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Arab Spring 2.0? Protests erupt after Tunisian journalist calls for revolt & sets himself on fire


RT
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 10:37 UTC
Protesters Kasserine Tunisia
© REUTERS / Amine Ben AzizaProtesters clash with riot police in Kasserine
A journalist in Tunisia - the first country to face the Arab Spring - has set himself on fire, triggering a protest against unemployment and poverty. The case resembles the start of the 2011 Western-hailed revolt.

"For our people who have no means of subsistence, today I start a revolution," journalist Abderrazak Zorgui told his audience in the poverty-stricken town of Kasserine.

Calling for people to rise up against poverty and poor living conditions, Zorgui then set himself on fire, invoking the well-known self-immolation of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in late 2010.

Zorgui was soon pronounced dead at a local hospital, and his funeral service quickly snowballed into violent protests in Kasserine and other towns. Kasserine, home to 76,000 people, saw clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police who deployed tear gas to disperse crowds.

Comment: There may be more to this latest 'call for revolt' than is being reported. The US has been shoring up Tunisia's military, with the country receiving more U.S. defense aid than any other country in North Africa, except for Egypt. However, American foreign policy is generally unpopular and unfavorable attitudes toward the United States are widespread in Tunisian society. See:

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Sheeple

TV Guide's hit piece on Chris Pratt's 'problematic' life as a farmer is everything wrong with Hollywood

Beth Baumann
Townhall
Wed, 26 Dec 2018 18:10 UTC
Chris Pratt
Hollywood elites are no stranger to the finer things in life. Luxurious cars. Extravagant homes. Lavish lifestyles. It's part of the territory that comes with being famous.

Actor Chris Pratt, best known for his role as Andy in Parks and Recreation, lives a different lifestyle than many of his Hollywood comrades. In fact, he has a farm and raises his own animals to feed his family. But now the simplistic lifestyle is being labeled as "problematic" by TV Guide:
When you take a deeper look at Pratt the man and not necessarily Pratt the actor, some of the shine wears off. Although he can be as funny offscreen as he is on - his recurring "What's My Snack" videos on Instagram are almost always delightful - it's impossible to ignore some problematic aspects of his life offscreen.

Comment: This is just something that the liberal Hollywood elite will just never get their heads around - living a good honest life, working with your hands, being in nature and actually contributing to existence is a good thing. Yet they can't see past the ends of their own noses long enough to be able to comprehend this. Pratt is one of the few in Hollywood who actually seems like he might be a decent human being. We wonder how long his career will last.

See also:

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Family

ICE releases hundreds more migrants in Texas and New Mexico


CBS News
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 11:12 UTC
Asylumseekers
© Google NewsAsylum seekers at Greyhound station in El Paso, Texas.
Ruben Garcia from Annunciation House in El Paso told CBS News that 522 migrants were released Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at sites in El Paso and Las Cruces, New Mexico. That raises the total number of people released this week to more than 1,000, after 186 people were released on Christmas Day and 400 were released in the two days before Christmas.

Another 500 could be released on Thursday. "It should be organized and orderly as it was today," Garcia said.

Local nonprofit groups told the CBS affiliate KBDC the key difference from earlier in the week was that they were notified in advance of the mass release by ICE - something the groups and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who represents El Paso, said didn't happen previously.

As a result, the nonprofits were more prepared for the large influx.
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Shoe

Ukrainians flee to EU and Russia, leave to dodge draft for impending war, find relief from economic distress

Patrick Fleming
Russia Insider
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Russia Ukraine
With saber rattling on both sides, large troop movements towards the borders, and bellicose rhetoric, war seems to be a real possibility. If it happens, Ukrainian armed forces would be decimated in a matter of hours, and Ukrainian youth know this, so they are fleeing conscription, heading to Russia and the EU, anywhere but home.

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Megaphone

'We are on the brink of a cliff': Russian anti-doping chief asks Putin to protect national sport


RT
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 19:37 UTC
RUSADA chief Yury Ganus
© Sputnik / Ilya PitalevRUSADA chief Yury Ganus
The head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Yuri Ganus has asked President Vladimir Putin for assistance with solving a knotty issue regarding access to the Moscow laboratory.

The future of Russian sport is on a cliff edge, after the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) officials were not allowed to extract the lab's data as their equipment was not certified under Russian law.

A failure to retrieve doping data from the laboratory might result in RUSADA's repeat suspension as, according to the agreement with WADA, the deadline for the doping data extraction is December 31.

In an official letter, addressed to Putin on Thursday, the RUSADA chief expressed concern and asked the president to "save the future of Russian sport."
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Eye 2

'Walmart Santa' and his family arrested after 2 long-missing kids found buried in their backyard

Bill Hutchinson
ABC News
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 19:31 UTC
Elwyn Crocker Sr.
© Effingham County Sheriff’s OfficeElwyn Crocker Sr.
A Georgia man employed until recently as a seasonal Santa Claus at a Walmart was arrested after the bodies of his two children, who were never reported missing, were found buried in the backyard of his home, authorities said.

Elwyn Crocker Sr., 50, was arrested after sheriff's deputies went to his house in Guyton, Georgia, a suburb of Savannah, to conduct a welfare check on his 14-year-old daughter, Mary Crocker, authorities said.

Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie said that after questioning Crocker, he allegedly directed deputies to an area of his backyard, where they uncovered the bodies of Mary and her brother, Elwyn Crocker.

McDuffie said his office received a 911 tip from a caller that Mary Crocker hadn't been seen since October and that the tipster feared she was dead.
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Handcuffs

Canadian could face death penalty in drug-smuggling trial in China


CBC
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 19:24 UTC
drugs
© REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas
A court in China said Wednesday that a Canadian citizen will stand trial on drug-smuggling charges this weekend, a case announced amid already strained relations between the two countries.

A notice posted by the Supreme People's Court of China said Robert Lloyd Schellenberg will appear in court in the northeastern province of Liaoning on Dec. 29.

In their reporting of the arrest, some Chinese media referenced the detentions of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - both being held in China and accused of engaging in "activities undermining China's national security."
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NPC

Silenced by the Intolerant Left: Academics' mobbing of a young scholar must be denounced


Quillette
Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:16 UTC
Noah Carl
Noah Carl
The latest victim of an academic mobbing is 28-year-old social scientist Noah Carl who has been awarded a Toby Jackman Newton Trust Research Fellowship at St Edmund's College at the University of Cambridge.

Rarely has the power asymmetry between the academic mob and its victim been so stark. Dr Carl is a young researcher, just starting out in his career, who is being mobbed for being awarded a prestigious research scholarship on the basis of his peer-reviewed research.

While getting a position like this is normally a time for celebration for junior academics, Dr Carl has gone to ground, unable to defend his reputation from libellous attacks, as he has been instructed not to talk to the media.

Three hundred academics from around the world, many of them professors, have signed an open letter denouncing Dr Carl and demanding that the University of Cambridge "immediately conduct an investigation into the appointment process" on the grounds that his work is "ethically suspect" and "methodologically flawed." The letter states: "we are shocked that a body of work that includes vital errors in data analysis and interpretation appears to have been taken seriously." Yet the letter contains no evidence of any academic misconduct. It does not include a single reference to any of Dr Carl's papers, let alone any papers that are "ethically suspect" or "methodologically flawed."
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Hearts

San Francisco church allows homeless to sleep inside overnight

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 26 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
homeless in church
Nearly 15 years ago, St. Boniface church in San Francisco began opening their doors for homeless people in need of shelter. The effort was started by Father Louis Vitale of the church, and community activist Shelly Roder, in 2004 and is known as The Gubbio Project.

Hundreds of people each day pass through the church, using the pews to sleep on, and getting blankets from the staff.

"No questions are asked when our guests walk into the churches; in an effort to remove all barriers to entry, there are no sign-in sheets or intake forms. No one is ever turned away; all are welcomed, respected and treated with dignity," according to the Gubbio Project's website.

The facility is still open for local churchgoers who want to visit throughout the day, but 2/3 of the church is reserved for the Gubbio project.

"This sends a powerful message to our unhoused neighbors - they are in essence part of the community, not to be kicked out when those with homes come in to worship. It also sends a message to those attending mass - the community includes the tired, the poor, those with mental health issues and those who are wet, cold and dirty," a representative with Gubbio said.

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Bullseye

Flashback #MeToo and the risk of glamorizing sexual assault

Debra W. Soh
Playboy
Wed, 20 Dec 2017 17:06 UTC
me too
© Evgeniya Porechenskaya
The theme of Time magazine's Person of the Year issue was perhaps an unexpected choice, but most have lauded it as inspirational. Titled "The Silence Breakers," this year's issue spotlights women who have spoken out against sexual harassment. The cover features Taylor Swift, Ashley Judd, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu and Isabel Pascual, as well as the arm of a young hospital worker who preferred to remain anonymous, symbolizing countless victims who aren't able to speak out due to fears of retribution. But as the #MeToo phenomenon brings forward more victims with harrowing accounts of harassment, are we accidentally heralding a different message about what it means to be a woman?

Since news broke in early October about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein, the floodgates have been kicked open in a way no one could have predicted. There's no foreseeable end in sight to the number of public figures accused of misconduct; at latest count, the list totals more than 100 names, including Gene Simmons, Geraldo Rivera and Bruce Weber.

This truly is a watershed moment and a long overdue reckoning. I don't doubt that every woman on this planet has experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact at some point in her life. Women are fed up with suffering silently, feeling powerless and watching the guilty parties carry on unaffected.
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