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Clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque as Palestinian celebrations for Eid al-Adha coincide with Jewish holiday

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 16:17 UTC
al aqsa clashes
© Ahmad Gharbali/AFP/Getty Images
Thousands of Palestinians gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Sunday to celebrate the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha clashed with Israeli police who fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades fired into crowds of worshippers.

Videos circulated on social media of Israeli police shoving and beating Palestinians, and firing tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets, and of Palestinians throwing stones.

The Associated press reported 14 Palestinians were treated in a hospital for injuries and Palestinians injured four Israeli police officers. Police reportedly arrested two Palestinians.

According to local media reports, tensions first flared in the morning Israeli forces established a heavy presence inside the compound and opened one of the gates, seemingly in preparation to allow Jewish visitors into the site for observance of the Jewish holiday of Tish B'av, which also fell on Sunday.
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Windsock

Greta the eco-grouch has no patience for democracy or your lifestyle

Jonathan S. Tobin
The Federalist
Mon, 05 Aug 2019 00:01 UTC
Greta Thunberg
How an intolerant teenage environmental scold now sailing to America is helping transform the left while attacking democracy and the global economy.

The heroine of the environmental movement is on her way. Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish celebrity protester, has finally figured out a way to bring her extremist message to the New World.

Thunberg, who has been the focus of adulatory coverage throughout Europe and in mainstream American outlets such as CNN, the New York Times, and a cover story in Time magazine, is a teenage sensation leading a movement of angry European children.

Thunberg and her fans are demanding that their country's governments act to stop global warming.

Comment: That the press are treating Thunberg as "a role model rather than an angry teenager armed with only a rudimentary understanding of science and none of economics and democracy," really says it all. They're looking for an absolutist with black and white 'solutions' without any discussion permitted. Kill the nuance, march in the radical change with no discussion, kill the nonbelievers.

See also:

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Road Cone

Moscow orders probe into officers who 'punched' woman during unsanctioned protest


RT
Mon, 12 Aug 2019 12:09 UTC
Moscow police
© REUTERS / Shamil Zhumatov
FILE PHOTO. Moscow police officers.
A young woman from Moscow, who was apparently punched in the stomach by an officer, says she's seeking justice for alleged police brutality. Caught on camera, the incident sparked outrage, and is now being probed by authorities.

Darya Sosnovskaya was detained last Saturday amid police action targeting an unsanctioned opposition march in central Moscow. Footage shows two police officers in riot gear dragging her through the street. One of them tries to pick up a baton, which he apparently dropped earlier, without releasing his hold on the woman. One of her legs apparently gets in his way, and he appears to respond by punching her in the abdomen.

Sosnovskaya says she was a victim of police brutality. On Monday, she filed a complaint with Russia's Investigative Committee, requesting a probe into the alleged abuse of power. The woman said she was not part of the unsanctioned march but rather a bystander who was targeted by the police after complaining about the way they were detaining another person. She said in addition to a bruise she got from the punch, her head was also injured when the officers were forcing her to get into a truck with other detained people.

Comment: RFE/RL reports further:
Russia's National Guard is distancing itself from video footage that shows a uniformed officer punch a detained female protester in the stomach during an August 10 demonstration in Moscow.

The Moscow-based Govorit Moskva radio station on August 12 quoted a National Guard statement as saying that "the employees in the video footage do not belong to Russian National Guard's units."

The statement did not specify which law enforcement unit the officers belong to.

"The Interior Ministry's Moscow Department has ordered a probe into the use of force against a girl detained for violating public order during the August 10 unauthorized rally," the unnamed spokesman told Russian news agency TASS. "All those responsible would be held accountable."

Russian officers are rarely disciplined for using excessive and disproportionate force against demonstrators.


On August 11, Russian civil-rights lawyer Pavel Chikov of the legal-aid group Agora offered a reward of 100,000 rubles ($1,526) for help identifying the officer who punched Sosnovskaya.

"It doesn't matter if the investigations establish the concrete person who caused the harm. He is a representative of the state. Regardless of the outcome, the Russian state will have to pay. And we will make it happen for sure," Chikov said.

Police and other security officers have been criticized in Russia and abroad for their rough treatment of peaceful protesters in Moscow during the past month, including beating them with clubs.


The independent rights watchdog OVD-Info says more than 350 people were detained across Russia on August 10 during protests against the refusal of election officials to register several opposition candidates for Moscow's municipal elections.

Seventy-nine people were detained in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, 13 in Rostov-on-Don, two in Bryansk, and two in Syktyvkar.

At previous protests in Moscow, police detained about 1,400 people on July 27 and more than 1,000 people on August 3.

Russian President Vladimir Putin created the National Guard in April 2016 to fight terrorism and organized crime. It is headed by Viktor Zolotov, a former steelworker who had been the head of the presidential security service from 2000 to 2013.

Russia's National Guard reports directly to Putin.
Russia has proven that it is more than willing to investigate and punish authorities who abuse their positions; the arrest of prison guards who tortured an inmate, as well as the unlawful arrest of a journalist who was exposing police corruption are just two examples. In the West, similar examples of justice being meted out are few and far between; relentless and infamous US police brutality is one example, another would be the dead, and tens of people blinded and maimed during the Yellow Vest protests in France, brutality that was condemned by the West's very own Amnesty International.

Moreover, it's important to remember that these Moscow protesters are the likely pawns in a more sinister scheme, as is also happening in Hong Kong:

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Sheriff

Who Inflicts The Most Gun Violence in America? The U.S. Government And Its Police Forces

John Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Mon, 12 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
US police state
"It is often the case that police shootings, incidents where law enforcement officers pull the trigger on civilians, are left out of the conversation on gun violence. But a police officer shooting a civilian counts as gun violence. Every time an officer uses a gun against an innocent or an unarmed person contributes to the culture of gun violence in this country." — Journalist Celisa Calacal
Yes, gun violence is a problem in America, although violent crime generally remains at an all-time low.

Yes, mass shootings are a problem in America, although while they are getting deadlier, they are not getting more frequent.

Yes, mentally ill individuals embarking on mass shooting sprees are a problem in America.

However, tighter gun control laws and so-called "intelligent" background checks fail to protect the public from the most egregious perpetrator of gun violence in America: the U.S. government.

Consider that five years after police shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old man in Ferguson, Missouri, there has been no relief from the government's gun violence.

Here's what we've learned about the government's gun violence since Ferguson, according to The Washington Post: If you're a black American, you've got a greater chance of being shot by police. If you're an unarmed black man, you're four times more likely to be killed by police than an unarmed white man. Most people killed by police are young men. Since 2015, police have shot and killed an average of 3 people per day. More than 2,500 police departments have shot and killed at least one person since 2015. And while the vast majority of people shot and killed by police are armed, their weapons ranged from guns to knives to toy guns.

Clearly, the U.S. government is not making America any safer.

Comment: See also:

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People 2

After El Paso and Dayton, the left needs to reach out to men, not condemn them

Iman Amrani
The Guardian
Thu, 08 Aug 2019 17:00 UTC
Patrick Crusius El Paso shooting suspect
© REX/Shutterstock
‘It isn’t about sympathy or excuses, it is about identifying patterns and breaking them.’ Patrick Crusius, El Paso shooting suspect, pictured after his arrest.
A lot of young men seem to be lost and disenfranchised, but only the likes of Jordan Peterson are engaging with them

A horrific act of violence takes several innocent lives, a frantic live-stream details the events, terrifying mobile footage spreads rapidly online. Then come the tweets of condemnation from world leaders, followed by an onslaught of outrage split down partisan lines.

The way that shootings, or suicide bombings, or knife attacks are politicised depending on the backgrounds of the perpetrators and the victims shows how successful these acts are in deepening the divisions in society. And that is one of the intentions that the perpetrators share, no matter their race or politics.

Comment: It's rather stunning that a lefty rag like the Guardian is actually printing something positive about Jordan Peterson. Could it be that they're seeing beyond their partisan politics and actually listening?

See also:

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Sherlock

Knife attack by man screaming "Allahu akbar" in Sydney, Australia - UPDATE: Woman's body found in apartment near to attack


CBS
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 04:27 UTC
sydney police
Australian police and witnesses said a knife-wielding man yelling "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," attempted to stab several people in downtown Sydney on Tuesday before being arrested. At least one woman was brought to a hospital.

Police said later that "all the evidence points to" a man with mental health issues lashing out, but they would not rule out any potential motives as the investigation was still at an early stage. Given the information they had, however, they said the incident was not being classed as terrorism and that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.

Witnesses say the man, wielding a long knife, tried to stab multiple people near a busy intersection. New South Wales state police said in a statement that the man was caught and the woman was in stable condition.

Comment: More footage and reporting from the incident:



RT provides more detail on the woman's body that was found and how it's likely to be linked to the two other women that were attack that day:
Police found a woman's body inside an apartment complex in Australia's most populous city. Her death is said to be "linked" to the stabbing attack during which the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" before being arrested.

The woman's body was discovered with a slit throat, police confirmed to multiple news outlets. It happened hours after a man armed with a knife went on a rampage in Sydney, injuring two female bystanders. Police believe the body is "linked" to this incident.

The suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "shoot me" before a group of locals subdued and pinned him to the ground. He was then arrested and is now in custody.

One of the victims was hospitalized after she was stabbed in the back. Her condition is said to be stable. Another later came to the police station after being slashed in the hand.

The body was found inside the building on Clarence Street, which is not far from where the stabbing attack occurred.

According to multiple news outlets, the suspect is Mert Nay, a resident of one of Sydney's suburbs. The police are said to be searching his house.


Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the attack "deeply concerning" and said the suspect's motive "has not yet been determined" by police.


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Stock Down

Middle class death spiral: Consumers have never been in more debt, and bankruptcies are surging

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Mon, 12 Aug 2019 05:16 UTC
middle class death spiral
This wasn't supposed to happen. During the relative economic stability of the past few years, the middle class was supposed to experience a resurgence, but instead it has just continued to be hollowed out. The cost of living has risen much faster than wages have, and as a result hard working families all over America are being stretched financially like never before. Even though most of us are working, 59 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, and almost 50 million Americans are living in poverty. In a desperate attempt to continue their middle class lifestyles, many Americans have been piling up mountains of debt, and it has gotten to the point where we have a major crisis on our hands.

According to the New York Post, the total amount of debt that U.S. households have accumulated is about to cross the 14 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever...
Meanwhile, record American household debt, near $14 trillion including mortgages and student loans, is some $1 trillion higher than during the Great Recession of 2008. Credit card debt of $1 trillion also exceeds the 2008 peak.

Americans are spending heavily, again — and often recklessly, say analysts.
This is the exact opposite of what U.S. consumers should be doing. We can see signs of a fresh economic slowdown all around us, and consumers should be feverishly trying to get out of debt as fast as they can.

Comment: See also:

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Headphones

Facebook paid contractors to transcribe users' audio chats

Sarah Frier
Bloomberg
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 19:41 UTC
facebook review
Facebook Inc. has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe clips of audio from users of its services, according to people with knowledge of the work.

The work has rattled the contract employees, who are not told where the audio was recorded or how it was obtained -- only to transcribe it, said the people, who requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. They're hearing Facebook users' conversations, sometimes with vulgar content, but do not know why Facebook needs them transcribed, the people said.

Facebook confirmed that it had been transcribing users' audio and said it will no longer do so, following scrutiny into other companies. "Much like Apple and Google, we paused human review of audio more than a week ago," the company said Tuesday. The company said the users who were affected chose the option in Facebook's Messenger app to have their voice chats transcribed. The contractors were checking whether Facebook's artificial intelligence correctly interpreted the messages, which were anonymized.

Big tech companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. have come under fire for collecting audio snippets from consumer computing devices and subjecting those clips to human review, a practice that critics say invades privacy. Bloomberg first reported in April that Amazon had a team of thousands of workers around the world listening to Alexa audio requests with the goal of improving the software, and that similar human review was used for Apple's Siri and Alphabet Inc.'s Google Assistant. Apple and Google have since said they no longer engage in the practice and Amazon said it will let users opt out of human review.

Comment: See also:

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Alarm Clock

Argentina in major financial crisis as stock market plunges 48% in one day

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
argentina crash
We are watching a complete and utter financial meltdown unfold in Argentina, and many are concerned that the panic could start spreading elsewhere. When you go into way too much debt and you just keep devaluing your currency, this sort of thing is inevitably going to happen, and this is why I am endlessly criticizing the path that the United States is currently on. If we do not reverse course, we will end up just like them. On Monday, we witnessed the second largest one day stock market decline that we have seen anywhere in the world since 1950. It is hard to believe, but the most important stock market index in Argentina actually plummeted 48 percent in a single trading session...
The S&P Merval Index plummeted 48% Monday, the second-largest single-day drop in any global stock market since 1950, according to Bloomberg. The Argentine peso also declined, losing 15% of its value against the US dollar Monday and falling further Tuesday to a new low.
This is what a financial implosion looks like, and it wasn't supposed to happen. In fact, we are being told that there was only a .006% chance that such a sell-off would take place...
There was a 99.994% probability that an event like Monday's sell-off in Argentina wouldn't happen.

But it did. And it served to underscore the need for investors to protect against extreme events that look very unlikely but can have outsize impact if they do occur.
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Red Flag

New law signed by Democratic governor requires Illinois public schools teach LGBTQ history before students reach 8th grade

Amanda Woods
NY Post
Tue, 13 Aug 2019 20:07 UTC
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
© Getty Images
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
Illinois public schools will be required to teach about the contributions of LGBTQ people across the state and the country — under a new law approved by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The law, signed by Pritzker last week, mandates that the history curriculum in schools across the state include lessons spotlighting noteworthy lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, according to the Chicago Tribune.

As part of the new curriculum — set to launch in 2020 — the LGBTQ-focused lessons must be taught before the students reach the eighth grade, according to the report.

All textbooks "must include the roles and contributions of all people protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act and must be non-discriminatory as to any of the characteristics under the Act," the bill states.
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