Society's ChildS


Eye 1

The real point of Wikileaks' Vault 7? Getting you used to Big Brother

big brother watching
Wikileaks has released the first of its highly anticipated "Vault 7″... and the documents prove that the CIA not only has an enormous arsenal of lovely hacking tools and malware at its disposal, but the agency also has a fat bag of exploits that essentially allow it to take backdoor control of smart phones, televisions, gaming systems and more and turn them into live microphones.

The CIA... now in your living room any time it wants.

And now for the real takeaway of Wikileaks' Vault 7 "Year Zero" dump... incrementally acclimating people to living in a total information awareness society where the government has access and can invade your privacy any time it wants through technology.

Comment: Organization with long history of spying on people may be spying on people: WikiLeaks Vault 7


Cell Phone

Hacked: 'Cash me outside' girl's Instagram used to expose America's infatuation with ignorance

instagram bhadbhabie
© Free Thought Project
Danielle Bregoli, also known as the "cash me outside" girl, has gotten a lot of attention recently after appearing on Dr. Phil's circus sideshow, titled "I Want to Give Up My Car-Stealing, Knife-Wielding, Twerking 13-Year-Old Daughter Who Tried to Frame Me for a Crime," to show America how awesome she thinks she is. Not surprisingly, Bregoli became wildly famous and amassed a whopping 7.5 million followers on Instagram, which just so happened to by hacked on Wednesday and used to show Americans a harsh reality — their infatuation with ignorance.

"Face Security Group," the hacking entity who took over Bregoli's page, changed her name to Cyrillic characters which referenced the Washington Post and read, in Russian, Демократия умирает во мраке "Democracy Dies in Darkness."

Bregoli immediately set up another Instagram account and noted, "My account got hacked. I will be taking my account back soon. Follow this one until then."

Attention

RT crew discovers sites of ISIS atrocities in bloodied desert near Palmyra

Palmyra, Syria
© REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki
Horrifying scenes of burned and mutilated bodies dot the mountainous desert around the newly-liberated Syrian city of Palmyra. RT's Lizzie Phelan has come across the remains of four soldiers, which could be among the many undiscovered victims of Islamic State.

The rocky desert around the ancient city of Palmyra has seen bloody battles recently as Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) terrorists were being pushed back from the city by the Syrian Arab Army, for the second time in two years.

The terrorists retreated leaving behind a trail of corpses, young and old, many of ISIS ranks but also the victims of their brutal acts. Phelan reports that the Syrian Army simply does not have enough resources to scour hectares of the desert for remains, so it was not long before RT's crew, accompanied by the Syrian forces, came across a site of atrocities.

Phelan describes finding charred and apparently decapitated bodies of two Syrian soldiers, while two more corpses were discovered in a ditch nearby.

While the crew notified the Syrian Army about the horrifying find, landmines and the possibility of coming under mortar attack of scattered ISIS militants that may still be lurking kilometers away from the scene, will for now prevent more troops from being sent to search the desert, Phelan reports. One such mine the terrorists left buried in the dirt can be seen on RT's footage.


Roses

Pioneer Jesus mythicist George Wells passes away

george wells
George Wells served as a Bevin Boy during the second world war
My friend George Wells, who has died aged 90, was a professor and head of German at Birkbeck, University of London. He wrote and edited more than 20 books on German literature and thought, the origin of language and biblical criticism.

Born in London to George Wells, a trader in goods, and his wife, Lilian (nee Bird), he attended Hornsey County school and Stationers' Company's school, Hornsey, before embarking on a degree in German at University College London in 1943. He completed this after an interruption for war service in the mines as a Bevin Boy. He went on to gain a PhD from the University of London.

He became a lecturer in German at UCL in 1949, and was appointed head of department at Birkbeck in 1968. He retired in 1988.

George's views on the historicity of Jesus - which he first denied, then accepted in a qualified form - were controversial. He published nine books on this subject between 1971 and 2009, most notably The Historical Evidence for Jesus (1982). His work in this field generated debate in the US, where he was awarded the title of Humanist Laureate by the International Academy of Humanism in 1983.

Comment: We highly recommend Wells's books. He was a pioneer in the field, a lone voice of reason in the wilderness. Rest in peace, Professor Wells!


Bulb

Police chief encourages officers to practice meditation to help ease stress of policing and aid development

cops meditating
At a time when there is an uneasy, sometimes even volatile, divide between some communities and the police officers who are sworn to protect them, one police chief is encouraging her department to practice meditation as a way to help ease the stress of policing.

Chief Sylvia Moir, who has been the head of the Tempe Police Department in Tempe, Arizona, for the past year and has nearly 30 years of policing experience, believes teaching and practicing meditation should be a key piece of police officer development.

"In policing, it's essential that we respond. We don't react," Moir told ABC News' Dan Harris in an interview for his "10% Happier" podcast. "Without a doubt I think the [meditation] practice shows promise, getting us to be present, not take triggers, not take the bait that makes us react and if the practice can get us to see the perspective of another to enhance our compassion, then I think it does lend itself to broader application in policing."

It's important for officers to "be tactically sound and physically fit," Moir said. She practices mindfulness, a series of meditation techniques that are designed to slow the mind, focus on the breath and bring attention back from distraction, as well as gratitude -- focusing on positive emotions.

Green Light

Social justice run amok: Melbourne installs female-figured crosswalk signs

female traffic sign
The problem with people who are obsessed with social justice and political correctness, is that they see boogeymen everywhere. To them, everyone and everything is racist, sexist, and homophobic. So when they get their way, their madness eventually infects every aspect of society, right down to the nuts and bolts.

You can see what this looks like in cities like Melbourne, Australia, which appears to be turning into the perfect example of what happens when social justice is allowed to run amok. There the city recently installed 10 new stop/go lights at various crosswalks for International Women's Day, which replace the familiar stick figure that we all recognize, with a female stick figure in a dress.

The lights are part of an initiative by The Committee for Melbourne, who spent $8,400 to install them (a local electrical company also chipped in). The group eventually wants all traffic lights to depict an even mix of male and female figures. As for why any of these are needed, according to Martine Letts, the chief executive of the Committee of Melbourne, "The idea is to install traffic lights with female representation, as well as male representation, to help reduce unconscious bias."

Lemon

Fading fast: New poll shows Hillary's favorability ratings drop to all-time lows

Hillary Clinton
President Trump is up and rising with a 45% rating.

A Washington Post poll shows that Hillary Clinton is fading fast in the eyes of Americans, with her favorability numbers dipping to an all-time low of 35%. Anyone holding out for an HRC re-run in 2020...keep dreaming.

Clinton's decline is attributed to Democrats and independents wishing her away.

88% of Democrats and 32% of independents liked Clinton in October.

Today those numbers are down to 74% and 25%, respectively.

Comment: Unfortunately, Hillary has yet to get the message:


Red Flag

French mayor in court after calling Muslim children at schools 'a problem'

schoolchildren
© Michel Setboun / Corbis / Gettyimages.ruPupils attend a Muslim school in Genevilliers in the suburbs of Paris
A far-right French mayor has appeared in court on charges of inciting hatred for his remarks last year, in which he said that there were too many Muslim children at the schools in his city, and implied that the ethnic French population is being "replaced."

Robert Menard, mayor of the southern town of Béziers and an ally of Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration and Eurosceptic National Front party, appeared before Paris Criminal Court on Wednesday for the launch of his trial for incitement of hatred, in relation to two statements he made in 2016.

"In a class in the city center of in my town, 91 percent of the children are Muslims. Obviously, this is a problem," he said in an interview on the French news channel LCI in September.

"There are limits to tolerance."

Bullseye

Blowback: DNC favorability tanks as obsession with Russia and anti-Trump narrative alienates voters

Democratic party

For the Democrat party, the "Russia did it" narrative is not working well.


The Democrat party remains dazed and confused, after Donald Trump's shock win over Hillary Clinton.

Instead of re-evaluating their election loss, and reshaping their party platform, the Democrat party decided to do away with policy, and become the party obsessed with all things Russia, and everything anti-Trump.

At a recent town hall in San Diego, a Democrat party Congressmen is confronted with this straightforward question from an audience member..."What Do You Stand For?"

The Congressman has no answer!

Jimmy Dore comments on the Democrat's internal party destruction...


Comment:


Camcorder

Man claiming to be Kim Jong-nam's son records video address

Kim Han-sol
© Cheollima Civil Defense / YouTube Kim Han-sol
The man claiming to be the son of assassinated Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has addressed the public in a video posted online by a group which claim to focus on rescuing North Korean defectors and refugees.

"My father has been killed a few days ago. I'm currently with my mother and my sister," the man can be heard saying in English after identifying himself as Kim Han-sol. The video becomes muted and his mouth covered when he talks about whom he and his family are "very grateful to". Details on his North Korean passport are also blocked when he shows it to the camera.

He ends the 40-second video saying "we hope this gets better soon."