Society's ChildS


Die

'Dance of hate': Release of Islamic State-supporting preacher will fuel extremism, experts warn


RT
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:44 UTC
Anjem Choudary
© REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/FilesDemonstrator Anjem Choudary in London October 5, 2012.
The impending release of convicted Islamic State-supporting hate preacher Anjem Choudary could heighten the threat from both Islamists and the far-right, counter-extremism experts have warned.

The Faith Matters counter-extremism network, quoted in the Independent, warned Choudary is a part of a "dance of hate where the only ones to profit have been the extremists."
Read More...
Magic Wand

Yes, the Grievance Studies hoax is hilarious - but if you're not worried you're missing the point

Douglas Murray
Spectator
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:16 UTC
James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose
James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose
One of the most beautiful things to happen in recent years was 'the conceptual penis as a social construct.' This was an academic paper which proposed that: 'the penis vis-à-vis maleness is an incoherent construct. We argue that the conceptual penis is better understood not as an anatomical organ but as a gender-performative, highly fluid social construct.'

This gobbledegook was presented as an academic journal, was peer-reviewed and published in Cogent Social Sciences. The only problem was that it was a hoax. A big, beautiful brilliant hoax carried out by two academics - Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay - who had immersed themselves in the academic BS of their time. In that paper they successfully punked an academic scene which (in the humanities at least) allows the most insane and untrue claims to be presented as truth, so long as they are suffused in fashionable grievances and coated in a form of academic vocabulary which is an insult to academic inquiry and an offence against language.

Comment: Academia has signed its own death warrant with its descent into ideological nonsense. The warning from the author above comes far too late (and likely never would have been listened to anyway) - academic "studies" are already a complete laughing stock. There is so little respect for these institutions at this point, outside of their bubble, no one takes them seriously.

See also:

Read More...
Crusader

Divine Will? New film claims Trump's election was an act of God

Harriet Sherwood
The Guardian
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 14:39 UTC
More than 1,000 US cinemas are screening The Trump Prophecy - which posits that God chose the philandering billionaire to restore America's moral values

Pastors from Nevada pray with Donald Trump during a visit to Las Vegas in October 2016. Plenty of moviegoers in Lynchburg, Virginia, heaped praise on the movie.
© Evan Vucci/APPastors from Nevada pray with Donald Trump during a visit to Las Vegas in October 2016. Plenty of moviegoers in Lynchburg, Virginia, heaped praise on the movie.
It was, everyone agreed, a miracle. The unexpected election of Donald Trump in 2016 was an act of God, who chose the philandering billionaire and reality TV star to restore America's moral values.

This is the theme of The Trump Prophecy, a movie telling the story of Mark Taylor, a former fireman from Orlando forced to retire after suffering from PTSD, which premiered on Tuesday.

Between graphic nightmares featuring demonic monsters and hellish flames, Taylor received a message from God in April 2011, while he was surfing television channels.

As he clicked to an interview with Trump, Taylor heard God say: "You are hearing the voice of the next president."

And so it came to pass, although it took another five years and a national prayer campaign. Taylor duly wrote a book, The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow ... and What He Says Is Coming Next, on which the movie is based.

The belief that Trump's election was God's divine will is shared by others. Franklin Graham, the prominent conservative evangelical, said last year that Trump's victory was the result of divine intervention. "I could sense going across the country that God was going to do something this year. And I believe that at this election, God showed up," he told the Washington Post.

Comment: One man's angel is another's demon. Trump appears to have been crowned king of the political divide - there's no middle ground, he is either adored or loathed. The trailer for the film:



Read More...
Beer

Hypocrisy: UK health agency publicity campaign to curb drinking has ties to drink industry

Michael Buchanan
BBC
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 00:01 UTC
ladies drink wine
© ThinkstockThere are concerns about the high level of alcohol consumption in the UK.
Dozens of public health experts have told Public Health England (PHE) they oppose its decision to work with a charity funded by the alcohol industry.

In a letter seen by BBC News, they say the tie-up "will significantly damage the credibility of PHE".

On Tuesday, government alcohol adviser, Sir Ian Gilmore, resigned over the agency's decision to work with Drinkaware on a new campaign.

Comment: Did it really take "experts" to tell us that taking advice from an agency with a glaring conflict of interest is a bad idea? If PHE is really so concerned with reducing the harm alcohol has on the public, why wouldn't they get funding from an agency whose bottom line doesn't depend on people drinking more?

See also:

Read More...
Handcuffs

Navy Veteran arrested over poisonous ricin letters sent to Trump & Pentagon


RT
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Defense Department personnel in protective suits
© Thomas Watkins / AFPDefense Department personnel wearing protective suits screen mail as it arrives at the Pentagon
Police in Logan, Utah have arrested a man suspected of sending letters that tested positive to biotoxin ricin to the Pentagon and the White House. The suspect is reportedly a former Navy sailor.

Envelopes addressed to Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson tested positive for ricin contamination at the Pentagon mailroom on Monday. The Secret Service said on Tuesday that another suspicious letter was addressed to President Donald Trump, though they did not initially say it contained ricin.

The suspect was identified as William Clyde Allen III, Reuters reported citing federal law enforcement. It was earlier reported he's a US Navy veteran.
Read More...
Biohazard

Five family members hospitalized in Ukraine with anthrax symptoms


RFE/RL
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 09:02 UTC
anthrax spores
Anthrax spores
Five members of one family in Ukraine's southern region of Odesa have been hospitalized with symptoms of anthrax after slaughtering cattle, the Health Ministry says.

A ministry statement issued on October 2 said that one of the patients had so far tested positive for anthrax.

The statement says the form of anthrax was not pulmonary, meaning that only the skin of the patient was affected, making it possible to cure with antibiotics.

The tests also revealed anthrax spores in meat from the slaughtered animal and at the site where it was killed in the village of Minyaylivka in the Odesa region.

Their village has been under 15-day quarantine since September 30, during which all livestock and residents of the village will be thoroughly checked by medical and sanitary experts.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Handcuffs

1 officer killed, 6 injured in South Carolina shooting; suspect in custody


RT
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 08:55 UTC
florence shooting police
© WSAV3 / YouTube
Four city police officers and three sheriff's deputies have been wounded during an active shooter incident in Florence, South Carolina. The suspect has been apprehended, authorities said.

Florence County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Glenn Kirby confirmed three of his deputies were among the injured, as well as four officers of the city police department. One of the injured officers has died, Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken, told WBTW-TV.

The active shooter emergency was declared just before 5 pm local time, and the authorities reported the capture of the suspect about an hour later. The nearby West Florence High School was locked down as a precaution.

Read More...
Attention

Best of the Web: Racism! Sexism! Homophobia! The Unholy Trinity of Unhinged American Liberalism

David Penner
Dissident Voice
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
liberalism
The Russians have an expression: words are deeds. Indeed, words contain a mesmeric power, and while this power can be used for good, it can also be used to harness dark and pernicious forces. For as Orwell understood all too well, words can be hijacked by a corrupt ruling class and used to indoctrinate, manipulate, and deceive.

In order to understand how the liberal class has come to be so beguiled by the forces of reaction, one must take note of the unprecedented liberal hysteria over racism, sexism, and homophobia. Indeed, the more liberals remain transfixed with this unholy trinity, the more indifferent they become to the terrible suffering inflicted by capitalism, as they are drawn further and further to the right, and pulled ever more deeply into a vortex of amorality.

This is not to suggest that racism, sexism, and homophobia do not exist, but rather, that these words have been co-opted by a ruling establishment which has succeeded in duping the faux-left into embracing policies that are deeply antithetical to the interests of American workers, patients, and students.
Read More...
Doberman

SOTT Focus: The Grievance Studies Scandal: Five Academics Respond to The Implications of Hoax Papers Published in Postmodernist Journals


Quillette
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian


Editor's note: For the past year scholars James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian have sent fake papers to various academic journals which they describe as specialising in activism or "grievance studies." Their stated mission has been to expose how easy it is to get "absurdities and morally fashionable political ideas published as legitimate academic research."

To date, their project has been successful: seven papers have passed through peer review and have been published, including a 3000 word excerpt of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, rewritten in the language of Intersectionality theory and published in the Gender Studies journal Affilia.

Below is a response to the scandal from five academics who are currently researching, publishing and teaching in the fields of Philosophy, English Studies, Behavioral Genetics and Economics.

Comment: Some heroes don't wear capes. The efforts of James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose, and Peter Boghossian cannot be praised enough - to expose this academic corruption as the peddling of nonsense that it is. Hopefully this incident will wake up some people who are currently under the spell of social justice - particularly University students who are particularly vulnerable.

See also:

Read More...
Airplane

11 confirmed dead in US military transport plane crash in Afghanistan


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 22:28 UTC
C-130 Hercules airplane crashes in Afghanistan
© U.S. Air Force / ReutersC-130 Hercules airplane
An American C-130 transport plane has crashed in Afghanistan, killing at least 11 people, a US defense official has said. Among the dead are several US troop members and contracted civilians whose nationalities have not been disclosed.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for shooting down the C-130, according to AFP. However, this information has not yet been confirmed, and US authorities previously denied any hostile engagement.

"Our mujahideen have shot down a four-engine US aircraft in Jalalabad," AFP cited Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying. "Based on credible information, 15 invading forces and a number of puppet troops were killed."

Six US service members and five civilian contractors on board died in the crash, according to a US military spokesman, who did not rule out the possibility of more casualties on the ground.

Read More...