Society's ChildS


Attention

Paris: Car plows into group of soldiers, injuring 6


RT
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 19:06 UTC
police scene paris
© Thierry Chappe / AFP
At least six French soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, when they were hit by a vehicle in a Paris suburb, the French armed forces said. The suspect was arrested hours after the incident on a motorway in northern France.

The incident took place in Levallois-Perret commune in northwestern suburb of Paris, some 6 km from the capital, local police prefecture said on Twitter.

"Police are everywhere, [they] set up a security perimeter and the neighbors are questioned," one local told Le Parisien newspaper.
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Info

Germany to start returning migrants back to Greece


RT
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 20:11 UTC
Migrants
© Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP
Germany will start returning asylum seekers to Greece in a move that will end a five-year suspension of the EU's asylum rules.

"There was pressure from several EU countries on Greece to resume returns," Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas told German public television channel ARD. "I understand that some EU governments want to show results to their voters," he added.

Greek authorities have received 392 requests and approved the return of "a small number" of asylum seekers from Germany and some other EU countries, Mouzalas said, as cited by Ekathimerini.

The EU's top court ruled in 2011 that conditions for asylum seekers in Greece were unacceptable, meaning that other countries couldn't send them back.
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Bullseye

Fired Google engineer files labor complaint after memo controversy - case may have legs

Thuy Ong
The Verge
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 17:57 UTC
Google
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
The Google engineer fired over writing a 10-page viral memo about diversity has filed a complaint with federal labor officials, reports Business Insider. James Damore filed the complaint against Google on August 7th, and the case page on the National Labor Relations Board website states that law firm Paul Hastings will represent Google. Damore's name isn't listed, but it has been confirmed by Business Insider. The only details available so far about the complaint is the allegation's classification, which is stated as "Coercive Statements (Threats, Promises of Benefits, etc.)"

The manifesto caused a media storm over the weekend, after Damore argued that biological differences between men and women are the cause of the gender gap at Google and the broader tech industry. Damore was fired on Monday - the same day he filed the suit - for "perpetuating gender stereotypes" and violating the company's code of conduct.

Damore had previously told other news outlets he planned to file a complaint, with The New York Times reporting that he's claiming Google's upper management was "misrepresenting and shaming" him. "I have a legal right to express my concerns about the terms and conditions of my working environment and to bring up potentially illegal behavior, which is what my document does," Damore told The New York Times. Legal experts say the case has legs, with one lawyer telling Wired that "Damore's lawyer might argue that his memo was protected under California law, because it related to allegedly unequal treatment of employees."

Comment: In the name of equality and fairness, Damore should win his case without much effort. But are equality and fairness really at in operation here? We'll just have to wait and see.

Don't miss Jordan Peterson's interview with Damore: Jordan Petersen interviews James Damore, author of "controversial" Google diversity memo

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Attention

Leftist rage sparks firing of Google engineer who wrote memo critiquing company's PC groupthink

Guy Benson
TownHall
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 17:34 UTC
James Damore google memo
James Damore, author of the Google Memo
Before we proceed any further on this subject, if you haven't done so already, please stop what you're doing and actually read the leaked internal memo that got a Google employee fired. Here it is. It's only ten pages long, and its points are fairly digestible -- even if the prose reads like it was written by, well, an analytically-minded engineer. It is essential that you consider its contents for yourself prior to consuming the deluge of terribly misleading headlines, reporting, and social media takes that have erupted from this controversy. Those who don't bother to grapple with the original source material are liable to accept, at face value, that the memo's author uncorked an "anti-diversity screed" that "embarrassed his employer" and created a "hostile work environment" by arguing that women "aren't suited for" tech jobs. None of that is fair or accurate. In truth, the now-unemployed writer makes several core points:
(1) Google has a viewpoint diversity and political correctness problem that stifles dissenting views, especially those held by traditionally-minded and politically conservative employees. The company's ideologically-monolithic culture makes open discussion very difficult, if not impossible.

(2) Diversity is a valuable and worthy goal ("I strongly believe in gender and racial diversity"), but forcibly implementing it through anti-merit discriminatory practices can be a harmful business practice. People should be treated as individuals, not as members of a preordained groups.

(3) Perhaps the dearth of women in certain tech jobs is not the result of rampant bias and discrimination, but rather is the product of choices, preferences and inherent abilities that arise from hard-wired differences between the sexes.

Comment: Google is well aware of its ability to shape public opinion and has been "managing" search result since nearly its inception.

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Handcuffs

Bangladeshi citizen living in Maryland charged with attempted murder of FBI agent on behalf of Islamic State


RT
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 09:09 UTC
US Department of Justice
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
A Bangladeshi citizen living in Maryland was indicted for attempting to murder a member of the US military and a uniformed FBI agent on behalf of Islamic State, the Department of Justice said.

Nelash Mohamed Das, 25, was charged by a federal grand jury on Tuesday of "attempting to murder a federal employee; and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence," in addition to the earlier charges of knowingly supporting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), filed in October 2016.

Das attempted to murder "an individual who was a member of the uniformed services and a Special Agent with the FBI," the announcement said, noting that IS had posted information about members of the US military online in hope that supporters would attack them.
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Play

Best of the Web: Jordan Petersen interviews James Damore, author of "controversial" Google diversity memo

Jordan B Peterson
YouTube
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 17:45 UTC
peterson damore
James Demore of Google recently wrote a memo detailing his thoughts about Google's various diversity initiatives. Inside the company, and then outside, it went viral. He lost his job, in consequence: for "perpetuating gender stereotypes." The problem is that everything James claimed is solidly backed by well-developed scientific literatures. Thus, the company that is arguably in charge of more of the world's communication than any other has now fired a promising engineer for stating a series of established scientific truths.

That's worth thinking about.

In this full 50 minute interview, James and I discuss his motivations, and the consequences of his actions. We are joined (audio only) by another Google employee who wishes, for obvious reasons, to remain anonymous.

A fund-raiser for James has been established, here.


Comment: More on Damore's memo and subsequent firing:

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Attention

Oxfam: 'Flawed EU govt policies' leave refugees stranded in Libyan 'living hell'


RT
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 19:34 UTC
African migrants
© Ismail Zitouny / ReutersAfrican migrants gesture as they sit in a detention camp in Tripoli, Libya, February 21, 2017
"Flawed policies" by EU governments amid the refugee crisis have left migrants trapped in "a living hell" in Libya, Oxfam said, adding that those trying to flee are being forced into slavery and face torture.

"Thousands of refugees and migrants face kidnap, slavery, torture and sexual violence in Libya before crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Italy - if they are not killed first," said a new report, 'You aren't human anymore,' by UK-based humanitarian group Oxfam.

Libya has become a major launchpad for asylum seekers who opt for a highly dangerous route through the Mediterranean while attempting to reach Italy.
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Arrow Down

Google burns a corporate culture heretic

Mona Charen
Townhall
Wed, 09 Aug 2017 01:28 UTC
James Damore google memo
James Damore, author of the Google Memo
James Damore is fortunate that we don't burn heretics at the stake, because he has blasphemed.

The fired Google engineer might as well have been writing a script designed to prove that one of the world's largest companies embodies every left-wing stereotype imaginable -- blinkered, intolerant and authoritarian. Damore's memo alleged that one problem with Google's corporate culture is that people feel "shamed into silence" on important questions, and, bam, they fired him. Hollywood might have rejected such a script, because who would believe that Google could do something so confirming of suspicions people harbor about the left? These are supposed to be the smartest people, right?

Damore told the truth. This is not to endorse every word of his memo, but he was completely right that the subject of innate differences between men and women has become taboo. He pointed out, completely fairly, that whereas some on the right reject science on questions of climate change and evolution, some (many?) on the left resist science on issues of biological differences between men and women. Among left-leaning intellectuals, and that includes the types who run Google, it is not only assumed that all observed differences in traits, interests and choices between the sexes are the result of oppression (or are "socially constructed"); it is heresy to question this view.

Comment: Dr. Jordan Peterson interviewed James Damore regarding his diversity memo:

See also:

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Smoking

In defense of enjoying a cigarette

Matt Labash
The Weekly Standard
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 16:11 UTC
Keith Richards smoking cigarettes
© Mark Lennihan/Associated PressKeith Richards, lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones, appears with the band to promote their "Bridges to Babylon" tour at a news conference in the Brooklyn borough of New York Monday, August 18, 1997.
Ask Matt Labash, who longs for a time when Kooler heads prevailed.
Dear Matt,

I had this thought that America was more civil when everyone smoked. You learned from an early age that people will do something you don't like but there wasn't much you could do other than walk away. Then smokers became not just people doing something others don't like, but bad people whose second hand smoke (allegedly) kills. Nowadays, anyone who disagrees with you isn't just different or misguided, they are a bad person who must be ostracized/destroyed. Thoughts?

Charles Zambori, Dallas, TX
At the risk of sounding like some heedless libertine, I've always loved smokers, even though I've never been one. Not habitually. I sometimes tried to smoke cigars during cocktail hours back in the nineties, when twentysomethings felt duty-bound to pretend they liked swing-dancing and pork pie hats and Squirrel Nut Zippers shows while smoking Cohibas as thick as baby legs. ('Twas an unfortunate chapter in our history, which served as a sneak preview of what our culture would become: a wan remix of a more vital, authentic time from decades past. The redux version feels more like kids playing dress-up.)

Comment: The author is misinformed about the benefits of smoking pure, organically-grown tobacco. But he is not off about the growth of intolerance of any sort of behavior not sanctioned by the PC police.

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Bug

Under the influence?: U.S. soldier under trial for murdering Afghan civilians will blame malaria drug used by military

Patricia Kime
McClatchy DC
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 07:41 UTC
Afghans were killed
© Allauddin Khan APMen stand next to blood stains and charred remains inside a home where witnesses say Afghans were killed by a U.S. soldier in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2012
An Army court will decide this week whether to review and perhaps reduce the life sentence of a soldier who massacred Afghan civilians - and in the process it will judge a controversial malaria drug given to troops that is known to cause hallucinations, anxiety and paranoia.

Attorneys for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the serviceman convicted in 2013 of killing 16 Afghans in the worst U.S. military massacre since Vietnam, are expected to raise the soldier's use of mefloquine, also known by the brand name Lariam, before or during his deployment.

The prescription was not considered during the investigation and his legal team will use this as the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals weighs whether Bales is entitled to a new sentencing hearing on two procedural issues - whether the prosecution failed to disclose evidence related to his case and that the court failed to investigate a military judge's disclosure of protected information.

Mefloquine is a malaria treatment medication that was commonly used by the U.S. military as a prophylactic in malaria endemic regions, taken once a week by troops. It has been controversial since its commercial introduction in 1989, as it is known to cause neurological and vestibular problems in a small percentage of users.

Comment: Another question that comes to mind is: Why prosecute Sgt. Robert Bales for killing civilians at all? The U.S. military kills innocents via drone strike and through other means all the time - as a matter of course. Is this some kind of show trial to prove to the world that the US gov has some kind of moral compass?

As for pumping soldiers full of dangerous drugs, this is nothing new either: Gulf war syndrome: The U.S. Government's conspiracy of silence

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