Welcome to Sott.net
Thu, 04 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Music

Internet sensation: Chinese principal abandons typical calisthenics and leads his students in a shuffle dance

Chinese school dancers
A bold primary school principal in northern China has abandoned the government's daily exercise programme and is trying to get his pupils moving with a modern dance routine instead.

Video footage of the 40-year-old principal, Zhang Pengfei - dressed in black and with a microphone in hand - leading his pupils through an energetic shuffle dance routine has been widely circulated online. One clip on Facebook was viewed seven million times in one day.

Along with beaming children, teachers are also seen in the video taking part in the dance workout in front of Xi Guan Primary School in Linyi county, Shanxi province.

Behind them, one of the slogans on the two-storey school building reads: "Enjoy happy education".

Handcuffs

Egypt: Anti-LGBT TV host jailed for interview with a gay man

rainbow flag
© AFP / Dibyanghi Sarkar
An Egyptian TV host known for expressing views against LGBT issues in the past has instead been jailed for promoting the gay lifestyle. The sentence stems from a 2018 on-air interview with a gay man about his life.

Mohamed Al-Gheiti was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 3,000 Egyptian pounds ($176) by the Misdemeanors Court in Giza, after he was charged with a litany of crimes including the promotion of homosexuality, incitement to debauchery, and immorality and contempt of religion, the Egypt Independent reported on Sunday.

Once released, he will be placed under surveillance for another year.

He was sentenced for a controversial interview last August, when Gheiti spoke to a gay man about his life, which included his job as a sex worker as well as his relationship with another man.

Info

Statement of Nick Sandmann, infamous 'smirking teenager', regarding incident at the Lincoln Memorial

nick sandmann lincoln memorial
I am providing this factual account of what happened on Friday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial to correct misinformation and outright lies being spread about my family and me.

I am the student in the video who was confronted by the Native American protestor. I arrived at the Lincoln Memorial at 4:30 p.m. I was told to be there by 5:30 p.m., when our busses were due to leave Washington for the trip back to Kentucky. We had been attending the March for Life rally, and then had split up into small groups to do sightseeing.

When we arrived, we noticed four African American protestors who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I am not sure what they were protesting, and I did not interact with them. I did hear them direct derogatory insults at our school group.

Comment: This is a good illustration of how the outrage mob will fly off the handle about a perceived social injustice without having the whole story (or even the better part of it). Face it, if these kids weren't mostly white and wearing MAGA hats, this 'incident' would not have made the news.


Car Black

Motorist pulls Prince Philip from his wrecked car near Sandringham Estate - UPDATE

Prince Philip
© Steve Parsons/PA Wire
The Duke of Edinburgh, 97, who was left "very shocked" and shaken when the Land Rover Discovery was involved in a collision near the Queen's Sandringham estate on Thursday afternoon.
The Duke of Edinburgh is recovering following a horrific car crash that saw his car overturn.

Prince Philip was left "shocked and shaken" but unhurt following the collision on the A149 near Sandringham, Norfolk, yesterday afternoon.

Motorist Roy Warne witnesses the crash and has told how he helped the 97-year-old get out of his wrecked Land Rover through the sunroof.

He said the Range Rover collided with another vehicle before rolling all the way over and coming to a rest on its side.

Mr Warne, 75, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was driving home and I saw a car - a black Range Rover - come out from a side road and it rolled and ended up on the other side of the road and there was a huge collision with another car.

Comment: 20th January 2019

AP reported yesterday, that the UK police have spoken with Prince Philip about the crash after being photographed driving without a seatbelt:
British police have spoken with Prince Philip after the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was photographed apparently driving without wearing a seatbelt - just two days after he was involved in a serious car crash.

British media on Saturday published a photograph showing the 97-year-old royal driving a new Land Rover near the royal residence at Sandringham in eastern England.

Norfolk Police said "suitable words of advice have been given to the driver."

Police said the advice given to Philip was "in line with our standard response when being made aware of such images showing this type of offense."


You can be sure that Prince Philip was not treated like just another citizen...


Buckingham Palace didn't comment on the images.

Philip was driving another Land Rover when he was involved in a violent collision on Thursday in which two women in a Kia car were injured. A 9-month-old baby boy in the Kia was unhurt. Philip had to be helped out of his overturned vehicle but wasn't injured.

The palace said Friday that Philip and the queen had privately contacted the other people in the crash and exchanged good wishes.

But Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist in the collision, told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that she had not heard from the palace.

"I still haven't had any contact from the royal household," she said. "Maybe he should prioritize that over test driving his new car."

The 46-year-old said "it would mean the world to me" if Philip offered an apology.

Police haven't disclosed who was at fault for the crash, which happened after Philip drove onto a main road from a side road near the royal family's Sandringham estate, 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London.

The queen and Philip have been on an extended Christmas break in Sandringham, their holiday tradition for many years.

Philip has been in generally good health and was photographed in December driving a horse-drawn carriage. He has largely retired from public life but still is occasionally seen at family occasions with the queen.

The accident - and Philip's subsequent driving apparently without using a seatbelt - is raising questions about his continued use of public roadways.

Buckingham Palace says Philip has a valid driver's license. There is no upper age limit for licensing drivers in Britain, although drivers over 70 are required to renew their licenses every three years and tell authorities about any medical conditions that might raise safety issues.

Philip passed a vision test Saturday as part of the investigation into the accident.
The Mirror provides more details on the crash itself and the testimony of the other driver:
She tells the Sunday Mirror: "I'm lucky to be alive and he hasn't even said sorry.

"It has been such a traumatic and painful time and I would have expected more of the Royal Family.

"It could have been so much worse. Prince Philip apparently said to a witness that it was the sun that dazzled him but I can't see how that could be true when it was overcast."

The accident happened on Thursday near Sandringham - where Emma often visits on Christmas Day to catch a glimpse of the royals.

With her arm in plaster, the shaken mum went on: "I love the royals but I've been ignored and rejected and I'm in a lot of pain.

"It would mean the world to me if Prince Philip said sorry but I have no idea if he's sorry at all.
emma prince philip crash
© Stan Kujawa/Mirrorpix
Emma's broken wrist may need an operation
"What would it have taken for him and the Queen to send me a card and a bunch of flowers?"

Emma claims she received a phone call from police but had heard nothing from the royals or their household.

She says: "I was just advised not to speak to anyone and told to expect a call from the Palace yesterday.

"I know the Queen is a busy lady but I was really excited at the idea she might phone me.

"Instead, I got a call from a police family liaison officer.

"The message he passed on didn't even make sense. He said, 'The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you.' That's not an apology or even a well-wish."

That was all about to change. They set off for home at around 2.30pm and horror struck just 30 minutes later.

Emma recalls: "We could see the Land Rover about 150 yards away from us at a junction, then it started to move.

"The speed limit was 60mph but my friend was doing no more than 50mph. I kept thinking he was going to stop but he didn't.

"It all went into slow motion as I watched the other car. As we approached I could make out that it was an elderly driver.

"My friend was braking and seemed so in control but I was terrified.

"But then we crashed. I don't think the vehicle spun, it just pushed straight across the road.

"Then it was just disbelief. I was in shock."

In the aftermath of the accident, terrified Emma tells how she repeatedly screamed from the front seat: "Get the baby out!"

He went to hospital later for precautionary checks and the Palace said he had "no injuries of concern".

Emma claims other onlookers told her that the prince had been advised by those around him not to apologise to her in person at the scene.

She says: "Someone told me Prince Philip had been keen to talk to me but a number of people advised him against it, but I can't be sure as I was very confused."

Emma then faced an agonising wait for an ambulance, before finally being taken to hospital two hours later.

She says: "I was pacing up and down because the pain was so bad. I feel like the impact of what has happened has been minimised because my injuries aren't as minor as they are being made out to be. I kept asking, 'Why is the pain getting worse'?"

As Emma waited to be treated in A&E, hospital TV was already showing footage from the crash scene. Emma, meanwhile, is still hoping the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will reach out to her.

And she says she would forgive Philip if he got in touch. She adds: "I still love him and the Queen. No one can change my views on that."

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "A full message of support was sent to both the driver and the passenger."



Hardhat

The Yellow Vest movement spreading, now going global

yellow vests paris flags
© Patrice Calatayu
The Yellow Vest anti-government movement started in France on November 17, when over 300,000 people across France protested a carbon tax on fuel that French President Emmanuel Macron touted as evidence of France's leadership when it comes to mitigating climate change.

The Yellow Vest protests quickly evolved into a general anti-government movement - with hundreds of thousands of angry French citizens taking to the streets for ten straight weeks of mostly peaceful protests marked with pockets of violence, looting and mayhem.

What's more - the movement has gone worldwide - with perhaps the most notable protests outside France taking place in Belgium, where Brussels riot cops have dealt with week after week of protesters blocking oil depot and throwing hard objects at them.


On December 8, Belgians attempted to breach a riot barricade while calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Charles Michel, resulting in around 100 arrests.

Comment: See also:


Bullseye

Libyan journalists hold rally condemning killing of RT's video agency photographer Mohamed Ben Khalifa

journalist rally libya
© RT
Journalists covering Libya protest killing of RT photographer Mohamed Ben Khalifa
The death of acclaimed photographer, Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who worked with RT's Ruptly and AP, had left his Libyan colleagues shaken as dozens of journalists took to the street to denounce violence against the media.

In Tripoli, some of protestors had their mouths symbolically taped. The journalists held portraits of Ben Khalifa and slogans in Arabic, English and French languages, reading "Libya without media" and "Journalism is not a crime."

"He died while he was defending and demanding our rights as journalists," fellow reporter, Tariq al-Houni, said of his slain colleague.

Comment: Acclaimed photographer & video journalist killed in Libya while working for RT's video agency


Attention

Identity politics does truth no favors

MAGA hat
In public discourse, an opponent's identity and experience can matter more than their arguments. For instance, if you are a philosopher who supports the use of torture in a narrow set of circumstances on utilitarian grounds, you would not want to find yourself debating the ethics of such a position with a victim of torture. The optics of such a debate would be horrible, and in the minds of many observers they would place the philosopher at a decisive disadvantage no matter how careful or well defended his arguments happened to be. In the same way, whole groups of people consigned to the bottom of the identity politics grievance hierarchy are saddled with a similar handicap, often in situations far less contentious than the debate over torture.

On Saturday in Washington DC, a group of Catholic school kids fell victim to this presumptive logic. The progressive media ran with a story that confirmed their intersectional priors and, in the process, damaged their credibility, established an unsustainable precedent, and unwittingly affirmed President Trump's demagogic "Fake News" mantra.

The prevailing media narrative in the immediate aftermath of the incident was roughly as follows:
  • A group of boys from Covington Catholic High School were on a trip to attend the March for Life rally.
  • The rally happened to coincide with an indigenous peoples' demonstration nearby.
  • Motivated by white privilege and racism (rather than, say, garden-variety teenage obnoxiousness), the schoolboys began chanting to drown out the activists.
  • Native American activist Nathan Phillips was then surrounded by menacing and entitled youths wearing MAGA hats.
  • Phillips beat his drum and sang a tune intended to heal the boys.
  • The boys responded by mocking him and yelling "Build the wall!" while one of their number smirked into Phillips's face, an act of effrontery that apparently reflects the entitlement and racism of white Americans, the moral arrogance of Trump supporters, the malevolence of privileged high school bullies like Brett Kavanaugh, and so on and so forth.

Comment: See also: Student provides full video, says classmate didn't mock Native American Vietnam veteran


Camcorder

Student provides full video, says classmate didn't mock Native American Vietnam veteran

native protest child maga hat

Rorschach test: Is this boy mocking the elder, or so confused by why a drumming native would be standing in his face, that all he can do is smile?
After Friday's "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., a group of boys from an all-boys Catholic high school in Kentucky were assembled near the Lincoln Memorial, awaiting the buses that would take them home. During the wait some of the boys encountered a Native American Vietnam Veteran, Nathan Phillips, who was beating a drum. A brief video of the incident, which many claimed showed a student mocking or "jeering at" Phillips (as covered by our Sarah Quinlan) went viral. By Saturday afternoon the student was doxxed, threatened with expulsion, and the incident was being used by the usual suspects as yet another example of toxic masculinity and white privilege.

No one, apparently, attempted to talk to the students involved to hear their side or to see if there were any misunderstandings. One student who was in attendance emailed a local television station, then spoke to one of their reporters on the telephone, to share his version of events. WKRC's Adam Clements tweeted screenshots of the email.

Comment: The radical Left was quick to get out the knives:
The same far left media that ran with the junk Buzzfeed report on Friday is now smearing a group of pro-life high school kids in MAGA hats.

On Friday a group of pro-life high school boys who attended the March for Life went to check out the Lincoln Memorial.

While standing at the memorial a group(?) of Native Americans were beating drums at the public memorial.

One man, reportedly a Vietnam veteran, got up in one boy's face and started screaming and beating his drum.
The video is going viral.
This MAGA loser gleefully bothering a Native American protestor at the Indigenous Peoples March. pic.twitter.com/jIb5K68vIs

- Talia (@2020fight) January 19, 2019
[Ed. note: "Talia" has deleted this tweet.]

The children were chanting their school song.

A much older man approached a group of teenage boys who were ALREADY chanting a school song.


The native American man APPROACHED the kids!


Now the fake news media is blaming the children for harassing a Native American.

(Obviously, from the video the reverse is true - but we are talking about the fake news media.)

Now the left is blaming Trump and screaming holy hell at the high school children.


The Native American Nathan Philips said he was upset because he heard children yell build that wall.(?)
(They were chanting their school cheer.)

And now this...

The high school boy was doxxed by the liberal fascist mob.

The boys are from a Catholic HIGH SCHOOL in Kentucky!

Daily Beast doxxed the high school.
daily beast maga hat boy native protest
Reason.com adds:
[T]he rest of the video-nearly two hours of additional footage showing what happened before and after the encounter-adds important context that strongly contradicts the media's narrative.

Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.

Phillips put himself between the teens and the black nationalists, chanting and drumming as he marched straight into the middle of the group of young people. What followed was several minutes of confusion: The teens couldn't quite decide whether Phillips was on their side or not, but tentatively joined in his chanting. It's not at all clear this was intended as an act of mockery rather than solidarity.

One student did not get out of Phillips way as he marched, and gave the man a hard stare and a smile that many have described as creepy. This moment received the most media coverage: The teen has been called the product of a "hate factory" and likened to a school shooter, segregation-era racist, and member of the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea what he was thinking, but portraying this as an example of obvious, racially-motivated hate is a stretch. Maybe he simply had no idea why this man was drumming in his face, and couldn't quite figure out the best response? It bears repeating that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.

And that's all there is to it. Phillips walked away after several minutes, the Black Hebrew Israelites continued to insult the crowd, and nothing else happened.

You can judge for yourself. Here is video footage of the full incident, from the perspective of the black nationalists. Phillips enters the picture around the 1:12 mark, but if you skip to that part, you miss an hour of the Black Hebrew Israelites hurling obscenities at the students. They call them crackers, faggots, and pedophiles. At the 1:20 mark (which comes after the Phillips incident) they call one of the few black students the n-word and tell him that his friends are going to murder him and steal his organs. At the 1:25 mark, they complain that "you give faggots rights," which prompted booing from the students. Throughout the video they threaten the kids with violence, and attempt to goad them into attacking first. The students resisted these taunts admirably: They laughed at the hecklers, and they perform a few of their school's sports cheers.



Roses

At 113, world's oldest man dies at his home in northern Japan

Masazo Nonaka
© Masanori Takei/Kyodo News/AP
Masazo Nonaka upon receiving the certificate from Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living man at then age 112 years and 259 days during a ceremony in Ashoro on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.
The world's oldest man has died at his home - a hot springs inn - in northern Japan at the age of 113.

Masazo Nonaka died in the early hours of Sunday while sleeping at home in Ashoro on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido, his family said.

He died peacefully from natural causes, according to his granddaughter Yuko Nonaka.

The supercentenarian, whose family has run a hot springs inn for four generations, was certified by Guinness World Records in April 2018 as the world's oldest living man at 112 years and 259 days.

Born on July 25, 1905, Nonaka grew up in a large family and succeeded his parents running the inn. The 106-year-old inn is now run by his granddaughter Yuko.

Family

A converted school bus and a family of nine who travel the country 'unschools' kids on the road

Bus/Family
© The Mango Market
A family of nine from Florida converted a school bus into an RV and travel the country.
A family of nine from Florida have taken to life on the road after converting a school bus into an RV they live in while traveling across the country.

Michelle and Steve Lawson bought the 265-square-foot "skoolie" in 2017 for $14,000 and spent $17,000 to convert it over the course of six months. It's now equipped with a king size bed along with two triple bunk beds and living areas to accommodate their large family.

The couple, along with their kids, Caleb, 16, Jacob, 13, Joshua 10, Matthew, 6, Liam, 5, Charlotte 2 and nine-month-old Owen, try to take at least one week-long adventure a month. The children are homeschooled and Steve and Michelle have a photography business, making it possible to spend so much time away from home.

The parents teach their kids with a method called "unschooling," where they decide what to learn based on real-life experiences.

"Life is learning and yes, 100 percent unschooling is the way to go. We believe that life is learning and the best way to learn is to do. Also, the big kids really help the little kids learn too, they are a huge help along the way," the couple told The Daily Mail.
4 pics Lawson fam
© Daily Mail

Comment: Way to go!