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RT's The Wokies: The 2020 Wokeness Grand Champions


RT
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:04 UTC
wokies awards rt cancel culture
© RT
We've been building up to this, shoveling through a year's worth of virtue signaling to remember those who made 2020 unforgettable in its wokeness. Now, it's time for the final countdown.

'Woke' became word of the year in 2019, according to Global Language Monitor, but it was (as we had predicted) in 2020 that global wokeness reached its peak. Not in its initial, benevolent meaning of being 'alert to social injustice', but in the sense of logic-defying nonsense and faux virtue, a contest of who shouts the loudest and stands up the tallest on the back of racism, sexism, and a plethora of other social issues.

We have awarded 60 Wokies so far, in categories from art and entertainment to business. What follows is the absolute top 5 of 2020 across several spheres of life.
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Magnify

Bus attack in Syria's Deir ez-Zor kills 25, injures 13


Sputnik
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:41 UTC
bus attack syria
© Twitter
According to SANA News the attack occurred at about 4pm local time. The media outlet did not specify other circumstances of the incident, which it dubbed "a terrorist attack".

Some 25 civilians have been killed and thirteen others injured after a bus was attacked on the M20 highway in the Deir ez-Zor province of Syria, SANA News reported on Wednesday.

The attack reportedly took place near the town of Kobajjep. The SANA correspondent earlier said that the death toll was 28 and the number of injured eight.

Comment: See also:

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USA

Murder rates soar across the US in 2020, nearly double in some cities

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Tue, 29 Dec 2020 12:00 UTC
New York City
© Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
We have seen spikes in certain major cities before, but there has never been a year quite like this. In 2020, murder rates have been soaring dramatically from coast to coast, and many are deeply concerned about what our big metropolitan areas will look like if this trend continues into 2021 and beyond. The civil unrest that erupted in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd certainly contributed to the rising numbers, but authorities have been shocked that murder rates have remained so elevated all year long. Americans are killing Americans in record numbers, and nobody seems to have a solution to this growing national crisis.

Let's take a look at some of the hard numbers. In New York City, the number of murders has risen 41 percent compared to 2019...

Comment: There are a number of factors to consider, and they include the redirection of police resources, budget cuts, the deteriorating economic situation that is years in the making, and then there's the lockdowns that have destroyed businesses, opportunities, and are, overall, tearing society apart.

As we said at the outset of the Covid-19 scamdemic, it will break civilization. The elites believe they can 'fix it' via their 'resets' and 'climate agendas', but they can't. It's all over bar the crying.

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Pirates

Reports of police moving in on Antifa hotel occupation near Seattle

Ari Hoffman
The Post Millennial
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 20:53 UTC
travelodge antifa washington

Police are onsite at the Travelodge in Fife Washington near Tacoma where Antifa activists have been illegally squatting since Christmas Day.
Fife police are onsite at the Travelodge in Fife, Washington near Tacoma, where Antifa activists have been illegally squatting since Christmas Day.


Comment: What kind of action was this on the part of Antifa? How were these actions "anti-fascist"? From these seats, it looks a whole lot like freeloading.

See also:

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Bad Guys

The Great Reset: The final assault on the living planet

Cory Morningstar
Wrong Kind of Green
Sat, 28 Nov 2020 07:55 UTC
Part three. This is the final segment of a three-part investigative series. [Part 1] [Part 2]

Artificial intelligence, Automation - & Cyberwarfare

imperative 21 - 1
Announced at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit on October 21, 2019, the Imperative 21 RESET campaign was launched to the public on September 13, 2020. A front campaign of The Business Roundtable, the six founding coalition partners are The B Team, JUST Capital, B Lab, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), Inclusive Capitalism and Conscious Capitalism. [Further reading: The Business Roundtable/CURT a Systematic Destruction of Labor]
"It's an unprecedented coalition of business networks that have come together to raise our ambition. Not just to help our individual CEOs succeed, we'll do that for sure. But to actually bring their voices together to help shift culture. So that the pushback on the BRT [Business Roundtable] from different business publications or other people within the business community lessens. So there's less of a headwind culturally for this type of leadership."

— Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab and B Corporations [Source]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is described as, "systems that combine sophisticated hardware and software with elaborate databases and knowledge-based processing models to demonstrate characteristics of effective human decision making." [Source] The World Economic Forum recognizes AI as "the engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution". [Source] AI as applied/ utilized by social media platforms is trained with an objective and exploitative function: target users with ads for maximum ad revenue, by highlighting the newsfeed ensuring users remain on the platform for as many hours, minutes and seconds as possible. This function is highlighted by The Social Dilemma, while, ultimately, the sole function of every corporation, that of increasing revenues and maximizing profits - ad infinitum, is kept opaque.
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Heart - Black

Journalists' behavior over Congressman-elect Luke Letlow's passing is abhorrent - and telling

Ellen Carmichael
National Review
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 07:26 UTC
Luke Letlow and family
© KATC
In no other health circumstance would such brutality toward the afflicted be tolerated

On Tuesday evening, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow's (R., La.) family announced that he passed away at the age of 41 due to complications from COVID-19. He left behind a young family, including two small children, as well as a vast network of friends in Louisiana and Washington, D.C., all devastated by his passing.

Some progressive Twitter activists and left-wing reporters couldn't wait to begin their grave-dancing. Letlow deserved to die, they mused, because he didn't take COVID seriously enough. They scoured his online presence to find any proof that he engaged in so-called "denialism."
Some, such as Vox's Aaron Rupar, pointed to an October video where the then-candidate had the audacity to advocate for reopening the economy while maintaining state and federal precautions on coronavirus. Molly Jong-Fast of The Daily Beast also shared the video. Hundreds of their followers joined in, blaming Letlow for his own death and expressing that he was unworthy of pity because of his politics. For them, his death was further proof that those who dare propose policy prescriptions that differ from their own, no matter how rational or mainstream they may be, just have it coming to them.

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Heart - Black

Despairing America: The astonishing psychological cost of lockdown

Sandy Szwarc
American Institute For Economic Research
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
lockdown graphic
Recently, a series of special health alerts and reports have come out warning of growing numbers of people and a country at the breaking point. Sadly, little of that information has reached the public.

American people are crying out for help and dying − not from a virus with an "infection fatality rate" of 0.15-0.2% across all age groups, and 0.03 to 0.04% in those under 70 years old. (This means, 99.96% of nearly everyone who gets the virus lives.) No, the desperation and distress are in response to the government's unprecedented mandates and lockdowns.

Masking, isolation, business closures, shuttered churches, ended normal school classes, seniors confined secluded in nursing homes, people left to die alone in hospitals, sporting events ended, music silenced, jobs and livelihoods destroyed. American life has been cancelled - from Easter to Memorial Day, 4th of July to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now New Year's..

Many people have lost everything and now face losing their country. The level of despair is palpable. Growing numbers have lost the ability to cope.

What would happen as a result of these unprecedented government mandates was well known. They cannot say they didn't know or that it wasn't anticipated.

Comment: The stark ignorance "informing" the mandates, the lockdowns, and all the rest - amounts to criminal negligence.

See also:

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Pirates

Seattle Antifa group demands government pay for rooms in motel takeover

Bob Price
Breitbart
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 02:13 UTC
Travelodge in Fife, WA
© Screenshot via King5 News
An Antifa group in Seattle explains how they are helping a local motel owner by not paying rent. The group is occupying 15 of the Travelodge's rooms after checking in and paying only the first night's rent.

A spokesperson for a Seattle-area Antifa group known as Tacoma Housing Now said they are trying to help the owner of a Fife, Washington, Travelodge by occupying rooms that could otherwise be booked to someone else, according to a video tweeted by KING5 reporter Sebastian Robertson.


"We paid for the first night and now we're demanding that the city and county pay for the other nights we've been here," spokesperson Rebecca Parson told the reporter.
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Attention

Locked out: DC hotel where Proud Boys often stayed will close Jan. 4 to 6 during Trump rally

Gary Du
The Epoch Times
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 00:16 UTC
proud boys washington dc december 2020
© Erin Scott/Reuters
Police officers stand in formation to separate members of the Proud Boys and counter protesters in downtown Washington on Dec. 12, 2020.
Hotel Harrington in Washington, D.C., where the Proud Boys often stayed in the past few months, announced it would be closed during the pro-Trump demonstration planned for next week for the safety of visitors and employees.

The hotel said in a statement posted on Facebook on Monday that the venue will be closed from Jan. 4-6 to all visitors except long-term dwellers. Management said the hotel would organize refunds for all visitors who have made pre-paid reservations.

Comment:

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Yoda

Heroes of scholarship: Top 10 ACADEMIC targets of cancel culture in 2020


RT
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 22:46 UTC
Washington Square NYU new york city
© Wikipedia
Washington Square Park, with its gateway arch, is surrounded largely by NYU buildings and plays an integral role in the University's campus life.
This year, attempts to defenestrate people for voicing their opinions reached new heights of absurdity. And academia was no exception. This list comprises the top 10 academic targets of cancel culture, as selected by yours truly.

Academics are supposed to be engaged in the disinterested pursuit of truth. And universities are meant to be places where you attack the argument, not the man. But in recent years, many scholars in the English-speaking world have found themselves embroiled in controversies just for expressing an unorthodox opinion or - in one case - pronouncing a Chinese word correctly. The individuals below were all targeted for cancellation in 2020. Some were investigated by their employers, others lost book contracts, speaking engagements and even university positions.
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