Society's ChildS


NPC

Southwest on defense as hysteric AP reporter claims she was almost 'removed' from flight after pilot signed off with 'Let's Go Brandon'


RT
Sun, 31 Oct 2021 21:04 UTC
southwesst airlines plane
© REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonSouthwest Airlines Boeing 737 plane is seen at LAX in Los Angeles
Critics are calling for the firing of an unidentified pilot after he allegedly signed off when speaking to his passengers, including a reporter, by saying, "Let's Go, Brandon," a phrase commonly used to insult President Joe Biden.

In Saturday tweets, Associated Press reporter Colleen Long said she was on the Southwest flight from Houston, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and claimed she was almost "removed" after trying to ask the pilot about using the phrase.

"That feeling when you're trying to go on vacation and then the pilot says the very thing you're working on over the loudspeaker and you have to try to get him comment but then almost get removed from plane," Long tweeted, along with a story by her digging into the "let's go, Brandon" phrase, which has become common at sporting events and among Biden critics.

Comment: Matt Tiabbi nails the absurdity (not to mention the hypocrisy) of it all:
Is it really possible that these people don't get they're being trolled? Part of the joke of "Let's Go Brandon," of course, is that you couldn't go five minutes during the last administration without hearing someone in pearls or a bowtie screaming "Fuck Trump!" I don't remember Rangappa pumping out "Osama de Niro" tweets after this celebrated Tony Awards appearance:


The bigger part of the "Let's Go Brandon!" gag is that such outbursts during the Trump years were not only not condemned, they were celebrated, as pundits and reporters for the first time told us directly profane insults of presidents were okay. "Robert de Niro's Comments at the Tony Awards Go Viral," was CNN's bemused take, in a story quoting artist Ferrari Shepard saying, "Robert de Niro is my favorite rapper."


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Gold Coins

Venezuelans turn to gold nuggets as the local currency implodes

Joseph T. Salerno
Mises Institute
Thu, 28 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Gold miner
© Getty Images
The Venezuelan government recently lopped off six zeros from its hyperinflating currency, the bolivar. The highest denomination currency note of 1 million bolivars, worth less than $0.25, was replaced by a one-bolivar note. At the same time, a 100-bolivar note, worth about $25.00, was introduced as the new highest denomination of the bolivar. The currency conversion was designed to spare the government the embarrassment of having to issue a 100-million bolivar note to enable people to purchases everyday items without having to carry around bundles of notes, given that the price of a loaf of bread had risen to 7 million old bolivars. Of course, the arbitrary scaling down of the denomination of the currency will not slow inflation, because the new currency notes can be printed just as cheaply as the old. The bolivar has already lost 73 percent of its value in 2021 alone and the IMF estimates the annual inflation rate will reach 5,500 percent by the end of 2021.

It is not surprising that all but the poorest Venezuelans have abandoned the bolivar as a medium of exchange, let alone a store of value or unit of account. US dollars are the exchange medium of choice in Caracas and other large cities, while the Colombian peso dominates along the Colombian border, particularly in the regional city of San Cristobal. The Brazilian real is current along the southern border with Brazil and the euro and cryptocurrencies have also found niche uses.
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Pistol

Three dead as 'Taliban' gunmen open fire at Afghanistan wedding over playing of music


South China Morning Post
Sun, 31 Oct 2021 01:42 UTC
Mujahid
© AFPTaliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in Kabul
Gunmen presenting themselves as Taliban attacked a wedding in eastern Afghanistan to stop music being played and killed at least three people, the government said on Saturday.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two of the three attackers had been arrested, and denied they were acting on behalf of the Islamist movement.
"Last night, at the wedding of Haji Malang Jan in Shamspur Mar Ghundi village of Nangarhar, three people who introduced themselves as Taliban, entered the proceedings and [ordered] that the music stop playing. As a result of firing, at least three people have been killed and several others have been injured.

"Two suspects have been taken into custody by the Taliban in connection with the incident and one who escaped is still being pursued. The perpetrators of the incident caught, who have used the name of the Islamic Emirate to carry out their personal feud, have been handed over to face sharia law."
Qazi Mullah Adel, spokesman for the Taliban governor in Nangarhar province, confirmed the incident but did not provide details. A relative of the victims said the Taliban fighters had opened fire while music was being played.

Music was banned the last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and, while the new government has not yet issued such a decree, its leadership still frowns on its use in entertainment and sees it as a breach of Islamic law.
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Blackbox

'Internet sleuths' claim to have proof that 'China created Covid,' despite US intelligence reporting none


RT
Sun, 31 Oct 2021 17:09 UTC
vaccine, coronavirus
© Global Look Press / Christophe Gateau / dpa
An upcoming book is being touted by the media as potentially providing proof that China created the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Its narrative is based on open-source documents and clashes with what US intelligence has told the public.

The content of the book, titled Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19, was previewed by one of its co-authors, Matt Ridley, in the Daily Mail. The tabloid posited that its authors would offer evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic could have started as a "laboratory leak of a possibly engineered coronavirus" followed by a "cover-up of epic proportions".

The article came days after US intelligence declassified its own assessment of the origins of the disease. The report from the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the opinions of the "internet sleuths" behind the book differ quite a lot.

Comment: Regardless of its claims, the book serves to keep the focus on China, and away from the bio-warfare research the US is conducting. Qui bono?

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Ambulance

Thousands of Irish citizens take to streets to protest closure of Navan hospital's emergency department

Seoirse Mulgrew
The Independent.ie
Sat, 30 Oct 2021 16:57 UTC
irish hospital closing protest navan
© Seamus FarrellyThe Save Navan Hospital rally which took place in Navan, Co Meath October 30, 2021.
Thousands of protesters are set to take to the streets today in order to stop the closure of the emergency department at Navan Hospital.

A rally has been organised by the Save Navan Hospital Campaign following fears the current 24-hour A&E service could be replaced with a medical assessment unit.

Local TD Peadar Tóibín said the march today is the result of a proud Meath community coming together in a "serious time of need". He said the HSE's plan to close the A&E is "extremely dangerous".

"Six weeks ago, the HSE told senior medics, staff and Unions in Navan Hospital that the A&E and ICU was to be closed. Ministers told TDs asking questions in the Dáil that this was going to happen.
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Bizarro Earth

Knife, fire attack on Tokyo train injures 10


NHK
Sun, 31 Oct 2021 14:45 UTC
tokyo train attack
Tokyo police have arrested a man who brandished a knife and lit a fire on a train, injuring at least ten people on Sunday night.

Police said one of the injured, a man apparently in his 60s, was stabbed and is unconscious.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the suspect, believed to be in his 20s, began attacking passengers on a Keio Line train near Kokuryo Station in the western Tokyo city of Chofu at around 8:00 p.m.

Investigators said the suspect also scattered what appeared to be oil and set it on fire. They said the blaze burned some of the seats.

Comment: See also:

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Syringe

90 per cent of Germans who haven't had the vaccine say they won't get it

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Fri, 29 Oct 2021 00:01 UTC
vaccination shot jab
© Getty Images
Vaccine passports harden opposition to getting jabbed, survey finds.

90 per cent of Germans who haven't taken the COVID-19 vaccine say they won't get it, with only the remaining 10 per cent saying they will "probably" get it or remaining undecided.

A recent survey carried out by Forsa on behalf of the Ministry for Health found that 65 per cent of Germans say there is "no way" they will get the COVID vaccine over the next two months.

Comment: See also:

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USA

How 'Let's Go Brandon' became code for insulting Joe Biden

Colleen Long
AP
Sat, 30 Oct 2021 10:46 UTC
lets go brandon
© AP Photo/Joshua BessexA sign reading "Let's go Brandon" is displayed on the railing in the first half of an NCAA college football game between Boston College and Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. Critics of President Joe Biden have come up with the cryptic new phrase to insult the Democratic president.
When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase "Let's go, Brandon!" it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment -- actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden -- is everywhere.

South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a "Let's Go Brandon" face mask at the Capitol last week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a "Let's Go Brandon" sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell's press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.

The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: "F — - Joe Biden." It's all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals they're in sync with the party's base.

Comment: See also:

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Car Black

US sees 18.4% rise in traffic fatalities in first half of 2021, largest 6-month increase on record

Paul Best
Fox News
Fri, 29 Oct 2021 06:51 UTC
cars highway
More than 20,000 people died in car accidents throughout the United States in the first six months of 2021, an 18.4% increase over the same time period last year, according to the Department of Transportation.

It marks the biggest six-month increase in traffic fatalities since the Fatality Analysis Reporting System started tracking the numbers in 1979.

Vehicle miles traveled jumped about 13% to 173.1 billion miles, which may explain some of the increase in traffic fatalities, but the DOT also said that "incidents of speeding and traveling without a seat belt remain higher than during pre-pandemic times."

accident Prescott Ariz
© Ralph Lucas/Prescott Fire Department via AP | Yavapai County SheriffIn this Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018 photo provided by the Prescott Fire Department, firefighters work the scene of an accident in Prescott, Ariz.
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Yellow Vest

Huge crowd protests in Melbourne against vaccine mandates & sweeping pandemic powers bill: 'Stop unlimited power grab!'


RT
Sat, 30 Oct 2021 21:03 UTC
australia mandate bill vaccine protest
© William West / AFPProtesters sit on the steps of the Victorian parliament in Melbourne on October 26, 2021
A large group of demonstrators gathered around the state parliament in Victoria, Australia to demand an end to a recently imposed vaccine mandate and protest a draft pandemic bill that would grant draconian powers to officials.

Photos and videos circulating on social media show a vast crowd outside Parliament House in Melbourne, the state capital, on Saturday, where activists were seen holding signs and placards - one reading "Sack Dan," referring to state Premier Daniel Andrews.

Comment: Are the protests too little, too late? Australia, along with New Zealand appears to be a laboratory, testing how far a population will allow itself to be pushed.

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