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Megaphone

Anti-Trump 'climate protesters' leave London streets littered with signs and placards

Trump protesters
© REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Thousands of anti-Trump protesters thronged the streets of London to greet the US president. However, despite many of them carrying placards decrying climate change, they seemingly forgot to take their trash home with them.

Climate change protesters, peace activists, and feminists showed up en masse to express their disagreement with and disgust at the controversial president and his policies as he met with British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Queen.

The protests were accompanied by the inflatable 'Baby Trump' which grabbed the headlines last year, in addition to an effigy of Trump atop a golden toilet.

However, the message of cleaning up both international politics and the environment may be seen as somewhat hypocritical given the vast quantities of rubbish left behind. London's streets were littered with anti-Trump and pro-environment messages after placards were left strewn across the pavement.

Comment: 'Do as we say, not as we do!'

Shocking mindlessness.


Eye 1

Major tech companies uniting in opposition to UK spyware proposal 'Ghost Protocol'

whatsApp on phone
© Max Pixel
App Messenger Technology WhatsApp Cell
"The 'ghost' proposal would pose serious threats to cybersecurity and thereby also threaten fundamental human rights, including privacy and free expression" - Open Letter to GCHQ
In an open letter to the U.K.'s Government Communications Headquarters, 47 signatories including Google, WhatsApp, Apple, the ACLU and more raised concern that a new British government proposal posed "serious threats to cybersecurity and fundamental human rights including privacy and free expression."

The program nicknamed "Ghost Protocol" by CNBC would give the U.K. government the ability to eavesdrop on encrypted messages.

Some messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage and Signal feature "end-to-end" encryption, meaning only the sender and recipient can read the message and nobody in between has access, not even WhatsApp itself. While end-to-end encryption is an attractive feature for users, it's a frustration for governments.

Star of David

Israeli NGO B'Tselem launches interactive map highlighting 52-years of Zionist occupation: 'Conquer and Divide'

israel occupation map
© B’Tselem
A still from B’Tselem's video project 'Conquer and Divide'
To mark the 52nd anniversary of Israel's territorial encroachment into the West Bank, human rights NGO B'Tselem has unveiled a new interactive map creatively illustrating the decades-long history of the occupation.

The organization says that their new project "traces how government resolutions, military orders and state planning" came together to create an ever-expanding system of settlements and military check-points, helping Israeli authorities "promote [their] interests at the expense of Palestinians' rights." The project was created in tandem with the independent research agency Forensic Architecture, and launched on Wednesday.

Bizarro Earth

Segregation is the new tolerance? Virginia Tech offers 10 ethnically-divided graduations

student protester
© Reuters / Mark Makela
Civil rights activists who risked their lives to racially integrate American schools must be turning in their graves as Virginia Tech proudly offers 10 segregated graduation ceremonies based on race, sexuality, and... sobriety?

Virginia Tech may be the most extreme example, but it's hardly alone. The school exemplifies a relatively recent trend in US higher education in which student identity groups demand and are given their own facilities, programs and (safe) spaces. While legally-mandated racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine was struck down in the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, a National Association of Scholars survey of 173 colleges published last month revealed that fully 72 percent now offer segregated graduation ceremonies, with 43 percent boasting segregated student residences.

Candle

Dutch teen raped as a child chose to be legally euthanized due to 'unbearable' pain - Update: Teen was not actually euthanized

Noa Pothoven
© Instagram
Noa Pothoven in hospital in 2018



Comment: As it turns out, Western media had this story wrong. Ms. Pothoven did not in fact get euthanized by a doctor. Earlier today, Politico Europe's Naomi O'Leary tweeted a thread debunking the reports.

She clarified what actually happened:
"Noa Pothoven had been severely ill with anorexia and other conditions for some time. Without telling her parents, she sought and was refused euthanasia... The family had tried many kinds of psychiatric treatment and Noa Pothoven was repeatedly hospitalised... a hospital bed was set up at home in the care of her parents. At the start of June she began refusing all fluids and food, and her parents and doctors agreed not to force feed her. A decision to move to palliative care and not to force feed at the request of the patient is not euthanasia."

A 17-year-old Dutch girl was legally allowed to kill herself using euthanasia after she was raped when younger and spent years battling depression, according to a report Tuesday.

"Love is letting go, in this case," Noa Pothoven of Arnhem wrote in an Instagram post announcing her choice to die in the living room of her home Sunday.

Pothoven - who was sexually abused at 11 and raped three years later - said she was sick of suffering "unbearable" pain.

"Maybe this comes as a surprise to some, given my posts about hospitalization, but my plan has been there for a long time and is not impulsive," she wrote.

"I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die," she added. "After years of battling and fighting, I am drained. I have quit eating and drinking for a while now, and after many discussions and evaluations, it was decided to let me go because my suffering is unbearable.

Comment: See also:


NPC

No surprise: Anti-Trump protesters in London turn violent

Trump supporter
© Reuters / Clodagh Kilcoyne
A Trump supporter shouts at anti-Trump demonstrators after one threw a milkshake at him
As President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Theresa May, droves of demonstrators turned out to protest the American leader's state visit. Tensions were high and the protests spilled over into violence.

Footage captured by video news agency Ruptly showed London's Metropolitan Police scuffling with a group of anti-Trump protesters, some wearing the signature hoods and scarves of 'Antifa' activists.

It is unclear what that struggle broke out over, but a contingent of police wrestled at least two of the protesters to the ground.

Arrow Down

Gosh darn! CNN, Maddow ratings in total freefall as Russiagate fairy tale collapses

maddow don lemon
© MSNBC
MSNBC personalities Rachel Maddow and Don Lemon
Ratings for the anti-Trump media have taken an absolute nosedive ever since the Mueller report dispelled their multi-year narrative that President Trump is a Kremlin agent.

According to Breitbart's John Nolte, CNN's primetime ratings suffered a 16% collapse in May - luring just 761,000 members of the resistance and captive airport audiences alike. Overall, the network's total day viewers dropped to just 559,000.

As Nolte points out, "Fox News earned three times as many primetime viewers (2.34 million) and more than twice as many total day viewers (1.34 million). What's more, when compared to this same month last year, Fox lost none of its primetime viewers and only four percent of its total day viewers."

Comment: A proper comeuppance for an unhinged media personality who has done nothing but mislead her audience for the last three years. MSNBC's Maddow should hang her head in shame, as well as all of CNN's disgraceful crew, that they ever had the nerve to label themselves journalists.


Heart - Black

Teacher mocks autistic student with 'most annoying' award

most annoying male
© Rick Castejon
Gary parent Rick Castejon says this award was given last month to his 11-year-old son, who has autism, at a Bailly Preparatory Academy awards lunch
A Gary father is expressing disbelief this week after his fifth-grader, who is autistic, was given a trophy dubbing him the "most annoying male" for the school year.

Rick Castejon said the award was given to his 11-year-old son at a fifth-grade awards luncheon for Bailly Preparatory Academy students last month by a special education teacher in front of students, parents and the school's principal Carlita Royal.

"We were blindsided. We just weren't expecting it," Castejon said. "As a principal or teacher, you should never let this happen to any student."

Gary Community School Corp. emergency manager Peter Morikis confirmed the incident in a statement Monday, saying he met immediately with family upon learning of the incident and that disciplinary action was taken against the personnel involved.

Handcuffs

Scot Peterson, officer who did nothing during Parkland school shooting, arrested and charged with neglecting duty

Scot Peterson
© Amy Beth Bennett
Ex-Broward deputy Scot Peterson at a first-appearance court hearing on Wednesday, June 5 2019
When every second counted, as students were screaming and dying in their classrooms, school security officer Scot Peterson hid rather than respond. His inaction resulted in his arrest Tuesday on charges of neglecting his duty.

Peterson stood alone in the Broward County Main Jail's prisoner assembly room for his first court appearance Wednesday morning. He is charged with seven counts of child neglect with great bodily harm, three counts of culpable negligence and exposure to harm, and one count of perjury, records showed.

Broward Judge Jackie Powell set bonds totaling $102,000 with conditions that included surrendering his passport. His attorneys noted his passport was at his North Carolina home and argued Peterson should not be required to remain in jail while someone flies there to retrieve it. Powell denied the request.

The extraordinary case of a cop charged with failure to act could land Peterson in prison for up to 97 years - though some experts warn that the charges will be difficult to prove.

Red Flag

University of Michigan offers course on fake news coverage of Trump

cnn building
The University of Michigan is offering a course during the fall 2019 semester on bias and inaccurate reporting in the news media, specifically when it comes to covering President Donald Trump.

"News Media Ethics," COMM 435, will explore what the president has labeled "fake news" reporting. In the course, students will ask: "How do journalists cover the news? Do they report it honestly and truthfully? How valid are claims by critics that news media behaved unethically in their coverage of Donald Trump?"

Elise Boddi, chief administrator in the University of Michigan Communication Studies Department, confirmed to Campus Reform on Monday that, as of that moment, the course is still being offered but noted that things could always change. She added that at this time, there are no plans to cancel the course.