" for seven days, ahead of the planned signing on February 29 of a U.S.-Taliban peace deal.

Comment: See also: Pending successful reduction in violence, US-Taliban to sign deal next week

Why not punish all bad behavior? Doctor fired over 'pronoun' fears focus on 'usual victim groups' hijacks staff protection effort

RT
Sat, 22 Feb 2020 21:47 UTC

New NHS rules allow staff to deny care to patients who show racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ views, but this may lead to subjective judgement and won't protect all personnel, one NHS employee believes.

"Nobody wants to see [general practitioners] threatened, so why use the usual victim groups, and not simply have an arrangement for all bad behavior?" Dr. David Mackereth rhetorically asked as he discussed the issue with RT.

Earlier this week, the UK announced new rules for NHS that are about to take effect in April. They basically allow doctors to refuse treatment in non life-threatening cases to people who are acting in any discriminatory manner, be it racism, sexism or homophobia.

Cashin' in on wokeness: Glamour mag praised slim, now celebrates 'body positive'. One thing unchanged, women's looks targeted

Barbara McCarthy
RT
Sat, 22 Feb 2020 21:31 UTC

© Getty Images / Jeff Spicer / Leapfrog Films; Getty Images for EE / Dave Benett
(L) Harnaam Kaur, (R) Sophia Hadjipanteli

Challenging out-dated concepts, Glamour Magazine has featured 11 cover stars, the 'new faces of beauty.' If it weren't so contrived & disingenuous, it'd be lovely, but is it just trying to cash in on the body-positivity bandwagon?

The 'self-love' issue features cover stars including Sophia Hadjipanteli, owner of distinctively bushy eyebrows and founder of #UnibrowMovement, which "shook up traditional beauty standards," Chidera Eggerue, who kickstarted the #SaggyBoobsMatter campaign after years of lamenting the shape and size of her boobs and Harnaam Kaur, who, at the age of 16 became the youngest woman in the world to have a full beard. Having grown up with polycystic ovary syndrome that led to a growth of facial hair, she "defied bullies and committed to embracing her natural appearance," the magazine writes.

Tommy Robinson challenged by RT interviewer as he brings his 'Rape of Britain' lecture to Russia

RT
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 09:40 UTC

Tommy Robinson had a lively exchange with RT about his campaign to stop Muslim grooming gangs in the UK. The firebrand activist arrived in Russia to give a presentation about the "Rape of Britain."

Robinson sat down with RT's Oksana Boyko to discuss his provocative views about Islam and the alleged epidemic of Muslim grooming gangs in the United Kingdom. The former leader of the right-wing English Defense League said his theory is that Islam is incompatible with Western values, and even condones rape and pedophilia.

Boyko took issue with the idea that Islam is to blame for the grooming gangs that have come to light in the UK, arguing that the men involved are simply criminals that have distorted Islam. She said that it is dangerous to make generalizations about Islam, noting for example that it would be wrong to characterize all British citizens as rapists and plunderers, despite the British Empire carrying out unconscionable crimes against native populations in the past.

Comment: See also:

At least 10 labourers killed as landslide hits marble excavation site in Buner, Pakistan

Daily Times (Pakistan)
Sun, 23 Feb 2020 19:23 UTC

At least 10 people were killed and five others injured when a landslide hit a marble excavation site in Salarzai area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Buner district on Saturday.

According to KP Relief Department, more than 30 labourers were working at the marble mine in Bampokha village when portions of it collapsed, burying the workers under marble slabs and mounds of earth. Around a dozen labourers are still feared to be trapped under the rubble while a rescue operation is underway to recover them.

Soon after the incident, both police and rescue officials, along with the local residents, rushed to the spot and started rescue and relief works. They pulled out 14 labourers trapped under the rubble. However, 10 of them could not survive the incident, with four others sustaining serious injuries.

Peasants gathering the pitchforks: Bill de Blasio grilled by New Yorkers: 'We don't feel safe!'

John Binder
Breitbart
Thu, 20 Feb 2020 17:28 UTC

© NYC Mayors Office/Youtube
Mayor de Blasio got an earful at a town hall held in Forest Hills, New York City on February 19, 2020.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was grilled by New Yorkers who said they are fed up with the rising crime rate in the city, blaming his policies of neighborhood jails, homeless shelters in communities, and the state's new abolishment of bail for criminals deemed "non-violent."

During a town hall in Forest Hills, Queens — a community that's been inundated with de Blasio's community warehouse homeless shelters and neighborhood jails — voters slammed de Blasio for what they described as his ignoring the will and safety of working- and middle-class New Yorkers.

A lifelong resident of New York got cheers from other attendees as he called de Blasio the worst mayor ever in the city's history while blasting the mayor's office for what he said was racism against Asian Americans in the school system:

Do the 'stereotype threat' or 'internalised oppression' actually exist?

Jonathan Church
Quillette
Sat, 22 Feb 2020 00:01 UTC

Rutgers University professor and social psychologist Lee Jussim recently posted a link on Twitter to a study that found "neither an overall effect of stereotype threat on math performance, nor any moderated stereotype effects":

Comment: See also:

The primary mechanism of your oppression is not hidden at all

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Their were saints in Catholic history who most have heard about and others not so much. Now you have Saint Francis of Assisi, but you also have...

Buffalo_Ken

I have a different definition for the "global commons". It is in the definition of "the commons" definition in the link provided below. Here is a...

Buffalo_Ken

Biden the child-killer. Think of the children, vaxxers, think of the children.

hobnyeba

Thanks, all, for great comments and links. Lots to think about.

ReRan

Society's Child

'Extremely concerning': Russia's Olympic Committee and diplomats file complaints over police raid on biathletes in Italy

Historical inaccuracy and 'human chess' - Auschwitz Memorial slams Amazon's Nazi-hunting series

Student murders prompt University of Utah to overhaul campus safety

Afghanistan: UN reports over 10K civilian casualties in 2019

Why not punish all bad behavior? Doctor fired over 'pronoun' fears focus on 'usual victim groups' hijacks staff protection effort

Cashin' in on wokeness: Glamour mag praised slim, now celebrates 'body positive'. One thing unchanged, women's looks targeted

Tommy Robinson challenged by RT interviewer as he brings his 'Rape of Britain' lecture to Russia

At least 10 labourers killed as landslide hits marble excavation site in Buner, Pakistan

Peasants gathering the pitchforks: Bill de Blasio grilled by New Yorkers: 'We don't feel safe!'

Do the 'stereotype threat' or 'internalised oppression' actually exist?

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