Society's ChildS


Smiley

Eddie Murphy returns with 80s-style un-PC jokes, saves SNL from Trump flop

Graham Dockery
RT
Sun, 22 Dec 2019 17:03 UTC
Eddie Murphy as 'Velvet Jones'
© YouTube / Saturday Night Live 35Eddie Murphy as 'Velvet Jones'
Amid faltering ratings and an overreliance on 'orange man bad' Trump jokes, Saturday Night Live turned the clock back to the 1980s, welcoming Eddie Murphy's menagerie of non-PC characters for its best show in a decade.

American politics has been Saturday Night Live's bread and butter ever since the election of Donald Trump, but even Alec Baldwin himself has grown tired of portraying the president.

Three years of political commentary disguised as humor has taken its toll not just on its stars but also on the show's ratings; pastiches of Robert Mueller, Rudy Giuliani and Jeff Sessions fell flat last year, and Season 45's opener in September gave SNL its lowest-rated start to a season in five years.

Things started no differently on Saturday night, with another nine-minute cold open that attempted the blood-from-a-turnip task of wringing humor out of the most recent Democratic debate.
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Chess

Italian economic development minister: Huawei should not be banned from 5G deployment in Italy


RT
Sun, 22 Dec 2019 18:17 UTC
huawei 5g
© Reuters / Aly Song 8
Huawei should be allowed to participate in the rollout of 5G in Italy, Stefano Patuanelli said after a parliamentary committee urged that Chinese companies be banned from the development of the super-fast network.

"We have passed legislation that guarantees national security. With the right defenses, the possibility of [Chinese companies'] access is not up for debate," the recently appointed minister of economic development, Stefano Patuanelli, said in an interview with La Stampa.

While the US has been pressing its allies to take a tougher stance on Huawei, earlier this month, the Italian Parliamentary Committee for the Intelligence and Security Services and for State Secret Control (COPASIR) submitted a non-binding document sounding the alarm about the involvement of Chinese tech firms in the development of super-fast networks in the country. The committee said concerns about them were "largely grounded" due to the alleged threat to national security.
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Handcuffs

Ex-cop indicted for murder in shooting of Texas woman inside her home

Adam Schrader
NY Post
Fri, 20 Dec 2019 18:14 UTC
Aaron Dean
© Tarrant County Correction Center
A former Fort Worth, Texas, cop who was accused of gunning down a black woman inside her own home was indicted for her murder on Friday.

Aaron Dean, 35, allegedly shot Atatiana Jefferson, 28, through a window while responding to an "open structure" call with his partner around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 12.


Comment: Previously: Texas cop who killed woman through window of her own home has resigned & may face criminal charges


Jefferson's family were relieved to hear of the indictment, but said they "have a long way to go" at a press conference on Friday, NBCDFW reported.

"When I heard it, it was definitely surreal because it was kind of facing the fact that this is the reality we are having to face at this moment," said Jefferson's sister Ashley Carr, the outlet reported.
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War Whore

Moscow anti-doping lab's data accessed from outside Russia, former director gave files of unknown origin to WADA - probe


RT
Sat, 21 Dec 2019 18:06 UTC
lap test
© RIA Novosti / Alexander Kryazhev
Moscow anti-doping lab's files were remotely altered by its former director, Grigory Rodchenkov, and his unidentified associates from US and German IP addresses, Russian investigators confirmed.

Ex-boss of Moscow lab fled to US in November 2015 becoming a star witness and main source of information for World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in its case against Moscow.

Earlier in December, WADA introduced harsh sanctions against Russia over the alleged manipulations with the data handed over to it by Russian doping watchdog, RUSADA, as part of its reinstatement process.

But the laboratory information management system (LIMS) was accessed between 2015 and 2016 "from the IP-addresses registered and located in the USA and Germany," Russia's Investigative Committee said revealing their findings in the probe into the fugitive doctor.
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NPC

Why can't we stop feeding the trolls? Latest frenzy over 'it's OK to be white' proves society desperately wants to be offended

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 20 Dec 2019 19:11 UTC
ok sign
© AFP / John Rudoff 81
A plague of "it's OK to be white" stickers has struck Perth, Scotland, "sickening" local authorities. The slogan's origins in an internet prank are known, yet it's still taken seriously - nor is it the sole case of self-trolling.

The stickers' arrival in Perth catapulted the town into a state of shock, to hear the BBC tell it on Tuesday. "It's sickening and disgusting to know that people think like this," an anonymous resident told the outlet, while local group Perth Against Racism claimed to have been contacted by multiple people who "felt unsafe" upon seeing the stickers.

Such a reaction - starkly out of proportion to the rather meek message presented by the stickers, and coming off somewhat racist in its own right for implying it is not, in fact, OK to be white, was exactly what the campaign's creators were aiming for when they put out a call two years ago on the anonymous imageboard 4chan's notorious /pol/ section to post signs featuring the slogan on college campuses and watch "the media and leftists frothing at the mouth."
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Arrow Up

Historian and Assange activist says judge's acceptance of 'complexity' of Assange's case is 'an important win'


The Interregnum
Fri, 20 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
John Rees, Don't Extradite Assange
© Mohamed Elmaazi

In a surprise development District Judge Venessa Baraitser seems to have accepted that Julian Assange's main extradition hearing will take weeks rather than days, though she still refuses to assist with his prison conditions.

John Rees, of the Don't Extradite Assange Campaign, says he has seen a positive shift in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Rees, a historian and activist, attended Assange's latest case management hearing held on the morning of 19 December at Westminster Magistrate's Court He explained that District Judge Venessa Baraitser appears to have now accepted that the case "is very complex" and "involves fundamental questions of law and justice":


Comment: Only Cowards, Sadists And Sellouts Support The Persecution of Assange

More recent news on Assange's case:

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Bullseye

The Scar of Bethlehem: Banksy's new nativity work features Israel's wall that imprisons Palestinians


Sputnik
Sun, 22 Dec 2019 02:57 UTC
banksy
© AFP 2019 / Thomas Coex
The mysterious artist Banksy, known best for graffiti found around the world that often addresses global resource inequality and authoritarian governments, has unveiled his latest work - a sculpture.

Titled 'The Scar of Bethlehem,' Banksy's latest depicts a nativity scene with Mary, Joseph and a baby Jesus. Above the trio, however, where the biblical Star of Bethlehem is typically located, a star-shaped bullet hole is displayed in what appears to be a section of Israel's enormous concrete and steel barrier on the West Bank. The wall between Israel and Palestinian territories is easily recognizable by its trademark tall, narrow segments with holes at the top.

"It is a nativity. Banksy has his own contribution to Christmas," hotel manager Wissam Salsaa told AFP. "It is a great way to bring up the story of Bethlehem, the Christmas story, in a different way — to make people think more."

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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People 2

College hosts free speech training after harassment of conservative group

Jeremiah Poff
The College Fix
Wed, 18 Dec 2019 07:23 UTC
free speech
After a College of Lake County adviser hung flyers accusing a conservative club on campus of being a hate group, the Illinois school hosted free speech trainings for faculty and staff.

In November, an employee of the college hung flyers stating "hate groups are not welcome here" and other materials accusing Young Americans for Freedom of being a hate group.

YAF student Chairman Rob Corn said in a Facebook post: "I've been going to this school for two years, and this isn't anything new. The intolerance of the left on our campus is rampant."

But after the incident, the college hosted free speech training sessions.

"A student activities director told Corn that the first question discussed at these sessions was whether or not the YAF chapter was a hate group, to which the school's lawyers affirmed that the chapter was NOT a hate group, and has every right to exist on campus," YAF reported in a news release.

Comment: About time colleges did something a bit more useful, as opposed to things like "inclusivity training" or creating "safe spaces". See also:

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Oil Well

Climate activists are "nearly run over" trying to stop coal-laden freight train

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:45 UTC
climate protesters
Protesters in Massachusetts in a prior Dec.8 incident attempting to flag down a coal train to stop it. Image source: 350 New Hampshire Action via WBUR.
The "end of the world" apocalyptic hyper-gloom-and-doom rhetoric of Greta Thunberg and other self-anointed climate prophets are leading followers to take greater and greater risks in attempts at "staving off climate disaster" — increasingly endangering themselves and public safety.

As a case in point, climate activists in the northeast United States have for the past month been physically trying to halt coal-filled freight trains, in some cases by literally jumping on the tracks. As Fox News reports of the latest dangerous incident caught on video:
An environmental reporter in Massachusetts posted a video on Twitter late Monday that she said showed a freight train hauling coal being met with a group of climate change activists on a dark track.

The train was seen moving slowly through Worchester, Mass., and about a dozen activists with small lights could be seen surrounding the tracks. The train's horn was blaring, but the activists appeared to continue to give it chase. The train was headed to New Hampshire, the reporter wrote.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Vegan couple who fed children only raw fruit and veg charged with murder after baby dies from starvation

Matt Drake
The Independent
Sat, 21 Dec 2019 07:51 UTC
vegan parents
© NBC2Couple's other three children were also extremely malnourished, according to reports
A vegan couple who fed their children only raw fruits and vegetables have been charged with murder after their son allegedly died of starvation.

The Florida couple, Ryan Patrick O'Leary, 30, and Sheila O'Leary, 35, told police they only fed their children on a diet of raw fruit and vegetables. On Wednesday, a Lee County Grand Jury indicted the couple.

They are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse, and two counts of child neglect after their 18-month-old son starved to death, according to authorities.

According to a Cape Coral police report, the child weighed only 17 pounds (8 kilograms), which experts say is in line with what a seven-month-old should weigh.

The mother called 911 in September when she noticed her son was not breathing and felt cold. She tried to resuscitate the baby, but he was dead when paramedics arrived, according to the News-Press.

Comment: See also:

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