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Open letter against 'cancel culture' backed by 'frauds,' says Glenn Greenwald after authors ironically 'outvote' him from signers list


RT
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:45 UTC
Glenn Greenwald
© Reuters / Adriano Machado
Glenn Greenwald
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has called the signatories of a letter opposing 'cancel culture' "frauds," after it emerged they canceled him from signing it.

In the now-famous 'Harper's Letter,' 150 prominent academics, journalists and public figures took a stand against what they called the creeping "ideological conformity" of the left. These figures are not right-wingers or conservatives, and there are no open supporters of President Donald Trump among them. However, there are some big names, including linguist Noam Chomsky, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald is not a signatory to the letter. Although a leftist himself, Greenwald has railed against the tyrannical aspirations of modern liberalism for years. As it turns out, cultural critic Thomas Chatterton Williams, who drafted the letter, wanted Greenwald to sign, but was "outvoted on that" by his colleagues.
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Bullseye

As lockdown loosens, more black men are stabbed in London. But Black Lives Matter has nothing to say

Damian Wilson
RT
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:35 UTC
blm protesters
© Reuters / Henry Nicholls
Despite a huge public profile and ongoing media attention, BLM fails to identify a role for itself in combating the appalling number of deaths of young black males in London from incidents of knife crime. What's its purpose then?

As pandemic lockdown restrictions were eased in London, it was very much business as usual - including the deaths by stabbing of three young black men in the English capital in the past week alone.

The loss of black sons, brothers, fathers and husbands continues unabated, pausing momentarily while society was in lockdown, then grimly resuming once we were all free to leave our homes.

In the case of talented MMA fighter Jahreau Shepherd, 30, he was knifed to death at his own birthday party. Cruelty has no respect.
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Star of David

How two seemingly unrelated events laid Israel's racism problem bare

Miko Peled
MintPress News
Wed, 15 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Beinart
© David Goldma/AP
Beinart speaks at a 2012 event in Atlanta, GA after being banned from a Jewish book festival over his criticism of Israel.
Two seemingly unrelated items hit social media recently and both received a lot of attention. The first was an article by Peter Beinart that was published in the New York Times where Beinart claims he no longer believes in a Jewish State and calls for a binational state with equal rights in Palestine. The other, a video clip showing an Israeli family riding in a car when two children approach them. The car window opens and we hear the father ask the children in Hebrew, "Who wants to feed a Bedouin?" While these two seem unrelated, there is something equally disturbing about both of them.

A Jewish home in Palestine

One might think that the epiphany experienced by yet another liberal Zionist, and one that has access to the mainstream media, should be celebrated. After all, another well known Jewish American has reached the conclusion that Palestinians deserve equal rights in their own country. However, as we read this article there are several disturbing elements that dampen the excitement.
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Heart - Black

Wounded children treated in Yemen hospital after Saudi airstrike hits residential area


RT
Thu, 16 Jul 2020 22:45 UTC
Injured child
© Ruptly
Yemeni child injured in attack
A heartbreaking video from RT's video agency Ruptly shows children undergoing treatment after a Saudi airstrike hit a residential area in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf.

The attack on Wednesday left nine people dead and almost as many wounded, with the local officials saying that most of the victims were women and children.

A doctor at the al-Jawf General Hospital told Ruptly that the facility received up to four kids after the airstrike. They suffered torn wounds to their limbs and bodies, with one small child having his face mutilated by shrapnel.

WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT

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Bullseye

Evolution Institute: Darwinism's got a PR problem


Uncommon Descent
Fri, 17 Jul 2020 17:31 UTC
darwinism
Well, they call it "evolution's" PR problem. Whether that's because they do not genuinely acknowledge any other approach to evolution is for them to say. If so, that's part of the problem, not that they would realize it in that case. Anyway, some are vexed by a 2003 study that found that the more people know about Darwinism (oops. "evolution"), the less they like it.
And so it is no wonder that students, but also many evolution educators themselves, are wary about the use of evolution to explore human behavior, cognition, and culture. The human traits we tend to hold dear and that tend to define our everyday experience - from our sense of community and self-identity, moral intuitions like fairness, empathy, and liberty, to language and thought, to music and art, to our goals and values - do not seem to lend themselves to evolutionary explanations as offered by gene-focused accounts and unidirectional organism-environment relationships. At best, evolutionary theory would seem irrelevant to understanding these traits, and at worst, evolutionary theory would seem to imply that such traits can not be a part of the rational individual nature of our species.

Susan Hanisch, Dustin Eirdosh, "It's Time to Fix Evolution's Public Relations Problem" at The Evolution Institute
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Sheriff

CBP says Portland protester in viral 'kidnapping' clip was assault & vandalism suspect, avers officers wore identifying insignia


RT
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 17:10 UTC
portland blm rioters police tear gas
© Reuters / Terray Sylvester
Police disperse protesters rallying against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Portland, Oregon, June 13, 2020
The US Customs and Border Protection agency has taken credit for a Portland protester's hot-button arrest this week, saying the man was a criminal suspect, while refuting claims he was 'kidnapped' by agents wearing no insignia.

The CBP sought to address the incident in a statement on Friday, noting that the protester arrested one day prior was suspected of vandalism and attacks on agents amid anti-police brutality demonstrations, which it said were organized by "violent anarchists."

"CBP agents had information indicating the person... was suspected of assaults against federal agents or destruction of federal property," the agency said, adding that "once CBP agents approached the suspect, a large and violent mob moved toward their location."

Comment: The Democrats immediately moved to wilfully misunderstand the situation and attempt to make hay of it:
Four Democratic lawmakers from the state - US Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as well as US House members Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici - called for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to probe the "violent actions of federal forces in Portland" on Friday.

Like Mayor Ted Wheeler, who said on Tuesday that his biggest worry was the tactics that federal law enforcement officers were using against protesters, Oregon's representatives in Congress took a swipe at the Trump administration's role in quelling the unrest.

"DHS and DOJ are engaged in acts that are horrific and outrageous in our constitutional democratic republic," Merkley said. Wyden referred to federal forces as an "occupying army."
Local officials also wanted a piece of the virtue-signal action:
[Oregon Attorney General Ellen] Rosenblum announced on Friday night that the Oregon Department of Justice had filed a lawsuit in federal court against the DHS, US Marshals Service, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Federal Protection Service. The suit claims federal law enforcement agencies have been wrongfully seizing protesters and seeks a temporary restraining order which would prohibit them from using such tactics, local media reported.

"The federal administration has chosen Portland to use their scare tactics to stop our residents from protesting police brutality and from supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Every American should be repulsed when they see this happening. If this can happen here in Portland, it can happen anywhere," the state attorney general said.

The lawsuit comes one day after interim DHS chief Chad Wolf met with law enforcement officials in Portland. Tweeting about his visit, Wolf vowed that his agency would "never surrender to violent extremists."

[...]

The presence of federal officers has been condemned by several other senior Oregon officials. Governor Kate Brown, Portland Mayor Ted Wheelers, and Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley called for a probe into the methods deployed by federal agents operating in the city. US Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams later announced that he would investigate the matter. He acknowledged, however, that the officers have a mandate to protect federal property, and have been attacked by protesters using "commercial fireworks, laser strikes, glass, mortars" and other projectiles.
Well thank goodness for that . . .

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Che Guevara

Leader of radical black-only militia NFAC 'believes in violence' & wants a real-life Wakanda for every black person in America

Chris Sweeney
RT
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 17:15 UTC
NFAC
© NFAC
NFAC, the masked, armed black militia that recently marched through a park in Georgia, deems violence and killing an acceptable response to oppression. Their end goal is to break away from the US as their own black-only nation.


Comment: In other words they're the black version of alt-right rejects: ethno-nationalists.


The NFAC (Not F*cking Around Coalition) grabbed plenty of attention on social media with a high-profile public debut on July 4. The sight of an all-black militia, clutching rifles and handguns, marching in the heartland of the Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain caused plenty of ripples.

But very little is known about them, despite a frenzy of speculation. It's not even clear when they were created or how many of them there are.

So to make their intentions clear, NFAC founder and leader Grand Master Jay (real name John Fitzgerald Johnson) spoke exclusively to RT.
There's a misconception that we're a terrorist group and want to kill white people.
"We are here to protect the black community, as that's who is under attack. Nobody is protecting black children, men and women in America. What necessitated the creation of NFAC was the need to address a rising tide of police brutality, of racial brutality, of unfairness in the judicial system," he said.

"Most of us like me are ex-miliitary, we're not young people on the block, we're voters, we're your responsible guys, we're the guys with the good jobs."
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Light Saber

Andrew Sullivan: See you next Friday

Andrew Sullivan
New York Magazine
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 16:50 UTC
andrew sullivan new york magazine
© Stephen Voss
Andrew Sullivan, creator and writer of The Daily Dish.
A farewell letter

The good news is that my last column in this space is not about "cancel culture." Well, almost. I agree with some of the critics that it's a little nuts to say I've just been "canceled," sent into oblivion and exile for some alleged sin. I haven't. I'm just no longer going to be writing for a magazine that has every right to hire and fire anyone it wants when it comes to the content of what it wants to publish.

The quality of my work does not appear to be the problem. I have a long essay in the coming print magazine on how plagues change societies, after all. I have written some of the most widely read essays in the history of the magazine, and my column has been popular with readers. And I have no complaints about my interaction with the wonderful editors and fact-checkers here — and, in fact, am deeply grateful for their extraordinary talent, skill, and compassion. I've been in the office maybe a handful of times over four years, and so there's no question of anyone mistreating me or vice versa. In fact, I've been proud and happy to be a part of this venture.

Comment: SOTT has carried thoughtful articles by Andrew Sullivan over the years. We congratulate him on his bid for press freedom and wish him every success.

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Dig

Workmen destroy 1700-year-old Buddha statue in Pakistan - arrested for breaking antiquity laws


RFE/RL
Sat, 18 Jul 2020 16:55 UTC
pakistan buddha

The life-sized statue was smashed with a sledgehammer in the northwestern town of Takhbhai.
Criminal charges are being pursued after a 1,700-year-old statue of Buddha was deliberately destroyed by construction workers in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Video of workers smashing the life-sized statue with a sledgehammer in the town of Takhbhai went viral on July 17.

The destruction of the statue, which had been discovered on the grounds of a home construction site, led to widespread condemnation and prompted the regional archeology department to file a criminal report against the perpetrators.

Abdul Samad, general director of the archeology department, told RFE/RL on July 18 that the statue was destroyed by a local contractor and that five people had been arrested for breaking antiquity laws.

Samad added that the statue was completely destroyed.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province was the the site of the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, and Takhbhai, located in the Pashtun tribal region's Mardan district, is considered a major regional site of Buddhist civilization.

Afrasiab Khattak, a former parliamentarian, wrote on Twitter on July 18 that the incident was part of a "systematic effort to separate Pashtun identity from Buddha."

Comment: Ignorant savages.



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Alarm Clock

DC museum slammed for saying 'delayed gratification' and 'decision-making' are aspects of 'whiteness'

Sam Dorman
Fox News
Thu, 16 Jul 2020 16:22 UTC
museum african american history protest BLM
© Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla
People march from The National Museum of African American History and Culture to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to mark the Juneteenth holiday June 19, 2020 in Washington, DC
'White people still hold most of the institutional power in America,' it states

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) received a wave of backlash from some quarters on Twitter Wednesday after publishing a graphic linking things like the nuclear family and self-reliance to whiteness.

The graphic, which is part of a "talking about race" article on the taxpayer-funded museum's website, discusses how white dominant culture, or whiteness, have instilled a long list of values in the U.S. "Since white people still hold most of the institutional power in America, we have all internalized some aspects of white culture -- including people of color," it reads.

The museum's graphic breaks the "aspects and assumptions of whiteness" into categories such as "rugged individualism" and "history."

Comment: Funny. Not just one generation ago, the values decried by the NMAACH were celebrated as something to be aspired to.

Valuing time, work & Christian principles are 'white people' things? US citizens' taxes fund museum promoting crackpot 'anti-racism' theories

On Peggy MacIntosh, who set the whole mess in motion three decades ago: Still, voices in the wilderness are growing louder:

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