Society's Child

The United States is at risk of an armed anti-police insurgency

Temitope Oriola
The Conversation
Thu, 15 Apr 2021 05:51 UTC

The killings of African Americans at the hands of police officers has continued unabated in the United States. In the past year, the deaths of Breonna Taylor in her bed and George Floyd by public asphyxiation are two of the most egregious.

As the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck was being tried for the killing in court, another officer shot and killed Daunte Wright.

Scholarly research has begun to document the traumatic consequences of police killings on African Americans. One study finds the effects on Black males meet the "criteria for trauma exposure," based on the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, used for psychiatric diagnoses.

Besides police use of force in North America, one of the trajectories of my research focuses on armed insurgency in sub-Saharan Africa. I am beginning to observe in the U.S. some of the social conditions necessary for the maturation and rise of an armed insurgency. The U.S. is at risk of armed insurgencies within the next five years if the current wave of killings of unarmed Black people continues.

51 killed in Taiwan's deadliest rail disaster

Express & Star
Fri, 02 Apr 2021 18:04 UTC

The crash occurred near the Toroko Gorge scenic area on the first day of a long holiday weekend.

A train collided with an unmanned vehicle that had rolled down a hill on Friday in eastern Taiwan, leaving at least 51 people dead and dozens injured in the island's deadliest rail disaster.

Some survivors were forced to climb out of windows and walk along the train's roof to safety.

The crash occurred near the Toroko Gorge scenic area on the first day of a long holiday weekend when many people were using trains on Taiwan's extensive rail system. The train had been carrying more than 400 people.

Why are they targeting AstraZeneca? Study says blood clots as prevalent with Pfizer and Moderna vaccine

Steve Goldstein
Market Watch
Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:32 UTC

A study by Oxford University found the number of people who receive blood clots after getting vaccinated with a coronavirus vaccine are about the same for those who get Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as they are for the AstraZeneca vaccine that was produced with the university's help.

According to the study, 4 in 1 million people experience cerebral venous thrombosis after getting the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, versus 5 in 1 million people for the AstraZeneca vaccine. The risk of getting CVT is much higher for those who get COVID-19 -- 39 in a million patients -- than it is for those who get vaccinated. AstraZeneca's vaccine use has been halted or limited in many countries on blood clot concerns.

Comment: It appears the only vaccines being highlighted in the media for side effects are Johnson & Johnson's and AstraZeneca's, both of which use the (somewhat) more benign DNA as the information delivery systems

How J&J and AstraZeneca differ from the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna

Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca use a harmless version of a cold virus as a vector to give our cells the instructions they need to make the coronavirus's spike protein.

The immune system recognizes the protein and makes antibodies, which then allow us to fend off attack if exposed in the future.

Johnson & Johnson uses a human adenovirus, or a cold virus, to create its vaccine while AstraZeneca uses a chimpanzee version.

Johnson & Johnson's is the first single-dose vaccine approved in Canada. AstraZeneca, like Pfizer and Moderna, requires two doses. Experts say it takes a couple weeks for the body to build up some level of immunity with any of the vaccines.

Could the goal be to steer the vaccine-compliant crowd towards the irreversible gene-editing versions touted by Pfizer and Moderna?

'Bullhorn lady' wears hole-filled mask in public: Ordered by judge to explain why she shouldn't be jailed for mocking court order

matt-n
Law&Crime
Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:22 UTC

An accused U.S. Capitol rioter known online as "Bullhorn Lady" has been ordered to explain why her pre-trial release shouldn't be revoked after Law&Crime reported that she appeared to have been recorded in a bookstore wearing a mask with holes in it — in possible violation of court-ordered conditions for staying out of jail.

As Law&Crime discussed at length on April 9, a since-deleted video posted at the end of March on the Facebook page of Mr. Bookman's — a used book store in Western Pennsylvania — showed an individual who appeared to be Rachel Powell wearing a mesh mask. The problem was that Powell, as a unique condition of her pretrial release, was ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell to "wear a mask whenever she leaves her residence."

Taylor's mom rips Louisville BLM chapter as a 'fraud'

Kerry J. Byrne
New York Post
Sat, 17 Apr 2021 16:39 UTC

The mom of Breonna Taylor slammed a Black Lives Matter chapter as a "fraud" in a since-removed social media post.

"'I have never personally dealt with BLM Louisville and personally have found them to be fraud, (state Rep.) Attica Scott another fraud," Tamika Palmer wrote on Facebook.

The post was apparently removed from Facebook early Saturday, though it's unclear why or by whom.

Comment:

Oregon considers extending mask mandate & social distancing indefinitely, 60,000 residents decry 'government overreach'

AP
Sun, 18 Apr 2021 11:34 UTC

© AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus
Residents wearing masks sit in downtown Lake Oswego, Ore., on Sunday, April 11, 2021. Tens of thousands of Oregon residents are angry about a proposal to make permanent an emergency rule that requires masks and social distancing in the state's businesses and schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Opponents worry about government overreach and fear that state officials won't remove the mask requirements for businesses even after threat of the virus has receded if the emergency rule becomes permanent.

As states around the country lift COVID-19 restrictions, Oregon is poised to go the opposite direction — and many residents are fuming about it.

A top health official is considering indefinitely extending rules requiring masks and social distancing in all businesses in the state.

The proposal would keep the rules in place until they are "no longer necessary to address the effects of the pandemic in the workplace."

Michael Wood, administrator of the state's department of Occupational Safety and Health, said the move is necessary to address a technicality in state law that requires a "permanent" rule to keep current restrictions from expiring.

Over a year and $85bn later, US spies still don't know 'where, when or how' Covid-19 hit the world - but it 'could've been a lab'

Kit Klarenberg
RT
Sat, 17 Apr 2021 11:59 UTC

© Reuters
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats

The question of how SARS-CoV-2 came to wreak havoc on the planet is one many have asked but none, so far, have answered. The truth is out there, but the very people on the case could have every reason to ensure it doesn't emerge.

On April 14, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines revealed that after over a year of determined sleuthing, US spying agencies had no concrete answers on basic questions regarding the origins of the 2019 coronavirus.

"It is absolutely accurate the intelligence community does not know exactly where, when, or how Covid-19 virus was transmitted initially," Haines told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Components have coalesced around two alternative theories, these scenarios are it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals, or it was a laboratory accident."

This time last year, Donald Trump alleged he'd seen evidence confirming covid was laboratory-made and, throughout 2020, former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove also claimed the virus was "an engineered escapee" from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Haines' public admission that a "laboratory accident" is a possible explanation is significant because intelligence services have thus far been quick to dismiss the suggestion as a conspiracy theory whenever it's been aired in public. In response to Trump's statement for example, the Director of National Intelligence's office firmly refuted the idea Covid-19 was "manmade or genetically modified." Of course, the virus could be neither and still have escaped from a lab.

Comment: See also:

Journalists, learning they spread a CIA fraud about Russia, instantly embrace a new one

Glenn Greenwald
greenwald.substack.com
Fri, 16 Apr 2021 08:37 UTC

That Russia placed "bounties" on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was one of the most-discussed and consequential news stories of 2020. It was also, as it turns out, one of the most baseless — as the intelligence agencies who spread it through their media spokespeople now admit, largely because the tale has fulfilled and outlived its purpose.

The saga began on June 26, 2020, when The New York Times announced that unnamed "American intelligence officials" have concluded that "a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops." The paper called it "a significant and provocative escalation" by Russia. Though no evidence was ever presented to support the CIA's claims — neither in that original story nor in any reporting since — most U.S. media outlets blindly believed it and spent weeks if not longer treating it as proven, highly significant truth. Leading politicians from both parties similarly used this emotional storyline to advance multiple agendas.

The story appeared — coincidentally or otherwise — just weeks after President Trump announced his plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2020. Pro-war members of Congress from both parties and liberal hawks in corporate media spent weeks weaponizing this story to accuse Trump of appeasing Putin by leaving Afghanistan and being too scared to punish the Kremlin. Cable outlets and the op-ed pages of The New York Times and Washington Post endlessly discussed the grave implications of this Russian treachery and debated which severe retaliation was needed. "This is as bad as it gets," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Then-candidate Joe Biden said Trump's refusal to punish Russia and his casting doubt on the truth of the story was more proof that Trump's "entire presidency has been a gift to Putin," while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) demanded that, in response, the U.S. put Russians and Afghans "in body bags."

Minnesota student falsely accused of sending racist Instagram messages fears for her safety despite officials confirming they were a 'hoax'

Keith Griffith
Daily Mail
Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:41 UTC

© Fox News
Avery Severson, a sophomore at White Bear Lake High School near St. Paul, was falsely accused of sending racist direct Instagram messages to black classmates

A high school student from Minnesota has spoken out about being falsely accused of sending vile racist messages to black classmates, after the incident was exposed as a hoax.

Avery Severson, a sophomore at White Bear Lake High School near St. Paul, was falsely accused of sending the racist direct messages, prompting outrage and a student walkout.

But school officials said that an FBI investigation revealed that the female student who created the hateful messages wanted 'to raise awareness of social and racial injustice' by staging the stunt. They refused to name the true perpetrator.

Comment: So this poor girl has been falsely accused, held up as a pariah, made to feel unsafe in her own school, and possibly had her future destroyed so that some sick peeps could prove a point?! One wonders who the culprit could be and why the school is withholding the identity.

See also:

New Zealand govt 'considering' outlawing tobacco altogether by 2025

Matt Mathers
The Independent, UK
Sat, 17 Apr 2021 11:00 UTC

New Zealand is considering phasing out the legal sale of tobacco with a date-based ban on smoking products.

Lawmakers are mulling plans to gradually increase the legal age at which people can buy tobacco products as New Zealand aims to become smoke-free by 2025.

Comment: This makes a mockery of adults, freedom of choice, and law generally; if a person is legally old enough to vote, drive a car, have sex, drink alcohol, surely they can choose whether they wish to smoke?

In a consultation document, the government said: "A smoke-free generation policy would prohibit the sale, and the supply in a public place, of smoked tobacco products to new cohorts from a specified date.

Comment: That didn't work for prohibition in the US, nor has it worked for any country with marijuana. Moreover, it actually tends to make things worse by channeling those profits into organized crime.

Comment: One of the worst aspects of the whole smoking 'debate' is that those pushing for its prohibition are basing their opinions on erroneous data; smoking tobacco isn't harmful, moreover, for some people smoking tobacco can be highly beneficial. However, the corruption of science is nothing new, and we see similar deleterious effects on society with government dietary guidelines that have led to soaring rates of obesity and diabetes:

For more on the matter, check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Truth about Tobacco and the Benefits of Nicotine

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Putin's Key State-Of-The-Nation Address: "Swift & Tough" Response Coming For Those Crossing 'Red Line' [Link]

parzival

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Hans

Society's Child

The United States is at risk of an armed anti-police insurgency

51 killed in Taiwan's deadliest rail disaster

Why are they targeting AstraZeneca? Study says blood clots as prevalent with Pfizer and Moderna vaccine

'Bullhorn lady' wears hole-filled mask in public: Ordered by judge to explain why she shouldn't be jailed for mocking court order

Taylor's mom rips Louisville BLM chapter as a 'fraud'

Oregon considers extending mask mandate & social distancing indefinitely, 60,000 residents decry 'government overreach'

Over a year and $85bn later, US spies still don't know 'where, when or how' Covid-19 hit the world - but it 'could've been a lab'

Journalists, learning they spread a CIA fraud about Russia, instantly embrace a new one

Minnesota student falsely accused of sending racist Instagram messages fears for her safety despite officials confirming they were a 'hoax'

New Zealand govt 'considering' outlawing tobacco altogether by 2025

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