Society's ChildS


Hammer

This just keeps getting better: $120,000 duct-taped banana 'artwork' vandalized with 'Epstein Didn't Kill Himself' meme

Khaleda Rahman
Newsweek
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 05:19 UTC
epstein didn't kill himself
The gallery wall that featured the $120,000 artwork of a duct-taped banana at Art Basel Miami has been vandalized with lipstick — a day after the banana itself was eaten by an artist.

Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian was one of the most visited exhibits at the international art fair in Miami Beach last week. Two pieces quickly sold to collectors for $120,000 and a third edition will be sold to a museum after the price was raised to $150,000, Artnet reported.

The Miami Herald reported that on Sunday afternoon, the wall where the work was displayed was vandalized with the phrase "Epstien (sic) didn't kill himself" written in red lipstick.

Comment: See also:

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Biohazard

Former Monsanto CEO ordered to testify at Roundup cancer trial

Carey Gillam
Source
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 10:05 UTC
former monsanto ceo hugh grant
Former Monsanto Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant will have to testify in person at a St. Louis-area trial set for January in litigation brought by a cancer-stricken woman who claims her disease was caused by exposure to the company's Roundup herbicide and that Monsanto covered up the risks instead of warning consumers.

Grant, who led St. Louis-based Monsanto from 2003 until the company was sold to Bayer AG of Germany in June of 2018, and spent a total of 37 years working for Monsanto, was subpoenaed by lawyers for plaintiff Sharlean Gordon, to testify at a trial slated to begin Jan. 27 in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

The Gordon trial was originally scheduled for August of this year but was delayed as part of an effort to undertake settlement talks between Bayer and lawyers for tens of thousands of plaintiffs who are suing Monsanto with claims similar to Gordon's.

Comment: See also:

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Blue Planet

The anti-Greta: Conservative Swedish teenage activist shoots to fame on Russian internet

Lilia Dergacheva
Sputnik
Sat, 07 Dec 2019 17:17 UTC
Greta Thunberg
© AP Photo / Alessandra Tarantino
Izabella Nilsson Jarvandi has earned the nickname "anti-Greta" as she has been advocating for values that differ from the mainstream, standing up in the defence of traditional family and gender norms.

Runet is witnessing a conservative activist, 16-year-old Izabella Nilsson Jarvandi, gaining more and more appreciation and backing online.


Comment: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

See also:

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Eye 1

Phishing thieves or yet another phantom menace? US goes after 'Russian-based Evil Corp' - UPDATE


RT
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 20:35 UTC
hacker
© REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration
Hackers known as 'Evil Corp' have been charged and sanctioned by the US for allegedly stealing over $100 million via phishing and malware attacks and being Kremlin spies - though Russia helped US authorities in going after them.

The US Department of Justice unsealed the indictments against Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev on Thursday, accusing them of international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes dating back to 2009. A $5 million bounty was offered for the arrest of Yakubets, the largest such reward for a cyber crime case ever.

Yakubets and Turashev have "led one of the most sophisticated transnational cybercrime syndicates in the world" for over a decade, said US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Scott Brady. He accused the duo of being behind the malware known first as Bugat, then Cridex and Dridex, used "across the globe in one of the most widespread malware campaigns we have ever encountered."


After the indictment was revealed, the US Treasury Department invoked the CAATSA sanctions bill to blacklist Yakubets, Turashev and 15 other people, along with seven companies - including 'Evil Corp', a designation that does not appear in the DOJ statements but nevertheless somehow became the widely used name for the alleged crime syndicate in the US press.

Comment: Turns out that the DOJ's claim about Russian assistance is unfounded. Further reporting by RT:
Moscow has condemned the 'obviously politicized' US sanctions on Russian nationals allegedly behind the 'Evil Corp' malware operation, with the Foreign Ministry calling the accusations unfounded and promising to retaliate.

Eleven Russian individuals and six companies were sanctioned by the US on Tuesday for "links" to the so-called 'Evil Corp,' an alleged cyber crime syndicate that the US Department of Justice accused of stealing more than $100 million from Western institutions over the past decade.

Though the DOJ said it had received assistance from the Russian Federation authorities, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said that nothing of the sort had happened.

"If the United States had actual evidence, they would have asked the relevant Russian authorities to conduct a probe," based on the 1999 mutual assistance treaty," the ministry said in a statement. "As far as we know, no such requests have been received."

Furthermore, the US unilaterally ended cybersecurity cooperation with Russia in 2014, and has refused to resume it since, the ministry added. While Washington constantly accuses Russia of "hacking," including the 2016 US presidential election, it refuses to present any proof of those claims, because the US "simply has no evidence that would not be embarrassing to put on the table in front of specialists."

The goal of those imposing the sanctions is "not to fight crime, but the next propaganda attack against Russia," the ministry added, promising unspecified retaliation against the US.

Just as with the previous American attacks, these too won't remain without a response.

The US DOJ has offered a $5 million bounty for the arrest of Maksim Yakubets, the alleged leader of 'Evil Corp.' In blacklisting Yakubets and people "linked" to him under a 2017 sanctions law designed to target Russia, the US Treasury Department said he was involved with the Russian intelligence service, even though the DOJ made no such claim.


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Eye 1

Social justice or bullying a child? American ballerina rounds up Instagram mob to lecture 14yo Russian dancer on blackface


RT
Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:07 UTC
screenshot
A screenshot of Misty Copeland's Instagram post
The US may be cannibalizing itself with social justice dogma, but some places remain untouched by the long arm of the woke. Not anymore, as a prominent ballerina took to hounding Russian children on the internet for 'racism.'

Ballerina Misty Copeland made history in 2015 by becoming the American Ballet Theater's first black principal dancer. She's since appeared in productions of 'Swan Lake,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Nutcracker,' among others. Lately, however, she's also found time to publicly shame Russian children for not measuring up to American standards of political correctness.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, Copeland called out a pair of teenage dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy - one of whom is 14 years old - for appearing in blackface, apparently during a rehearsal of 'La Bayadère.'

Copeland's followers saw red, and several reported the dancers for racism. To help them, Copeland tagged one of the dancers in her post.

"No doubt they will be upset and embarrassed by the online backlash but it would not be undeserved," one wrote.
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Yellow Vest

Acte 56: More French protests see roads blocked, trains disrupted and scuffles in Paris

Marine Pennetier
Reuters
Sat, 07 Dec 2019 20:49 UTC
yellow vests 56 week protests
© REUTERS/Benoit TessierProtesters wearing yellow vests demonstrate during their 56th round of protests with a backdrop of social discontentment triggered by president Macron's pensions reform plan in Paris, France, December 7, 2019.
Truckers blocked roads in about 10 regions around France on Saturday to protest against a planned reduction in tax breaks on diesel for road transport, while train and metro services remained heavily disrupted by a strike against pension reform.

In Paris there were scuffles with police in the Denfert Rochereau area of the residential Left Bank as several hundred "yellow vest" protesters continued their weekly demonstrations, but numbers were relatively small compared with previous weeks as the transport strike made it hard to reach the capital.

The combined pressure of the yellow vest movement over the cost of living and union protests against pension reform are a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to balance the state budget and introduce more environmentally friendly legislation in the second half of his mandate.
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Arrow Up

Poll shows America's troops love Russia; Pentagon blames it on Kremlin mind control


RT
Sun, 08 Dec 2019 00:37 UTC
US Troops Afghan
© Global Look Press/White HouseTroops cheer as President Trump addresses his remarks to military personnel at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2019.
A Reagan Institute survey has found that nearly half of all American military households view Russia as more of an ally than a threat. Pentagon officials reckon they've been brainwashed by the Kremlin.

The Reagan Institute's annual National Defense Survey measures the attitudes of Americans on all things war, peace, and politics. The latest version, published in October, has more statistics than you could shake a stick at, but to the Pentagon, one in particular stands out.

Some 46 percent of military households see Russia as an "ally," while 28 percent of all American households share that belief. China has overtaken Russia as America's next top enemy, according to the survey.

The think tank reckons positive views of Russia are held mostly by Republicans, which could explain the rampant Russophilia within military ranks (America's men and women in uniform usually vote for the GOP), but the Pentagon's top brass has other ideas.

Comment: American leadership and its MIC are long-vested in perpetuating a forever-war culture - not in actually 'winning' wars nor creating real peace. Increasing friendship with 'the enemy' is not a profitable turn of sentiment and events.

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Display

Bloomberg-owned data service caught promoting his campaign page, says it was 'oversight'


RT
Thu, 05 Dec 2019 23:11 UTC
Bloomberg Terminal
© Reuters/Brendan McDermidBloomberg terminal inside a kiosk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Bloomberg Terminal, a platform that offers real-time data and news to financial professionals, had a built-in search shortcut directing users to Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign site, at least until the "glitch" was exposed.

The service, that prides itself of being "the most powerful, flexible platform for financial professionals who need real-time data, news, analytics" while "sitting on the desks of 325,000 of the world's most influential decision makers" has been caught red-handed peddling the presidential campaign of its owner, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Until recently, if a user typed in "Mike" or "Mike Bloomberg" into a search box at the terminal, the first result would have been none other than the billionaire Democratic candidate's official campaign website, the Financial Times reported in its scoop on Thursday.

Comment: It worked as long as no one bothered to object. What does it say about Bloomberg, his ideas of fair play and honesty?

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Propaganda

'Fairly hefty clanger': Bojo misquoted as saying he wanted control over migration of 'people of color'


RT
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 15:21 UTC
BJohnson
© Reuters/Peter NichollsUK PM Boris Johnson
British broadcaster Channel 4 has apologized for, and deleted, a video misquoting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as saying he wanted democratic control over the migration of "people of color."

The erroneous and now-corrected video was posted on Twitter by Channel 4 and showed Johnson answering questions at a factory in Derbyshire while on the campaign trail ahead of the UK general election.

Channel 4 quoted him as saying: "I am in favour of having people of colour come to this country but I think we should have it democratically controlled," despite him actually saying "people of talent."
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Eye 1

From branding genitals to mysterious deaths? Nxivm cult leader now accused of murders


Sputnik
Sun, 08 Dec 2019 19:29 UTC
For years, Keith Raniere, who is to be sentenced next year on several charges, ran the successful self-help group Nxivm, which had numerous supporters, including the billionaire Bronfman family. However, it was revealed that the organisation was, in fact, a despotic sex cult. New allegations suggest that the Nxivm boss is behind several murders.
nxivm women
Pictures of Kristin Snyder, Barbara Jeske, Gina Hutchinson and Pamela Cafritz, all members of Keith Raniere's NIXVM sex cult
The leader of the now-infamous New York-based self-help group Nxivm, Keith Raniere, has been linked to the mysterious deaths of four women connected to his group, the TV special "The Lost Women of NXIVM" reports. As the cult's former publicist Frank Parlato insists, Kristin Snyder, Barbara Jeske, Gina Hutchinson, and Pamela Cafritz passed away under suspicious circumstances between 2002 and 2016.

The death of two women, 33-year-old Hutchinson and Snyder, were ruled as suicides by gunshot and drowning, respectively. But as Parlato says, they talked about their sexual relationships with the guru shortly before their deaths. Incidentally, Raniere was claiming to be celibate around that time.

"Gina Hutchinson [age 33 when she died] was going around saying she had sex with Raniere when she was 14 years old. Others, including her sister, have verified this", the insider revealed, while the other alleged victim claimed at an Nxivm class in Anchorage, Alaska that she was pregnant with the cult boss' child before her disappearance.

Comment: To get an idea of Raniere's psychopathy and the lengths he would go to in order to dominate, control and destroy people's lives, as well as the nefarious connections of his cult, read:

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