Society's ChildS


Nuke

Eating their own: Avenatti becomes 'radioactive' as liberals blame him for Kavanaugh confirmation

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 07 Oct 2018 13:42 UTC
Following Friday's announcement by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that she would vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the left flipped on one of its recent heroes; Michael Avenatti.
Michael Avenatti
© Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesMichael Avenatti
In a fiery speech announcing her decision, Collins ripped unsupported claims by Avenatti's client, Julie Swetnick, that Kavanaugh facilitated a Cosby-esque "gang rape" operation while in high school.
Some of the allegations levied against Judge Kavanaugh illustrate why the presumption of innocence is so important. I am thinking in particular not of the allegations raised by Professor Ford, but of the allegation that, when he was a teenager, Judge Kavanaugh drugged multiple girls and used their weakened state to facilitate gang rape.

This outlandish allegation was put forth without any credible supporting evidence and simply parroted public statements of others. That such an allegation can find its way into the Supreme Court confirmation process is a stark reminder about why the presumption of innocence is so ingrained in our American consciousness. -Sen. Susan Collins
As a result of Collins citing Swetnick's claim, liberals began to pile onto Avenatti - blaming him for Kavanaugh's impending Saturday confirmation, while conservative pundits poked fun.

Comment: Probably a wise choice - although his background makes him perfectly suited to be a liberal favorite: With the spotlight on lawyer Avenatti, his own dodgy past is emerging

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Quenelle - Golden

Syrian Druze gather in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to demonstrate support for Assad


Sputnik
Sat, 06 Oct 2018 21:51 UTC
Druze at Golan Heights
© REUTERS / Ammar Awad
The minority has been repeatedly subjected to Daesh terrorism since 2015, leading to protests by the Druze community from the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan to protect their brothers on the other side of the artificial border from the violence.

Gathering along a fence separating them from the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights, Druze commemorated the anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab Israeli War while celebrating Syria's successes in its recent war against the terrorists.


Comment:

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No Entry

Russian social media group leader faces criminal charges over extreme misogyny


RT
Sun, 07 Oct 2018 13:12 UTC
russia jail male state misogyny
© Vkontakte social networkMale State founder Vladislav Pozdnyakov
A man in central Russia is facing up to five years in prison for launching and maintaining a group called 'Male State' on one of the country's social networks. The group's members used it to collectively degrade and bully women.

The Russian Investigative Committee reported on Friday that its branch, in the major industrial center of Nizhny Novgorod, had pressed charges of extremism against a 27-year old man from the nearby Saratov Region. In comments with Lenta.ru news site investigators revealed the suspect's name as Vladislav Pozdnyakov.

Investigators claim that the suspect had been the mastermind behind the 'Male State' group on Russia's most popular social network Vkontakte. They also claim that most of the texts and images posted by the suspect and other group members amounted to hate speech.

Comment: While the debate on free speech should be taken on a case by case basis, and even Putin has recently intervened to ensure that common sense prevails, the internet is as much part of the public sphere as a street corner and so anyone contravening the laws of the land will fall foul of the law.

See also:

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Donut

Overweight, unhealthy, suicidal and addicted: America's youth are a total mess

Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
Thu, 04 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
obesity american youth
After reading the information contained in this article, you will probably find yourself questioning if America is going to be able to survive for much longer, because our young people are a complete and total mess. Yes, all generations of Americans have had their problems, but this generation appears to be particularly screwed up. Obesity rates are at all-time highs, a third of all American teens have not read a single book within the past year, and the average high school senior spends six hours a day on the Internet. On top of all that, we are seeing unprecedented levels of suicide, drug overdoses and liver disease (due to heavy drinking) among our young people. Like other empires throughout world history, will we be undone by our own excesses?

Let's start by talking about obesity. At this point, so many of our young people are overweight that military recruiters are having a very difficult time finding enough "suitable candidates for military service"...
The study, featuring roughly 18,000 randomly selected participants across each of the service branches, showed that almost 66 percent of service members are considered to be either overweight or obese, based on the military's use of body mass index as a measuring standard.

While the number of overweight service members is a cause for concern, it correlates with the obesity epidemic plaguing the United States, where, as of 2015, one in three young adults are considered too fat to enlist, creating a difficult environment for recruiters to find suitable candidates for military service.

Comment: It's even worse - the internet generation isn't reading books because nearly two-thirds cannot read proficiently, nor are they proficient in math. They lack social skills and have never learned how to deal with conflict or differing opinions. Without knowing how to deal with life they find anything that is vaguely threatening a cause for official and/or violent intervention. See:

Make America Great Again? Things Not Looking Good For The 'Internet Generation'

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Bad Guys

Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, National Front For Liberation appear to reconcile after series of armed clashes in Idlib


SouthFront
Sat, 06 Oct 2018 20:52 UTC
Hassan Sufan
© Via almayadeen.netHassan Sufan on the right, senior leader of the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL)
On October 6, the former branch of al-Qaeda in Syria, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL) reached a reconciliation agreement after a series of armed clashes in the western Aleppo countryside.

According to the HTS-linked news network Iba'a, the reconciliation agreement was signed by radical scholar "Mazhar al-Ois" on behalf of HTS' leadership and by "Hassan Sufan," a senior leader of the NFL. Under the agreement, both groups will withdraw their weapons from civilian areas and release all the militants who were captured during the clashes.

The tension between HTS and the NFL began on September 26, when HTS forces attacked the town of Darat Izza in order to arrest several members of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement [one of the NFL's groups] after accusing them of carrying out several attacks inside the town.

Comment: Notice the US is nowhere in sight.

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Stop

Keeping a lid on truth: No study of Russian history or culture allowed

Paul R
Irrussianality
Sat, 06 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
russian historical collage
Western governments should 're-focus financial support for Russia-related academic programs from culture and history to in-depth analysis of Russia's authoritarianism, kleptocracy and corrupt practices'. So says a new report issued this week by the Institute for Modern Russia, a think-tank funded by former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. For God forbid that students should learn about Russian culture and history before expressing any opinions about that country. Knowing some culture and history might lead to understanding, which might lead to sympathy or at least empathy, and thus to a desire to engage in dialogue, find mutual solutions to international problems, and all the rest of it. And that, of course, would be dangerous. Ignorance is much to be preferred.


Comment: Some background on Khodorovsky:


There's a lot about this report which is rather disturbing, but as someone who studies Russian history for a living this particular recommendation stood out for me. History and culture are the foundations of study of any society. If you want to know a foreign country, you have for a start to learn its language, which means reading its literature. You then need to know its history to be able to put things in the right context. But there are some, it seems, who don't want people to understand context. They know the truth, and anything which might challenge it needs to be censored.

In any case, according to the argument put forward by report's author, Kateryna Smagliy, those who don't agree with her deserved to be silenced. Why? Because they are agents of the Kremlin. She urges Western governments to 'step up efforts to expose Russia's network of agents within Western academia'. 'The Russian government pursues a coherent and well-coordinated "knowledge weaponization" strategy,' she says. This strategy
led to the rise of the new phenomenon of 'hybrid analytica', which we define here as the process of design, development and promotion of various pseudo-academic narratives by duped or manipulated bona-fide intellectuals, academics and think-tank experts of political 'lobbyists in disguise', whose vested interests have been recruited through the global network of the Kremlin-linked operatives.

Comment: From the perspective of the deep state, nothing must be allowed to undermine the narrative of Russia as a belligerent and dangerous enemy of the West and thus threaten the existence of the defense industry.

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Attention

Why an immigrant, minority woman is going Republican over Democrat's vicious attacks on Kavanaugh

Adele Scalia
The Federalist
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Democrats demonization Kavanaugh
All it took was Democrats’ treatment of Brett Kavanaugh over the last few weeks to turn me into that elusive creature: a minority, immigrant woman who supports Republicans.
I have become a unicorn. My metamorphosis didn't require a magic spell or potion, or even a trip to a well-reviewed plastic surgeon to add a horn to my head. All it took was Democrats' treatment of Brett Kavanaugh over the last few weeks to turn me into that elusive creature: a minority, immigrant woman who supports Republicans.

I moved to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago eight years ago when I married my husband, Christopher, former U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia's eighth (and, in my opinion, most lovable) child. Some people might read that and think, "Well, that's no surprise then; Justice Scalia's daughter-in-law is hardly likely to be anything but Republican!"

But they would be wrong. I've always considered myself politically moderate: I am unapologetically pro-life, but my views on affirmative action, Black Lives Matter, and gun control made me sympathize strongly with Democratic perspectives and occasionally led to arguments with my husband and father-in-law.

That sense of political homelessness was a big reason that I was never in a hurry to become an American citizen. I figured I'd do it eventually, but not having a strong connection to either party, feeling unsure of where I fit into America's strange political landscape, meant it was low on my list of priorities.

Fast-forward to 2018, and Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Protests and vows to block him by any means, "using every available tool," followed almost immediately. Anybody paying attention knew that things were about to get interesting. Unfortunately, things got less interesting than ugly and convinced me that Democrats are not who they claim to be.

Comment: Ms. Scalia's perspective is likely shared by a number of moderate voters who are fed up with what the Democratic party has become; there could be a well deserved backlash threatening the party's hoped for 'blue wave' in upcoming elections.

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Arrow Down

'Mock cop-killing' halftime show at Mississippi high school leaves community and social media outraged


RT
Sat, 06 Oct 2018 17:32 UTC
Band
© Octavio Jones/Global Look PressA high school band practices.
A grieving Mississippi community is outraged after a visiting high school team's halftime show portrayed students holding a SWAT team at gunpoint. It comes a week after two police officers in the town were killed while on duty.

The shockingly insensitive skit occurred when Forest Hill High School visited Brookhaven High School for a game on Friday night in the US state of Mississippi.

Images from the show surfacing on social media portray members of Forest Hill's band dressed up as doctors and nurses while several of them are armed with toy guns.
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Document

'We want to fix the Left': Grievance studies hoax authors address criticisms

Andy Ngo
Quillette
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 17:41 UTC
Lindsay, Pluckrose, Boghossian
Do you remember the article on dog rape culture by Helen Wilson that was published in a feminist geography journal earlier this year? What about the paper on challenging male homophobia through using anal sex toys? On October 2, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that the feminist academics behind these articles don't actually exist. They're pseudonyms adopted by three intellectuals in an elaborate hoax designed to expose alleged shoddy scholarship in activist disciplines they dub "grievance studies."

Mathematician James A. Lindsay, British writer Helen Pluckrose, and Portland State philosophy professor Peter Boghossian have become an overnight sensation. They've earned recognition from academics all around the world including high-profile figures like Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker. But their detractors have also stepped out in full force. Lindsay, Pluckrose, and Boghossian have agreed to an exclusive interview with Quillette to address the issues raised by their critics.

For the record, I know the three writers but had no prior knowledge of their year-long project before the story broke. The following text has been transcribed from an in-person interview. It has been edited for readability and flow.

Comment: Further reading:

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Bullseye

Russian TV correctly portrays Brett Kavanaugh as a victim of "the plague of malignant feminism"

Robert Mackey
The Intercept
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 15:38 UTC
kiselyov show kavanaugh
© Vesti News, via YouTube
The Brett Kavanaugh hearings are being watched closely around the world, not least in Russia, where this week the host of a leading news show on state-run television defended the Supreme Court nominee as a victim of "the plague of malignant feminism," a global pandemic that has previously felled Harvey Weinstein, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Ian Buruma.

In a fact-challenged monologue helpfully subtitled on YouTube by Russia's state-owned news organization, Vladimir Putin's favorite pundit, Dmitry Kiselyov, dismissed the sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh, by "physics professor Christine Blasey Ford," as "like a joke."

Kiselyov also warned Russian viewers to beware of what he termed an illness "spreading from America to Europe and toward Russia," in which "the infected ladies project their sexual fantasies onto men who have a successful life and career, accusing them of attempted rape."
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