Society's ChildS


Wall Street

Economic uncertainty leaves oil markets paralyzed

Nick Cunningham
Oilprice.com
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:54 UTC
oil pump
© pexels.com
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again this week, but signaled that it may be done cutting for the time being.

It was the third interest rate cut this year, which marked an about-face after successive increases over the previous few years. The central bank was forced into monetary easing after the global economy showed signs of slowing down, made worse by the U.S.-China trade war.

However, despite the browbeating from President Trump, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the latest cut of 25 basis points might be the end of the line, unless things deteriorate further. "The current stance of [interest-rate] policy is likely to remain appropriate" if the economy continues on its current growth rate, Powell said.

The result was something of a mixed bag for both stocks and for crude oil. The cut was widely expected for some time, so there was little suspense in the announcement. Reading between the lines, the wording and tone from Powell suggests that it will take much more upheaval to convince the central bank to make any additional cuts.
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Airplane

Russian police search for pilot who apparently let woman behind controls of passenger plane


RT
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:42 UTC
Airplane
© Sputnik / Vitaliy BezrukihAn IrAero An-24B plane.
Attempts to impress someone don't usually land you in legal trouble, but an unidentified Russian pilot has apparently managed to do just that after footage of a woman behind the controls of a passenger plane emerged online.

The video, showing the woman trying to pilot the passenger aircraft, surfaced on Russian social media earlier this week. It was apparently filmed by the cheeky pilot himself as he looked on.

The incident allegedly took place on an IrAero An-24 plane over Yakutia in Russia last August, according to claims on social media. The short-to-medium range turboprop aircraft was flying from Yakutsk to Bagatay. Planes of this type have been in service since 1962 and can carry around 50 passengers.

There has been no official confirmation of the claims. Judging from the appearance of the cockpit, the plane appears to be an An-24, but it impossible to identify the carrier or the flight route based on the video alone.
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Eye 1

Former University of Arizona student sues for $1 million after alleging frat bro damaged eye with hot sauce during hazing

Joshua Rhett Miller
New York Post
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 18:53 UTC
Theta Chi fraternity
© KVOA-TV
A former University of Arizona frat pledge is seeking $1 million in damages after suffering a chemical burn when a bro poured hot sauce into his eye during an alleged hazing ritual, according to a report.

The one-time aspiring member of Theta Chi fraternity at the 44,000-student university in Tucson filed an amended notice of claim earlier this week detailing the chemical burn and blood infection he said he suffered after the April 12 incident, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

The unidentified student, who has since withdrawn from the university, alleges that a Theta Chi member hurled a shot glass of El Yucateco Habanero into his eyes after the student incorrectly identified the frat brother's hometown.
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Laptop

Hypocrites: Facebook censors 'sexual' emojis but allows drag queen's graphic 'abortion' act

Sophia Narwitz
RT
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:52 UTC
Facebook emojis
© RT
In a crackdown on free expression, Facebook and Instagram are censoring emojis to prevent solicitations for sex, a move that shows true hypocrisy. And here's why.

In an August update on its community standards page, Facebook introduced rules meant to curb online sexual solicitation. The new guidelines specifically state that any "contextually specific and commonly sexual emojis" will not be permitted when combined with offers of sex.

As the tech giant stressed while speaking to reporters, its websites won't censor emojis on their own, but only when combined with an "implicit or indirect ask for nude imagery, sex or sexual partners, or sex chat conversations."

While certain people will probably applaud Mark Zuckerberg's crackdown on sexual content on personal moral grounds, this move shows a startling hypocrisy on the part of the largest social media platform in the world. Especially as sitting on the website this very second is a recording of a drag show in which a performer fakes an abortion by cutting a baby doll out of a pretend stomach.
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Pills

Illegal fentanyl haul found in Ohio is so enormous authorities called it 'a weapon of mass destruction'


RT
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 18:44 UTC
Illegal fentanyl
© Regional Agencies Narcotics & Gun Enforcement Task Force/Facebook
Ohio law enforcement agencies have revealed a huge drugs bust in which over 20 kilograms (44lbs) of suspected fentanyl, an addictive opioid more dangerous than heroin, was seized along with $30,000 cash and three guns.

"Twenty kilograms of fentanyl is enough to kill the entire population of Ohio, many times over," said Vance Callender, Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge for Michigan and Ohio.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost described the quantity of fentanyl involved in the case as amounting "to chemical warfare and a weapon of mass destruction," and thanked all of the officers and agencies involved.

Three men, all aged in their 30s and from Dayton, were arrested in connection with the bust and are facing drug and firearm charges. The drugs were seized during the week of October 21, 2019 but the operation has only now been revealed by authorities.
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Airplane

Small plane crashes into SUV in Florida killing two


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 03:18 UTC
Plane crash
© Twitter
Two people have died on Thursday after a small plane crashed into an SUV while trying to make an emergency landing in Florida, authorities said.

The plane crashed Thursday morning while landing on the side of State Road 200, in Ocala, an hour and a half from Orlando. The deaths were confirmed by the Ocala Police Department. The identities of the victims have not yet been released.
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Question

'Crazy lies' vs. protected speech: Clash of First Amendment hypocrites Zuckerberg and Sorkin


RT
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 11:10 UTC
Zuckerberg/Sorkin
© Reuters/Carlos Jasso/Paul Drinkwater/NBC UniversalFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg • Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin
Facebook faces increasing pressure from the left over its reluctance to restrict political ads. In a rare act of pushback, CEO Mark Zuckerberg used screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's own words against him to respond to his criticism.

The head of the tech behemoth hit back at Sorkin after he penned a letter in the New York Times criticizing Facebook's stance on political speech. Zuckerberg took to Facebook to share a quote from Sorkin's 1995 movie, The American President, about an idealized Democratic president's political and love life. The quote is from an impassioned speech that the titular character, played by Michael Douglas, delivers to the White House press corps in response to a campaign of personal attacks. The script goes:
"You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.

"You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest."

Comment: See also:

CEO Jack Dorsey: Twitter to stop running all political advertising; Zuckerberg not clear where to draw the line

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Network

Russia is prepared to stay online amid global blackout as crucial internet law comes into effect


RT
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:24 UTC
connected world
© Pixabay / Pete Linforth
The new measures will make sure the internet does not collapse in Russia even if hostile nations decide to cut it off from the worldwide web completely, lawmakers say.

The legislation, called the 'Sovereign Internet Bill' during its development stage, essentially requires internet companies to install government-provided equipment that would make traffic flow only through servers located and registered in Russia. This would allow communication and exchange of data between Russian users to go on unimpeded if they suddenly become cut off from servers located abroad.

The step will help defend the country against cyberattacks, which are becoming more damaging and widespread. The lawmakers also said the regulations will ensure that the Russian segment of the web, the Runet, continues to function smoothly if isolated from the rest of the world.

Internet service providers from now on must also run regular cybersecurity tests and drills. The head of the IT committee in the State Duma, the parliament's lower house, Leonid Levin, said these tests "will not be noticed by the ordinary users." The cost of internet access will not go up, since the equipment will be paid for by the state, he added.

The law prompted concerns that Moscow may use it to control the flow of information and censor online content. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the fears, saying Russia is not going to erect a Chinese-style 'great firewall'.
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Propaganda

'NY Times' produces a weak report on the Israeli soldier sentenced to 1 month in prison for murdering a Palestinian boy

James North
Mondoweiss
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 17:11 UTC
gaza mourners
© Mahmoud Ajour/APA ImagesRelatives of Othman Helles who was shot dead by Israeli troops during clashes at Gaza-Israel fence mourn during his funeral in Gaza city on July 14, 2018.
The New York Times did the bare minimum today in reporting on the Israeli soldier who was sentenced to only one month in prison for murdering a young Gazan demonstrator last year. The victim was a 14-year-old boy, Othman Helles, and video evidence showed he was clearly unarmed. In the print edition, the Times headline did not include the shocking short prison sentence, and the Times used some of its other techniques to minimize the damage to Israel's reputation.

Use the passive voice: The second paragraph reports that ". . . hundreds of Palestinians were killed during the [Great March of Return] protests. . ." Why not "Israeli soldiers killed 183 Gazans and wounded another 9204. Gazans killed 1 Israeli and wounded 11."

Ignore the leading Israeli human rights organization: B'Tselem has issued impassioned warnings ever since the Israeli snipers first opened fire on Gazans back in 2018, including calling on soldiers to disobey orders to shoot. And just the other day, B'Tselem accused the Israeli military of wrongly dropping inquiries into 3 other killings and said the probes had only been originally opened to give "an illusion of a functioning apparatus for seeking accountability."

Cover up Israel's vicious right wing: No doubt Israeli settler/colonists and others are already blasting the one-month sentence as too harsh. Let's hear from them.

On the plus side, Times reporter David Halbfinger did give the victim's father a chance to speak. Rami Helles said that he feared the Israeli soldier's light punishment would continue to "encourage his colleagues to kill in cold blood."

Comment: Those figures bear repeating. 183 Gazans killed, 9204 wounded. 1 Israeli killed, 11 wounded. Israel is a rogue, murderous state. And the IDF soldier shouldn't have gotten only 1 month in prison. He should be imprisoned for life, or executed. But when the leaders of the country are just as criminal and murderous as the soldiers, you can't expect justice.

See also:

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Bullseye

Starbucks sued for unfairly punishing white employees


CBS News
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:20 UTC
Starbucks
© AP Photo/Charles Krupa
A regional Starbucks manager fired after the high-profile arrests of two black men at one of the coffee shops in Philadelphia has filed a wrongful termination suit against the company. Shannon Phillips accuses Starbucks of unfairly punishing white employees like her in response to the widely publicized arrests last year.

In the lawsuit, obtained by CBS Philadelphia, Phillips says she lost her job after objecting to the company putting another white manager on leave.

A Starbucks spokesperson says they are ready to defend their case in court. "We deny the claims of the lawsuit and are prepared to defend our case in court," the spokesperson told CBS Philadelphia.

Phillips' lawyer, who refused to comment, is asking for a jury trial.

During the 2018 incident, Rashon Nelson and his business partner Donte Robinson were taken away from the Starbucks in handcuffs after a manager called police because the two had not made a purchase. Instead, the men told the manager they were waiting for a third person to arrive for a business meeting.

Comment: Starbucks 180,000 employees radicalized after anti-bias training - 'Coffee cultivation merely extends the system of colonial oppression'

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