Society's ChildS


Fire

Not much to see here: Iran's fires and explosions, put in perspective

iran fires
Apologies in advance for any mistake I may have made due to my rudimentary knowledge of the Persian language. Bebakhshid.
Amid growing interest from international media in Iran's fires and explosions over the past few weeks, some analysts stressed the need not to overemphasise these events. Especially in the summer, especially in a country with a record of (quite some) neglected infrastructure, these events are just ordinary.

It makes sense that local media such as Irna.ir track each of these occurrences. However, international media's obsessive attention seems a bit inappropriate.

Digging into IRNA archives - only Irna's archives, because Irna generally offers good media coverage and because I wanted to be consistent in the identification of these events over time - I collected data on major fires and gas explosions which hit Iran in mid May-end July one year ago, in 2019. The intent was precisely to show that these events occur frequently (unfortunately), so that those happening this year are not anomalies.

Excluding fires in green areas such as parks, forests, gardens - which do deserve attention, but for other reasons not addressed here - according to the IRNA archive there were at least 97 fires or explosions between mid May 2019 and the end of July 2019. That is, more than one per day over those 2.5 months. Their seriousness varied a lot and this is why I differentiated fires and explosions in military/nuclear sites (black, only in 2020), in medical centres (a cross - perhaps I should have used a red crescent), in factories/power plants/public places (dark red), and in private residential units (light red). Data show that, just like this year, also in 2019 there were explosions or fires at power plants, factories, hospitals, research centres, vessels, arms depots.

Comparing 2020 with 2019, the only major difference lies in explosions at military or nuclear centres. Those hitting Natanz and Khojir some weeks ago were indeed worth investigating. But, apart from those, it would make little sense for the international media to continue covering obsessively every ordinary explosion taking place in the country, wouldn't it?

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Che Guevara

From 'blacks riding white penises' to 'let the white man do it,' BLM videos show movement's bigoted underbelly

blm protest
© Reuters / Terray SylvesterBlack Lives Matter protesters march in Portland, Oregon, June 3, 2020
The way BLM and the leftist milieu their protests attract tell it, they're waging a just war against a racist system of oppression. The reality is that they're full of oppressive bigots with a terrifying vision of mob justice.

In a bizarre video captured in Portland, Oregon on Saturday night, a man who goes by the name of 'Princess' was punched by a Black Lives Matter protester, allegedly for the crime of being flamboyantly gay. Both Princess and his attacker are black.

Once Princess was punched, protesters descended on his attacker and held him as they debated how to mete out justice. Some thought a black man should punch him. Others argued that punching him was a crime, and a white man should take the fall, because oppression, and systemic something or other.

"Let the white man do it," one black woman shouted. A white man did eventually step up to the plate and punch the man, and mob justice was served.


NPC

What the right-wing gets wrong about social justice culture

no justice sign sjw
© Lorie Shaull/Flickr
When moral visions clash, it's common for people to assume their opponents have bad motives rather than different perspectives. And it's usually wrong. If you advocate some policy you believe will save lives, whether it's a plan for fighting COVID-19, increasing health-care coverage, or reducing homicide, your opponents probably don't oppose your plan because they want more people to die. They may think their own plan will save lives, or they may be concerned about other values entirely. You may very well have fundamental moral disagreements with them, but the thing you hate most about their position probably isn't what's driving them.

We see this in the current debates over the new social justice movement. The critics of social justice activists sometimes talk as if what's driving the activists is a kind of oversensitivity, as if they're the equivalent of small children having tantrums to get attention. In 2016, for example, an Iowa state legislator introduced the "Suck It up, Buttercup" bill, which would have fined universities offering counseling and "cry rooms" to students upset about the 2016 presidential election. And in 2018 then-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in a speech about threats to free speech on college campuses, warned that schools were creating a generation of "sanctimonious, sensitive, supercilious snowflakes."

Comment: Dr. Jordan Peterson has succinctly articulated the situation:

Message to Millennials: How to Change the World - Properly (VIDEO)

Jonathan Haidt had something to say about the Left in his book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. The Left have good points regarding the horrific state of the world, but in his view, they are operating with a more limited perception than the average right-wing adherent. Thus, their solutions are simplistic and unlikely to obtain in the long run.


Sheriff

Border chief fires back at Portland mayor, defends 'absolutely necessary' policing tactics

Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan
© Fox News
Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan has forcefully denied claims that his officers were concealing their identity and exacerbating the unrest in Portland, Oregon.

"It's just outrageous and it's reckless," Morgan said Saturday of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's complaints about his agents.

Wheeler has accused the administration of sending in troops as part of a political strategy that ultimately "ratcheted up the tension on our streets."

"The argument that the mere presence of federal officers and agents causes violence, that is outrageous and it's ridiculous, and I believe that most American people do not believe that," Morgan said on "Cavuto Live."

"What's happening right now are absolute criminals. They are willfully organizing, planning and coordinating, and preparing themselves and bringing weapons to these areas with the intent to destroy federal property and harm federal agents and officers. That is criminal and that cannot be justified," he added.

Snakes in Suits

'Not comfortable having them in our space': Portland mayor orders feds to be kicked out of police incident HQ as riots grip city

Portland Police Bureau officers
© REUTERS/Nathan HowardA Portland Police Bureau officer shields his eyes from a flashlight after confronting a crowd in Portland, Oregon, U.S. July 17, 2020.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said he has banned federal officers, who were deployed to the city to protect federal property, from sharing headquarters with police amid claims they whisk "peaceful protesters" away in unmarked cars.

"Earlier today I directed that staff who are part of federal agency operations are no longer allowed to co-locate with the police bureau's incident command," Wheeler tweeted on Saturday.

Although the Democrat mayor acknowledged that "sharing a space" advanced cooperation between local and federal law enforcement, allowing for clearer communication, he said that "recent actions" by federal officers made them unwelcome on the city grounds.

Fire

Police union office set on fire as Portland protest descends into riot

Portland Police Association vandalized
© Twitter / @45thabsurdist
A mob broke into the office of the Portland police union and set a small fire to the building amid growing hostility between demonstrators and law enforcement in the city. The blaze was later put out as officers cleared the area.

A group of demonstrators targeted the Portland Police Association office on Saturday night, barricading a nearby street and lighting dumpsters on fire.

Several videos of the incident show protesters outside the breached door of the building.

Syringe

Africa to become testing ground for "trust stamp" vaccine record and payment system

africa covid
© Brian Inganga | APA boy sells fish at his street stall in front of an informational mural warning people about the dangers of the new coronavirus and how to prevent transmission, with words in Swahili reading "We are the Cure" painted by youth artists from the Uweza Foundation, in Nairobi, Kenya, July 8, 2020.
A biometric digital identity platform that "evolves just as you evolve" is set to be introduced in "low-income, remote communities" in West Africa thanks to a public-private partnership between the Bill Gates-backed GAVI vaccine alliance, Mastercard and the AI-powered "identity authentication" company, Trust Stamp.

The program, which was first launched in late 2018, will see Trust Stamp's digital identity platform integrated into the GAVI-Mastercard "Wellness Pass," a digital vaccination record and identity system that is also linked to Mastercard's click-to-play system that powered by its AI and machine learning technology called NuData. Mastercard, in addition to professing its commitment to promoting "centralized record keeping of childhood immunization" also describes itself as a leader toward a "World Beyond Cash," and its partnership with GAVI marks a novel approach towards linking a biometric digital identity system, vaccination records, and a payment system into a single cohesive platform. The effort, since its launch nearly two years ago, has been funded via $3.8 million in GAVI donor funds in addition to a matched donation of the same amount by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In early June, GAVI reported that Mastercard's Wellness Pass program would be adapted in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Around a month later, Mastercard announced that Trust Stamp's biometric identity platform would be integrated into Wellness Pass as Trust Stamp's system is capable of providing biometric identity in areas of the world lacking internet access or cellular connectivity and also does not require knowledge of an individual's legal name or identity to function. The Wellness Program involving GAVI, Mastercard, and Trust Stamp will soon be launched in West Africa and will be coupled with a Covid-19 vaccination program once a vaccine becomes available.

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USA

Maria Butina recalls the nightmare of jail time in US

Butina
© REUTERS/Rick WilkingMaria Butina after returning to Russia in 2019. Sputnik / Ilya Pitalin / Bars in a US jail.
Two years ago a Russian woman was arrested in the US and portrayed as a honeypot spy by the 'Russiagate' obsessed media. Now, Maria Butina recalls how she found herself trapped in the hell of the American penal system.

Butina is a gun rights advocate, who found herself dragged into the subsequently discredited 'Trump-Russia' saga and sentenced to 18 months in prison by a federal court. US prosecutors and the media worked hard to present her as a cunning spy using her feminine charms to slither into the corrupt underbelly of the National Rifle Association and expose American conservatives to malign Kremlin influence.

Now back in Russia, Butina works as a rights activist and is the co-host of a program on RT in Russian. She shared an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, which tells how she arrived in the city jail of Alexandria, Northern Virginia, after her arrest on July 15.

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Calculator

Russia's credit rating intact despite global economic slump and lockdown

Moscow
© Reuters / Christian HartmannFILE PHOTO: The skyscrapers of the Moscow International Business Center, Moscow, Russia
While most oil-exporting nations saw international agencies knocking down their sovereign credit ratings amid the crisis spurred by the Covid-19 outbreak, S&P Global Ratings confirmed Russia's rating at BBB- with a stable outlook.

In its report on Friday, the agency said that the Russian economy is expected to contract by 4.8 percent this year due to lower oil prices, OPEC+ cuts, and the fallout from the pandemic. However, the country is expected to weather those economic shocks, thanks to a flexible exchange rate and fiscal balance, while their impact on the economy will be more modest than in developed countries.

In more than 80 percent of cases, international rating agencies opted to downgrade the credit ratings of other nations that export energy resources, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said as he commented on the S&P decision. The minister said that conservative budget planning, inflation targeting policy, and strict adherence to the budget rule allowed the Russian economy to cope with external challenges.

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Eye 2

Family on house arrest after mother tested positive for coronavirus, forced to wear ankle tags

Covid house arrest
A couple was placed under house arrest after testing positive for COVID-19.

A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after one of them tested positive for coronavirus and refused to sign self-quarantine papers.

Elizabeth Linscott got tested for COVID-19 because she was planning to go visit her parents.

"My grandparents wanted to see me, too, so, just to make sure that, you know, if I tested negative, that they would be okay, everything would be fine," Linscott said.

After testing positive but without showing any symptoms, Linscott told WAVE-TV the health department contacted her, requesting she sign documents.

Comment: The mother voluntarily took the test because she was concerned for her parents; let this be a lesson as to how the hystericized are likely to handle situations in the future: Also check out SOTT radio's: Objective:Health - The Ultimate Insanity of the Covid Lockdown - Interview with Sott.net Editor Joe Quinn