Society's Child

Social hysteria: Michigan inn owners take down Norwegian flag after it's mistaken for Confederate flag

Joshua Rhett Miller
The New York Post
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 21:45 UTC

Nordic Pineapple Bed and Breakfast

A Michigan couple took down a Norwegian flag from outside their bed and breakfast because it was regularly mistakenly as a symbol of the Confederacy.

Greg and Kjersten Offenecker, who own The Nordic Pineapple in St. Johns, said they removed both the Norwegian flag and an American flag posted outside their Civil War-era mansion last week following accusations of promoting racism in the largely conservative Michigan town.

The couple made the move after receiving "at least a dozen hateful emails" and twice as many comments about it, Kjersten Offenbecker told the Lansing State Journal.

"I don't see it because I grew up with the Norwegian flag," she told the newspaper. "To me they are two distinct flags."

The couple, who bought the nearly 9,000-square-foot mansion built in 1861 two years ago, started flying the Norwegian flag shortly after taking over the property. Kjersten Offenbecker said they were still new in town when the owner of a downtown shop relayed to her that someone had mistaken the Norwegian flag as a Confederate one.

Zimbabwe to pay $3.5 billion to dispossessed white farmers, two decades after violent land grabs of Mugabe era

RT
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 10:23 UTC

© AFP
But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.

But the southern African nation does not have the money and will issue long term bonds and jointly approach international donors with the farmers to raise funding, according to the compensation agreement.

Two decades ago Mugabe's government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing colonial land imbalances.

Comment: RT reports:

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said "This momentous event is historic," as "it brings closure and a new beginning."

The agreement comes as the southern African nation's economy is struggling with falling food production and export income, as well as sanctions from the US and the European Union.

Zimbabwe is battling inflation of more than 700 percent, besides dealing with shortages of currency, fuel and food, while over 90 percent of the population is out of formal employment.

Food production dropped after the country's government authorized the purge of white farmers in 1999-2000 under then-president Robert Mugabe. Whites comprised a tiny percentage of Zimbabwe's population upon independence, but they owned the vast majority of fertile land. In an effort to change the situation, Mugabe's government promised to redistribute the land among black farmers.

However, some have accused Mugabe of using the land reform to reward his allies rather than ordinary Zimbabweans. The president and his supporters reportedly owned about 40 percent of the land seized from white farmers, who received no compensation after being evicted. The country's rulers maintained that the land was taken forcibly during colonial times and needed to be returned to black residents.

Elderly patient beaten by man in nursing home viral video dies

Sam Edwards
The Post Millennial
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 22:43 UTC

A video emerged in May of a 20-year-old man beating an elderly patient in a Detroit nursing home. That elderly man has now died.

A video emerged in May of a 20-year-old man beating an elderly patient in a Detroit nursing home. That elderly man has now died, reports The Daily Wire.

Westwood Nursing Center resident Norman Bledsoe was allegedly beaten by his roommate Jaden T. Hayden and the incident was captured on camera. The 75-year-old was left with a broken jaw, four broken fingers and broken ribs.

Bledshoe's death was confirmed on Monday by his nephew Kevin who said his uncle was not eating properly and was depressed after the attack.

Comment: Yet another consequence of sticking positive cases of Covid-19 in nursing homes - exposing the vulnerable elderly to dangerous mentally unstable criminals. As if exposing them unnecessarily to the virus wasn't enough.

For the original story, see:

JK Rowling advert removed from Edinburgh Waverley train station for being too 'political'

Imogen Braddick
Evening Standard
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 09:13 UTC

An advert in support of author JK Rowling has been removed from a train station in Edinburgh for reportedly being too "political" and potentially offensive.

Network Rail confirmed that the advertisement had been taken down from Edinburgh Waverley because it breached its policy by promoting a political viewpoint.

A company source told The Times that the words were harmless, but the "context" was likely to cause offence.

Comment: Parody Twitter account Jarvis Dupont has weighed in on the issue:

At least one protester at McCloskey altercation was armed with firearm, sources say

Daniel Payne
Just the News
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 23:21 UTC

Attorney has argued state's castle law shields couple from prosecution.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey made national headlines at the end of June when they confronted a mob of protesters outside of their home on Portland Place, a wealthy private street west of downtown St. Louis.

Photos and videos of the couple holding firearms and in some cases brandishing those firearms at the crowd went globally viral. St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner charged the pair on July 20 with "flourishing" their guns in an unlawful manner.

Yet sources in the St. Louis Police Department have told Just the News that video evidence from the altercation indicates that at least one member of the crowd of protesters was armed with a gun during the confrontation.

Comment: See also:

Ethiopia rules out military conflict with Egypt over Renaissance Dam

Middle East Monitor
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 12:17 UTC

© EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP/Getty Images
A worker goes down a construction ladder at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, on 26 December 2019

The Ethiopian Ambassador in Russia, Alemayehu Tegenu Aargau, yesterday ruled out the outbreak of a military conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, the Ethiopian ambassador said: "Tripartite negotiations are currently taking place under the African Union auspices, and I think that all problems will be resolved very soon. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is not a cause of the conflict. The dam is a valuable facility for the region. It is a source of cooperation, not conflict."

He noted that "Egypt's request for the United Nations Security Council to interfere in the tripartite negotiations is meaningless and useless."

"The dam is a development issue, not a security issue, which is an Ethiopian issue, and a regional issue. It will benefit Africa and Ethiopia. The Security Council does not discuss these issues. The dam does not pose a security threat, and therefore, Ethiopia did not support the Egyptian request from the beginning," he said.

Sweden unveils promising covid-19 data as new cases plunge

Charles Daly
Bloomberg
Tue, 28 Jul 2020 04:49 UTC

As other countries face renewed outbreaks, Sweden's latest Covid-19 figures suggest it's rapidly bringing the virus under control.

"That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising," state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The Health Agency of Sweden says that since hitting a peak in late June, the infection rate has fallen sharply. That's amid an increase in testing over the period. "The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero," Tegnell said.

Comment: See also:

Arizona train derailment and fire described as 'a scene from hell'

Ray Sanchez and Hira Humayun
CNN
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:05 UTC

Plumes of smoke rise above fiery scene of train derailment Wednesday.

One person was treated for smoke inhalation after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire on a bridge over Tempe Town Lake in Arizona, officials said Wednesday.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen Wednesday morning rising into the sky beneath a trail of flames on video and images from the site of the derailment, where part of the bridge collapsed.

The National Transportation Safety Board said via Twitter that it would investigate but that it was not traveling to the crash site at this time.The fire reached four alarms, which Tempe Fire Chief Greg Ruiz said was a "very, very large event."

"The focus of the initial operation was to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to additional cars," Ruiz told reporters. "The fire has been knocked down and the crews continue to address any hotspots along the bridge.

"Now, first responders were focused on containing leak of hazardous material from one of the cars, he said.Tempe police Chief Sylvia Moir urged residents via Twitter to stay away from the scene, which she described as very dangerous.

10 big fat lies you're being told about the Portland riots

Victoria Taft
PJ Media
Sun, 26 Jul 2020 21:34 UTC

Democrats have fully pivoted on the nightly Portland riots. They've gone all-in on blaming the riots on President Trump thus allying themselves with the antifa and Black Lives Matter anarchist and communist mobs. Instead of black bloc balaclavas or masks, the politicians have donned the cloak of civil libertarianism. In doing so, they make a mockery of it.

Democrats, so far as I can find, have never denounced the violent mobs, though New York Governor Andrew Cuomo once wagged a finger at George Floyd rioters while simultaneously explaining that it wasn't really their fault because "income inequality" led to violence. Indeed, the only remonstrance issued was over people burning down black-owned businesses - their "own house" as he put it, because burning your own stuff "never makes sense." As denunciations go, it was a rambling nothing-burger. Atlanta's mayor voiced similar disgust with the arsonists and looters.

In fact, mayors, governors, and prosecutors have fallen all over themselves to support the violent mobs in Seattle, New York, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and, of course, Portland, often conflating the "mostly peaceful" protesters upset with the killing of George Floyd - remember him? - with the ones looting Louis Vuitton, tearing down statues of George Washington, and trying to burn down federal buildings.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan ceded a section of the fancy Capitol Hill neighborhood to the mob. She handed over a police precinct to the mob. Two murders, gunshot wounds, assaults, and rapes took place at her pet mob's little "summer of love" squat. She's never apologized.

Comment: See also:

"Hate speech" is suppressed by Facebook before it's seen by anyone, admits Zuckerberg

RT
Thu, 30 Jul 2020 01:11 UTC

Facebook censors almost 90 percent of 'hate speech' before it's allowed to circulate, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress at Wednesday's Big Tech hearing, responding to pressure from Democrats to submit to the advertiser boycott.

Comment: Did you read that folks? 10 years ago you would have been labelled a conspiracy theorist for mentioning that intelligent agencies were watching you through social media platforms... And now it comes straight from Zuckerbarf's mouth.

Quote of the Day

"An extraordinary and very perilous state of affairs had been created in the [US] South by the sudden and absolute emancipation of the negroes. Here was a vast laboring, landless, homeless class, once slaves, now free; unpractised in liberty, unschooled in self-control; never sobered by the discipline of self-support never established in any habit of prudence; excited by a freedom they did not understand, excited by false hopes; bewildered and without leaders, and yet insolent and aggressive; sick of work, covetous of pleasure - a host of dusky children untimely put out of school."

Future (Democratic) President under whose leadership the US set out to 'make the world safe for democracy'.

(From 'The Reconstruction of the Southern States', Atlantic Monthly, 1901)

- Woodrow Wilson

"It's a madhouse!" Charlton Heston, Planet of the Apes.

bbrebozo

The fact that no bombshell info was released when Epstein supposedly killed himself, says that there's something very fishy with that whole thing....

Ragnar

We the People? Representative democracy? Dementia-ocracy ?

bbrebozo

Hey, if someone wants to dress up like a doctor, that's their choice. But wearing a placebo that does nothing to protect them against anything...

Ragnar

'obesogenic' Love good words I didn't know. Certainly makes sense. Here's another one I did know: " race-grifters."

Rowan Cocoan

Society's Child

Social hysteria: Michigan inn owners take down Norwegian flag after it's mistaken for Confederate flag

Zimbabwe to pay $3.5 billion to dispossessed white farmers, two decades after violent land grabs of Mugabe era

Elderly patient beaten by man in nursing home viral video dies

JK Rowling advert removed from Edinburgh Waverley train station for being too 'political'

At least one protester at McCloskey altercation was armed with firearm, sources say

Ethiopia rules out military conflict with Egypt over Renaissance Dam

Sweden unveils promising covid-19 data as new cases plunge

Arizona train derailment and fire described as 'a scene from hell'

10 big fat lies you're being told about the Portland riots

"Hate speech" is suppressed by Facebook before it's seen by anyone, admits Zuckerberg

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