Society's ChildS


Laptop

Facebook users spending 24% less time on platform

Cale Guthrie Weissman
Fast Company
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:25 UTC
facebook
© facebook
It was less than a month ago that I wrote about a trend that should be very worrying for Facebook. Namely, that users were spending less time on the platform. According to Nielsen numbers through November of last year, interpreted by Pivotal, the social network lost about 4% in aggregated time spent.

Now new numbers have been released that go through December, and the problem only seems to be getting worse. The updated data shows that Facebook's core platform lost 18% in time spent, which is a huge change from the month before. This, says Pivotal, reflects a 24% decline in time spent per person." Instagram, too, saw some poor engagement numbers. Though aggregated consumption went up, the user base went up at a higher clip, meaning that time per person went down 9%.
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Red Flag

Men dressed in black climb onto Iran's embassy in London, take down flag


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:18 UTC
Men in black remove flag at Iran's embassy
© Via Twitter@baeidinjad
A group of men in black attire have scaled the façade of the Iranian embassy in London and have taken down the flag. Iran's Press TV said the embassy has come under "attack." Reports suggest a religious group was behind the stunt.

Footage posted online shows the men on the balcony of the embassy building. One is waving a blue and white flag with inscriptions in Arabic, just after the men apparently took down the Iranian flag.

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Mr. Potato

Jumping the shark on Russiagate: 'Progressive' journalists have sunk to tabloid-level reporting

Ray McGovern
Consortium News
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 19:05 UTC
trump putin tabloid
Russiagate reporting has increasingly taken on a tabloidish and sensationalist character.
A lack of skepticism has characterized much of the reporting on Russiagate, with undue credibility being given to questionable sources like the Steele dossier, and now progressives like Jane Mayer and Cenk Uygur are joining the bandwagon.

Jane Mayer of The New Yorker and Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks are the latest progressives to jump on the anti-Trump, pro-Russiagate bandwagon. They have made it crystal clear that, in Mayer's words, they are not going to let Republicans, or anyone else, "take down the whole intelligence community," by God.

Odd? Nothing is too odd when it comes to spinning and dyeing the yarn of Russiagate; especially now that some strands are unraveling from the thin material of the "Steele dossier."

Before the 2016 election, British ex-spy Christopher Steele was contracted (through a couple of cutouts) by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee to dig up dirt on candidate Donald Trump. They paid him $168,000. They should ask for their money back.
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Info

Anti-Militant Rallies Erupt in Syria's East Ghouta in Support of Syrian Army


Sputnik
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 19:01 UTC
A humanitarian corridor between Damascus and East Ghouta
© Sputnik/ Mikhail AlayeddinA humanitarian corridor between Damascus and East Ghouta near the Al Wafidin refugee camp in Syria
Local Syrians in parts of Damascus' East Ghouta pocket have been protesting against militants, calling on them to leave the area and allow the Syrian Army in. Rallies have been held in recently liberated areas and parts of East Ghouta which are still under the control of hardline Islamist militants.

New footage posted on social media platforms today reportedly show fresh anti-militant protests and pro-government rallies in east Ghouta.

Dozens of civilians gathered in the city of Hamouriyah - which is reportedly still under the control of militants - earlier today, waving makeshift Syrian flags and chanting anti-militant slogans.


Comment: Militants have shelled with anti-aircraft guns the checkpoint in the village of Al-Wafideen, no-one was hurt in the incident, Maj Gen Vladimir Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria, told reporters on Friday.
"About half an hour later the humanitarian corridor had been closed in Eastern Ghouta, the Al-Wafideen checkpoint came under shelling by militants," Zolotukhin said. "According to preliminary information, the fire was conducted from anti-aircraft guns with proximity fuses. Luckily, casualties were avoided."
Nine minutes of footage of the Syrian Army taking on terrorist forces in East Ghouta has been released by Russia's ANNA News with English translations provided by R&U Videos.
The translated video was only released today and details the importance of the liberation of Beit Sawa, a crucial crossroads town in East Ghouta to the east of Damascus city center.

The army men, in an ambush operation, stopped and seized two large trucks of arms and ammunition, including US-made ones, heading towards the regions under the Al-Nusra control in Eastern Ghouta.
The army has inflicted major losses on the terrorists in its recent night operations in Eastern Ghouta.
A Red Crescent aid convoy remains held up at the al-Wafideen checkpoint in the northern portion of Eastern Ghouta to the east of Damascus city center on Friday.
The convoy is meant to deliver food and basic medicines to Syrian civilians trapped in the terrorist-held enclave.

The convoy arrived at the checkpoint on Thursday, but it is uncertain when it will be able to complete its journey.


The international aid convoy has come back from Damascus' suburb of Eastern Ghouta to the Al-Wafideen checkpoint, Maj Gen Vladimir Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian center for reconciliation of warring sides in Syria, told reporters on Friday.
"The mission has been a success. The center for reconciliation of warring sides provided a secure passage for the convoy, which has safely returned back to the checking point in the populated locality of Al-Wafideen," he said.


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Bizarro Earth

Is banning 'grid girls' an upside-down version of feminist equality?

Danielle Ryan
RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 16:36 UTC
Grid girls
© Mirko Stange / Global Look PressGrid girls at Formula1 World Championship 2014 at Melbourne Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia
Grid girls, walk-on girls, booth babes: Say goodbye to the lot of them. Thanks to pressure from the now-wildly-overdone #MeToo movement, scantily clad females are being banished from international sporting events.

In February, both Formula 1 and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) decided to end the practices of hiring 'grid girls' and 'walk-on girls' for their events. Now, 'booth babes' are being banished from the Geneva Motor Show opening on March 8.

The hashtag movement that started as reaction to Hollywood abuses is having a knock-on effect throughout the US and many other parts of the world. To that I say, great... if it means ridding workplaces of rampant sexual harassers and abusers. On the other hand, banning women from doing certain jobs because another group of women has decided that they are being exploited - do we really need to go down that road?

There are women who enjoy dressing up (or down, however you want to look at it) and having their bodies on display. It's fun and enjoyable to them - and most importantly, it's their own personal choice. Are they being exploited, objectified or degraded? You could argue that they are - but is it up to the rest of us to decide?

Comment: Feminism was never really about equality for women. Though it may seem perplexing to anyone who took the facade of equal rights at face value, this "upside-down phase of feminism" is actually ideologically self-consistent. See: The Feminist Seduction of Western Society

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Heart

Loyal dog refuses to leave hospital where owner died four months ago from stab wound

Lucy Pasha-Robinson
Independent
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 17:02 UTC
Loyal dog
The dog has remained in front of the hospital for four months, according to reports on Facebook
A pet dog whose owner was fatally stabbed has made a home for himself in front of the hospital where the man died.

The animal, who has no name, has been waiting in front of the Santa Casa de Novo Horizonte hospital in Brazil for four months, according to local media reports.

The dog first arrived at the unit after chasing after the ambulance that was transporting his owner, a 59-year-old homeless man, to hospital in October.

The man, who had been involved in a street fight, died from his injuries but two months on, the dog continued to wait for him in front of the hospital, Brazil's O Globo newspaper reported.
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Sherlock

Secret UK army base analyzing nerve agent used on Sergei Skripal has long been Britain's most controversial military facility


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 17:02 UTC
Porton Down
© Reuters/ Toby MelvillePorton Down is dealing with the ex Russian double agent probe
A secretive UK army base analyzing the nerve agent thought to be used on ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal has long been at the center of controversy. It has even been accused of testing chemicals on humans.

Britain is bracing for answers over the conspicuous poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia, 33, in Wiltshire over the weekend. Many have been quick to pin the blame on Russia, while the nation's home secretary has called for the investigation to rely on facts - not rumors.

The center hoping to gather those facts has itself been shrouded in mystery for decades. Porton Down, officially named the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, is one of Britain's most controversial military facility. The army center for research into chemical and biological weapons, located near Salisbury, was founded in 1916 to counter German gas attacks in World War I. In the 1950s, scientists there developed non-lethal CS gas, better known as tear gas, as well as the deadly nerve agent VX.

Comment: Previously:

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Family

'Seeking relief': Even millenials are sick of social media

Nicolas Vega
NY Post
Wed, 07 Mar 2018 23:16 UTC
millenial
© Shutterstock
Even millennials are getting sick of Instagram.

More than half of users between the ages of 18 and 24 revealed they are "seeking relief from social media," according to a survey.

The poll, taken in December, found that 34 percent of young users reported having deleted social-media accounts entirely. Forty-one percent of respondents said they waste too much time on social media, and 35 percent agreed that people their age are too distracted by their online lives.

The most popular apps to quit permanently are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the dating app Tinder. Snapchat, on the other hand, escaped most teens' wrath.

Comment: Facebook is also seeing a decrease in time spent on their site by users. Nielsen numbers through December show a 24% decline in time spent per person. Instagram has also seen a 9% decline.

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Sheriff

Brave SWAT cops who refused to stand down and tried to stop Parkland shooter now suspended

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 16:49 UTC
Parkland shooting Nikolas Cruz
In the aftermath of the recent Parkland school shooting, the cowardice of many of the police who responded to the shooting has created an ongoing conversation in the media about the role of individual officers in life-threatening situations.

As we reported last month, 4 officers from the Broward County Sheriff's office took cover and waited for backup during the shooting instead of going inside to stop the killer. The officer's actions sparked outrage and left many people horrified at the fact that so many cops would stand on the sidelines as children were being murdered.

It turns out that there were actually a few officers who had the courage to go in after the killer-but now they are being punished for it. According to the Sun-Sentinel, two Miramar SWAT team members are being suspended for going into the school to stop the shooting because they did not have permission to do so.

The SWAT members were suspended on the grounds that their attempt to help created an "officer safety issue and left them unaccountable for their actions."
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War Whore

Panel report says police op against black woman seeking justice for dead brother 'likely' motivated by racism


RT
Fri, 09 Mar 2018 16:40 UTC
Christopher Alder
© WikipediaChristopher Alder was unlawfully killed, an inquest found in 2000.
Racial discrimination against a black British woman is likely to have subjected her to a secret police surveillance operation, a report has stated. Her brother, a former soldier, was unlawfully killed while in police custody.

Christopher Adler died in 1998 at the age of 37, handcuffed and face down in a police station in Hull, after choking on his own vomit. Horrifying tape recordings picked up monkey noises being made as the Falklands veteran lay dead. There were also recordings of officers laughing and joking as he died.

An inquest found he was unlawfully killed in 2000. The court heard officers had assumed he was playing and was not in genuine distress. His sister was then placed under surveillance as she campaigned for justice over his death.

Following the death and a subsequent investigation into it, officers tailed Janet Alder and her barrister Leslie Thomas, attempting to listen in on their private conversations. A report into the treatment of the pair concluded Thomas was treated very differently to his white colleagues.
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