Society's ChildS

Handcuffs

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

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.


Attention

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

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.

Doberman

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

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:


Airplane

11 confirmed dead in US military transport plane crash in Afghanistan

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.


Quenelle - Golden

Catalans mark anniversary of independence vote, block roads and railway station - Protests continue on second day of rallies

Catalan protesters, Girona, Spain
© Jon Nazca / ReutersCatalan protesters, Girona, Spain
Hundreds of people have staged a sit-in at a train station and paralyzed traffic in some areas of Catalonia as they marked the anniversary of the region's attempt to push for its independence from Spain.

The protests, organized by pro-independence groups known under the name of The Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), hit major the AP-7 highway running along eastern Catalonia on Monday. People brought tires on the road at dawn and gathered behind the self-made barricades. Some were carrying banners reading "neither forgetting nor forgiving" referring to the last year's plebiscite that saw a massive police crackdown against the civilians.


Comment: Update (Oct 3): Demonstrations continue today, as tens of thousands of people demonstrated throughout the Spanish northeastern region of Catalonia. Some 180,000 people took part in the rallies in the regional capital of Barcelona alone, local media reported citing police estimates. Crowds of students filled the city's central square, waving the yellow, red and blue flags used by independence supporters:
They chanted '1 October, no forgiving, no forgetting' in an apparent reference to the last year referendum, which saw a massive brutal police crackdown. A group of protesters that gathered at the Square of Catalonia unfolded a large banner, which read "Self-determination is a human right" in English.

A major demonstration was also held in the city starting at 18:30 local time (16:30 GMT). Crowds of people marched through Barcelona, from the Square of Catalonia to the regional parliament. People were waving Catalonian flags and chanting slogans: "Independence!" "Streets will always be ours!" "Freedom for political prisoners!" and "Without disobedience, there is no independence!"



Robot

Laughable: Researcher blames negative reaction to The Last Jedi movie on Russian bots and trolls

star wars cosplay
© Holger Hollemann / Global Look Press
A new report analyzing online reaction to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie has identified an interesting and questionable culprit behind some of the negative tweets posted about the film: Russian bots and trolls.

In a paper titled "Weaponizing The Haters," researcher Morten Bay looked into "the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation" and examined the online response to the Last Jedi movie, which received notoriously mixed reaction from the Star Wars fanbase.

But the negative reaction apparently was not simply the result of some fans enjoying the movie while others were less enthused. No, no. That would be far too straightforward. Indeed, Bay suggests that at least some of the negative reaction may have been fake news - and that the Russians could be partly behind it. In the report, Bay claims to have found "evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments".

Comment: Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best. In this case, The Last Jedi was a bad movie. Hence, negative reviews. Anything else is just a waste of time and propaganda.


Arrow Down

#MeToo hypocrite and 'idiot sandwich' Alyssa Milano hates Kavanaugh... but has 'crazy amounts of love' for Bill Clinton

Alyssa Milano loves Bill Clinton
© Alyssa Milano / Twitter
Actress Alyssa Milano has used her political clout to rally behind Christine Blasey Ford, but her tweet on apparent "love" for Bill Clinton dug up from the deep past has sparked accusations of hypocrisy

The #MeToo icon took a conspicuous stand against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, the most notable being Ford, who claims the nominee sexually assaulted her in high school.

Milano even attended a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, where both Kavanaugh and Ford testified, bringing with her a sign that read "I BELIEVE SURVIVORS. NO ON KAVANAUGH."

Map

Namibia follows South Africa calling for constitutional change to expropriate white-owned land

Herero women in Namibia  Reuters
© ReutersHerero women in Namibia
Namibian President Hage Geingob has called for a change to the constitution to allow the government to expropriate land from white citizens and redistribute it to the majority black population.

"Many Namibians were driven off their productive land," Geingob said during his opening speech at a national land policy conference in the capital Windhoek.

According to him, the "willing-buyer willing-seller principle has not delivered results." Under the practice the land owner must first offer the government an option to buy the farmland. The government can then buy the land and redistribute it.

Geingob said that careful consideration should be given to expropriation, stressing that "the fundamental issue is the inequality..."

He also pointed to similar proposals made by South Africa's government, claiming "We also share a burning land issue and a racialized distribution of land resources with South Africa."

Biohazard

Political divide in United States the worst it's ever been

republican democrat symbols
It may not be so hard to believe during this murky political landscape, but a new study finds the divide between Democrats and Republicans is the worst it's ever been, more so than many people may even think.

The research, conducted by Zachary Neal, an associate professor of psychology and global urban studies at Michigan State University, is among the first to measure polarization not only by examining the frequency of parties working together, but also by demonstrating how they've grown more distant than any other time in modern history.

Neal points out that neither side is to blame for the growing rift. Regardless of the party that holds the majority in Congress or controls the White House, the political divide has widened all the same.

Comment: The impact of the current divide in politics isn't just seen in the ineffectiveness of government, but it is also having far-ranging influences into US society. Both sides take part for sure, but it is easily seen that the 'progressive' left in America are setting the tone and the right naturally reacts.


Red Flag

Circus continues: Kavanaugh's Yale classmate admits he 'is not certain' judge was in fraternity house during 'shocking' party

Anti-Kavanaugh protest
© Jeenah Moon / ReutersAnti-Kavanaugh protest in New York City, NY, October 1, 2018
Tad Low, who was Kavanaugh's Yale classmate in the late 1980s, wrote an accusatory letter about a salacious party taking place in Kavanaugh's house. However, he "isn't certain" if the future judge was present during the event.

Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) forwarded a letter from Tad Low, who says he was an undergraduate student at Yale in 1987-88, and was present at a "shocking ceremony" taking place inside Kavanaugh's fraternity house, involving "a semi-circle of cheering frat brothers watching a local prostitute perform a public sex act."

"I can't say for certain that Judge Kavanaugh was present in the frat house during the event," Low admits, but suggests the FBI could examine his "meticulous personal calendars" to check.

Comment: