Society's ChildS


Star of David

Thousands of Gaza workers 'missing' after arrested and blindfolded by Israel

West bank checkpoint
© APJust another day. Palestinians on their way to work go through an army checkpoint near Jenin.
There are fears for thousands of missing Palestinians after the Israeli government cancelled work permits for Gazans after the deadly Hamas attacks on 7 October.

Trade unions, officials and humanitarian organisations have raised concerns for their safety after reports Palestinians with permission to work in Israel were rounded up, arrested and blindfolded before being taken to military camps.

The Minister of Labour for the Palestinian Authorities, Dr Nasri Abu Jaish, told The Independent around 4,500 workers were still unaccounted for but are believed to have been detained by Israeli forces. Dr Jaish said he had met workers after some of them were released, sharing stories of alleged mistreatment.

Comment: However will Israeli society get along without its slaves?


Eye 2

At least 2,000 children killed in Gaza - charity

gaza children crying
© Getty Images / Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty ImagesChildren crying because of Israeli air raids on October 15, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza
At least 2,000 children have died in Israel's bombardment of Gaza over the past 17 days, UK-based aid group Save the Children has said.

The charity cited figures from the Hamas-operated Health Ministry in Gaza, which stated on Monday that at least 5,087 people have been killed in Israel's siege of the enclave, including at least 2,055 children.

"Thousands of homes, and dozens of playgrounds, schools, hospitals, churches and mosques have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza," Save the Children said. "At least 4,600 children [have been] injured as reported by the [Gaza] Ministry of Health - some with excruciating burns, lost limbs and other horrific blast injuries."

It claimed that Israeli airstrikes are "killing and injuring children indiscriminately."

Red Flag

Estonian authorities fines man €400 for wearing 'Soviet hat' - media

soviet hat
© Getty Images/Yury Karamanenko
Estonian authorities have slapped a €400 ($426) fine on a man who crossed the border sporting a hat emblazoned with the Soviet coat of arms, according to local media. Soviet symbols, and more recently imagery related to the Russian state, are prohibited by law in the former Soviet republic.

According to the ERR media outlet, the Estonian citizen was stopped on Saturday when crossing from Russia. Officials notified him that the display of symbols of the "aggressor state" in public is banned, and issued a fine.

Back in May, police warned Estonians that the display of the Soviet or Russian flags or those of Russia's Donbass republics, as well as the Latin letters Z and V, which have come to symbolize Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine, are off limits during Victory Day events.

Red Flag

Inside LA's brazen sex market, where women sell themselves in broad daylight — emboldened by California's new laws

la prostitute
© New York PostProstitutes look for customers along Figueroa Street between 96th and 98th streets in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2023
Emboldened by new California laws that make it nearly impossible for cops to bust prostitutes, sex workers in Los Angeles' red light district stalk for business wearing no more than thongs, G-strings, and high heels in broad daylight.

A 40-block area of Figueroa Boulevard in South LA sees hundreds of prostitutes, some barely out of their teens, plying their trade since Gov. Gavin Newsom passed the controversial Safer Streets for All Act, which decriminalized loitering with the intent to work as a prostitute in January.

"Before, this type of activity only happened at night where most citizens wouldn't see it, but now it's 24/7," one source told The Post.

"Now you can drive by at 2 p.m. and see it. Families drive by and see 10 girls on the corner, condoms on the ground.

"You go by the alleys and you see a guy in the middle of the alley and a woman performing [fellatio]. And a mom and her kids have to pass by that. It's ridiculous, all in the open broad daylight. God only knows the impact it has on those kids who have to see this."

Eye 1

Media tech giants support genocide: Google and Apple limit map functions in Israel and Gaza

google maps
© Getty Images / Rafael Henrique; SOPA Images; LightRocketGoogle Maps
The deactivation was reportedly requested by the Israeli military ahead of an expected ground offensive in Gaza

Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps are no longer showing live traffic updates for Israel and Gaza, according to multiple media reports. The move comes ahead of an expected invasion of the Palestinian territory by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

"As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to see live traffic conditions and business information out of consideration for the safety of local communities," a Google spokesperson told Bloomberg on Monday.

He noted that while real-time traffic data has been turned off, users can still use the navigation systems and will still be able to see the estimated times of arrival, which will be based on live conditions.

Cardboard Box

What some call "anti-science" is just anti-authoritarianism

Peter Hotez
Dr. Peter Hotez - mouthpiece for official "science"
Sometimes it feels as if we're living in a dizzying house of narrative mirrors and anyone sincerely interested in walking the true path through the world risks being unable to see the true path as they get trapped in our horrific hall of insincere reflections.

The truth of any given matter, the objective facts and consilient theories, seems to matter less than the ability of an idea or narrative to reflect back to people what they wish to see. Our marketplace of ideas incentivizes manufacturing narrative mirrors that provide epistemological narcissists an opportunity to view themselves in a favorable light and secure a foothold in media outlets that have devolved from curators of our frontal lobe to antagonists of our amygdala.

Speaking of epistemological narcissists and narrative mirrors, let's talk about Peter Hotez and his narrative of a growing "Anti-Science" movement.

Peter Hotez self-identifies as a scientist and appears to spend most of his time running around predominately liberal media outlets, using his stature as "The Scientist" to misrepresent, demean, and cry "disinformation" on information, worldviews, and even scientific theories that differ from his own. Any scientist who disagrees with Dr. Hotez and his outrageous, inhuman, insensitive, and irrational proclamations is blocked and ridiculed. While truth may bounce off Hotez like bullets off of Thanos, it appears our disagreements have successfully penetrated the armor of Dr. Hotez's ego and a new ego-defense is materializing.

Syringe

Covid vaccines are driving excess deaths, parliament told

Andrew Bridgen, the former Conservative now Reclaim MP
Andrew Bridgen, the former Conservative now Reclaim MP, finally secured a debate on excess deaths in the House of Commons, which took place on Friday afternoon. We provide here a full transcript of the debate, as found in Hansard. A full video of the debate can be found on X.


Comment: See also:


Nuke

Russia invests heavily in Egypt - Sun City - Nuclear Power

Russian Nuclear Plant
© Armstrong Economics
Russia poured $7 billion into Egypt in 2021 to create the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ), the nation's first industrial zone outside of Russia. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi developed a relationship with Russia in 2014 amid the Crimea crisis and the Ukrainian Revolution. Russia has been investing heavily in Egypt ever since and is currently pouring $4.6 billion into Egypt's Suez Canal zone to create "Sun City," an industrial zone covering 2,000 hectares.

Around 20% of all world trade moves through the Suez Canal. This is extremely strategic for Russian manufacturing and trade, and also explains Egypt's refusal to support the West in its mission to escalate the Israel-Palestine war. Sun City is expected to bring 35,000 jobs to the Egyptian economy.

Egypt has become Africa's leading destination for investment. It dethroned South Africa in 2017 to claim the title. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that Egypt "supported by a large increase in Chinese investment across light manufacturing industries and wide-ranging economic reforms, such as financial liberalisation, which is basically the establishment of higher interest rates that equate the demand for, and the supply of savings." China's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) spiked 75% in 2017, providing Egypt with a large boost. The UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have also invested heavily in Egypt, especially in real estate and development.

Cell Phone

Zuckerberg Threads' block on COVID-19 terms to be lifted soon

Meta's new app Threads
© Richard DrewMeta's new app Threads is displayed on a smartphone in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023
Threads' ban on health-related search items will be repealed soon, according to company management.

Last month it was revealed that Threads put a block on searches for COVID-19 related terms like "vaccines" "COVID" and "long COVID." If users try to search for them, they're told no results match their inquiry. The site also blocks possibly explicit terms like "gore" and "porn."

Instagram and Threads head Adam Mosseri on Monday said the ban was a temporary measure to deal with the influx of data on such a young platform.

"Weeks or months, let me look into it and circle back," Mr. Mosseri said of when the terms would be unbanned. "The reality is that we have lots of important work to do. The team is moving fast, but we're not yet where we want to be."

The announcement comes one week after Mr. Mosseri confirmed that Threads would not "amplify" news stories such as the Israel-Hamas war.

The decision puts Threads in stark contrast to its main competitor, X, which has comparatively little content or search moderation. The decision may continue to hurt Threads' ability to retain active users.

Despite launching with impressive numbers, including boasting over 100 million signups in the first few days, Threads has lost a significant amount of daily active users and is looking for ways to retain what users it does have.

Comment:


Bullseye

Best of the Web: Some call it conspiracy theory

democracy conspiracy theory graphic
© IainDavis.com
There are certain assumptions that are applied to anyone labelled a "conspiracy theorist" — and all of them are fallacies. Indeed, the term "conspiracy theory" is nothing more than a propaganda construct designed to silence debate and censor opinion on a range of subjects. Most particularly, it is used as a pejorative to marginalise and discredit whoever challenges the pronouncements and edicts of the State and of the Establishment — that is, the public and private entities that control the State and that profit from the State.

Those of us who have legitimate criticisms of government and its institutions and representatives, who are therefore labelled "conspiracy theorists," face a dilemma. We can embrace the term and attempt to redefine it or we can reject it outright. Either way, it is evident that the people who weaponise the "conspiracy theory" label will continue to use it as long as it serves their propaganda purposes.

One of the most insidious aspects of the "conspiracy theory" fabrication is that the falsehoods associated with the term have been successfully seeded into the public's consciousness. Often, propagandists need do no more than slap this label on the targeted opinion and the audience will immediately dismiss that viewpoint as a "lunatic conspiracy theory." Sadly, this knee-jerk reaction is usually made absent any consideration or even familiarity with the evidence presented by that so-called "lunatic conspiracy theorist."