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Mon, 08 Nov 2021
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The New Bourgeoisie, Critical Theory and Jordan B Peterson

jordan peterson interview
Earlier this week, clinical psychologist Jordan B. Peterson appeared on Britain's Channel 4 in an interview with TV journalist Cathy Newman. It didn't go well. Journalist Douglas Murray described it as "catastrophic for the interviewer", while author Sam Harris called it a "nearly terminal case of close-mindedness". Sociologist Nicholas Christakis perhaps described it best:

Christakis mentions two important things about Newman. First, she seemed hostile towards Peterson, clearly going into the interview with a moral prejudice towards him. Second, she seemed unable to engage with his arguments, instead misrepresenting them ("You're saying women aren't intelligent enough to run top companies?") or taking issue with them (during a conversation about unhealthy relationships, Newman asked: "What gives you the right to say that?" Answer: "I'm a clinical psychologist.") At one point, she was rendered speechless.

Attention

Axe & Molotov cocktail at Russian high school: Attackers injure 3 people, start blaze - conflicting reports - UPDATE

Russian high school in Ulan-Ude
© Ruptly
Russian high school in Ulan-Ude
Three attackers, at least one of them armed with an axe, stormed a school in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude and used a Molotov cocktail to set the building on fire. It is the second school attack in Russia in the space of a week.

There are conflicting reports about the number of attackers; while the Buryatia Republic authorities say that there were at least three, the Russian Investigative Committee is looking for a lone perpetrator.

Initial reports in the local media said a student stormed the high school with an axe and attacked a teacher and at least three students. He chopped off one of the victim's fingers, according to some reports.

According to the Buryatia Republic authorities, four people were injured, including an attacker. Later on Friday an official from the regional health ministry told TASS that seven people had been injured, "six children and a woman." He didn't specify whether the attacker was among them.

Comment: See also: Teens inspired by Columbine Massacre go on knife rampage at Russian school, 15 injured

Update: RT reports
A video has emerged showing the alleged arrest of a teen who stormed a school in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, and used a Molotov cocktail to set the building on fire. The attacker tried to commit suicide after the assault.

The footage shows the alleged perpetrator lying on the ground, apparently in the school yard, with three police officers tying his hands. The suspect does not appear to resist law enforcers.


Six people, including a teacher, were wounded in the attack on Friday morning. One of the victims, a 13-year-old girl, is reportedly in a coma. The attacker, a student in the school, allegedly chopped off one of the victim's fingers, and hit several children in the head with an ax.

The teen, identified by local media as 'Anton,' attempted to kill himself after the attack. According to local media, he stabbed himself with a knife and then jumped from a window.

He had earlier told a girl at the school about his plans via the Viber messaging app, a local woman said, according to Ruptly. "The boy told her [the girl] not to go to school because 'there will be a massacre,'" she added.



Stock Up

Russian stocks surge to all-time high riding strong ruble momentum

Moscow
© Anton Denisov / Sputnik
The Russian key ruble stock index - MICEX - surged to a historic high on Friday, surpassing the 2,300 mark. The ruble was also near multi-year highs against the US dollar.

The MICEX touched a record 2,306 mark before sliding to 2,288. The dollar-traded RTS Index was trading flat at 1,274 points. The RTS is still far from its record, seen in 2008, when it was double its current level.

The ruble remains one of few currencies in surplus against the greenback over the last 52 weeks. The Russian currency is up over five percent against the dollar in the last year. The ruble was trading at 56.6 against the dollar and 69.5 against the euro.

Card - VISA

Visa won't process cryptocurrency-based transactions

VISA credit card
© Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
The largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, is a commodity and not a payment system, according to Visa's chief executive. Visa will also not give bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies a platform for wire transfers and exchanges.

"I don't view it as payment system player," CEO Alfred Kelly told CNBC.

"We at Visa won't process transactions that are cryptocurrency-based. We will only process fiat currency-based transactions," he added. Visa is the world's largest credit card company.

Bug

Vermin, filth, drugs & suicide: Appalling conditions in Britain's 'worst' prison (PHOTOS)

cockroach trash
© justiceinspectorates.gov.uk
Prison chiefs are being ordered to explain their "abject failure" over squalid living conditions in Liverpool prison. Inmates are living with broken windows, rats, cockroaches, damp and leaking toilets, an official report reveals.

The damning report, published on Friday highlights the plight of one prisoner with mental health needs who was left for weeks in a dark and damp cell with broken windows, exposed wires, no furniture besides a bed and a blocked lavatory. It took the personal intervention of Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke to get him moved from "such appalling conditions."

Many of the 1,155 prisoners have to endure squalid conditions with hundreds of broken windows, jagged glass in the frames, filthy toilets inside cells and rats living in rubbish piles, according to inspectors who made an unannounced visit in September last year. The category B prison, which has a capacity of 1,060, has been rated "poor" for safety - the lowest level - three times in four years.

Sherlock

Rape charges against Oxford University student dropped after new review of evidence

Oliver Mears
© Oly Mears / Facebook
Oliver Mears
A two-year rape case against an Oxford University student has been dropped just days before his trial, after a "new set of eyes" re-examined the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) case against him.

Oliver Mears, 19, from Horley, Surrey, was on track to become a successful scientist before being arrested on suspicion of raping and indecently assaulting a woman at a party in July 2015.

His trial had been set down to start on Monday, but the CPS asked the judge to record a not guilty verdict after the evidence was reviewed, the Times reports. After Mears spent two years in limbo, the prosecution said it would not be submitting any evidence.

"This has been hanging over Oliver for two years and he has been under enormous stress for 10 percent of his life. It was a very poor and slow investigation by the police and there has been very late disclosure," a source, who asked not to be identified, told the newspaper.

"Some of the material requested which would have been useful to the defense has still not been received," the source added.

Cult

Pope Francis angers victims of pedophile priest by saying their allegations are 'defamation'

Pope Francis
© Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Pope Francis has launched an astonishing attack on the victims of a pedophile priest, saying that those who publicly accused a bishop of covering up sexual abuse are themselves guilty of slander.

The pope made the comments on Thursday as he brought his six-day visit to Chile to an end. The trip was seen by many as a bid to revive the church's credibility in the South American country after a sex scandal in which Bishop Juan Barros was accused of concealing the crimes of the pedophile Reverend Fernando Karadima. Barros has denied the claims.

Asked about the allegations against Barros, Francis said: "The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I'll speak. There is not one shred of proof against him. It's all calumny [defamation]. Is that clear?"

Life Preserver

5 men have pedophile ring charges dropped, lash out at 'serial fantasist' accuser

judge gavel
© Carlos Jasso / Reuters
Charges against five men accused of being in a pedophile ring have been dropped two weeks before trial and their accuser labelled "serial fantasist" after it was revealed the woman had made false allegations on multiple occasions.

A medical expert also said that the woman's account of her backyard abortion - allegedly performed on her by one of the accused - had been lifted from TV show portrayals of abortions on programs like 'Call the Midwife' and the film 'Vera Drake'.

In 2016 the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, made accusations against the men, saying that she had been abused at parties between 3 and 15 years of age. She said she was forced to have an abortion and help the men torture other kids.

The allegations saw retired GP Stephen Glascoe, 67, retired social worker Patrick Graham, 61, and three other men due to stand trial on January 29 for their alleged involvement in a Cardiff pedophile ring in the 1990s.

During her most recent rape accusations, the woman told police that one of the men had sent her a package from Amazon that included wires twisted in the very same way that her hands had been allegedly tied while they abused her. She later conceded that she had actually ordered the parcel herself.

Stormtrooper

Sweden may deploy Army in no-go zones ravaged by organized crime

Swedish military Sweden Army
© By Irish Defence Forces from Ireland [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Sweden will do whatever it takes" to end a wave of gang violence that has swept throughout the country, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The idea of getting the military involved in resolving the issue of 'no-go' zones within Sweden's cities, where a large majority of migrants reside, was floated when Sweden's political leaders debated how to combat problems with gang crime in the country.

With the country's center-right and right-wing media referring to the crisis as the 'Sweden civil war,' the police department's inability to cope with more than 300 reported shootings last year seems to be going in their favor.

The first Riksdag debate of 2018 between Sweden's party leaders follows a string of deadly shootings in Malmo and Stockholm that had happened in recent weeks, as well as the death of a man from a hand grenade.

During his opening statement at the debate, the Prime Minister spoke about shootings and gangs and identified them as one of the biggest problems Sweden is currently facing. He also added that more needs to be done to combat them including attacking their economic resources and a tightening of rules.

Comment: Then there's this: Ridiculous! Sweden distributes 4.7 million leaflets on 'how to prepare for war with Russia'


Heart - Black

Tension relief? Pornhub stats rocket in Hawaii after false ballistic missile alarm

false emergency alert Hawaii
© Twitter
Thousands of Hawaiians eased their anxieties by watching porn just moments after a ballistic missile alert last Saturday turned out to be a false alarm, Pornhub traffic data has revealed.

Most Hawaiians predictably abandoned their porn to save their lives from an imminent ballistic threat, Pornhub, the largest pornographic video sharing website, revealed Wednesday. Within fifteen minutes after the Islanders received the emergency alert reading: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL," traffic to Pornhub dropped dramatically.

Comment: It's a pretty sad reflection of a society that a significant number of people, perhaps being reminded of their own mortality, turn to porn rather than their friends and family for more meaningful comfort and connection: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Death of Intimacy: Porn and the Ponerization of Sex