Society's ChildS


Rose

SOTT Focus: Flemish Priest Father Daniël Maes Living In Syria Exposes The Truth The Western Press Ignores

father daniel maes
Father Daniël Maes
Living in Syria in the sixth-century-old Mar Yakub monastery in the city of Qara, 90 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, Flemish Father Daniël Maes has been a witness to the invasion of western-backed terrorists since the very beginning. To this day, he and his friends continue to help the Syrian people by not only helping them directly, but also by spreading the truth about what is truly going on in the country.

Meteor

Nibiru 'fear porn' prophets are profiting from the apocalypse on YouTube

Youtube Nibiru
The world spectacularly failed to end again this week when a mysterious death planet did not show up in the sky and spark a biblical apocalypse.

But you can be assured that the no-show of Nibiru will not silence the dozens of crackpots and conspiracy theorists who make a living from claiming the apocalypse is nigh.

We have discovered that so-called Planet X 'investigators' are earning tens of thousands of pounds a year from the false claim that a mysterious hidden world is about to reappear and wipe out humanity.

Comment: The above article seems to be implying that YouTube should be demonetizing accounts that talk about Nibiru, Planet X or the like. This seems a little extreme. While it's true that these sorts of conspiracy theories can do harm, and the whole Nibiru thing is so wrapped up in nonsense there's little true knowledge to be found in these videos, where is the line for what's acceptable and what isn't, and who gets to decide where that line is drawn? If YouTube truly tried to purge its platform of all non-truths, there'd likely be little left to watch.

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Post-It Note

Some basics on the war in Syria and a letter to Salafist Wahhabist apologists

Salafist Wahhabist
Your head chopper heros are apparently not what Syrians have in mind when they think of democratic revolution.

Mehdi Hasan (MH) can hardly be blamed for the ignorance that he displays in his Intercept article, "Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn't Gas Syrians." He has apparently never been to Syria, doesn't often do research on Syria, and gets his information from proponents of a single point of view, representing a bunch of idealists that want to usher in their idea of a liberal democracy in Syria, without benefit of electoral niceties until their power is already ironclad. What's wrong with this picture?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start by deconstructing the absurdities and the language in the MH article.

Thankfully, MH has spared us the need to deconstruct the absurd accusation that the Syrian armed forces have used chemical weapons. He apparently accepts that they don't need to, that there is no benefit in using them, so why would they? OK, then who did? Cui bono? Easy answer. The motive of the promoters of destruction in Syria is to create a pretext for the US and its partners to bomb, invade and establish a no-fly zone; i.e., to directly take on the Syrian government and its allies. These war criminals include the neoconservative cabal in the US, the Zionist and Israeli proponents of using the US to fight Israel's perceived enemies, and the Saudi and Qatari adventurists backing the Project for a New Salafist Paradise. These are the same players who brought us Iraq I and II, Libya, Afghanistan forever, Somalia and Yemen. What more could we wish for?

No Entry

The silencing of a conservative writer: When the mob came for me

Ken Williamson
Ken Williamson
Several weeks ago, acerbic conservative writer Kevin Williamson was fired from the job he'd just accepted at The Atlantic, a prestigious mainstream publication. The supposed iniquity for which he was dismissed was a years-old exploration of potential policy consequences related to his views on the criminalization of abortion -- an outcome he supports. The braying jackals who applied heavy pressure on The Atlantic's editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, to kick Williamson to the curb homed in on the columnist's ostensible stance that women who obtain abortions should be hanged. This is a gross distortion, for reasons we'll get to shortly. Some of his critics also circulated a fabricated racist quote, falsely attributing it to Williamson. After a period of silence, Williamson finally weighed in on this contretemps in aWall Street Journal op/ed entitled, "When the Twitter Mob Came For Me." The piece is devastating and unsparing, as is typical of Williamson's work. He begins by clarifying what he meant with his tweets and comments about abortion and capital punishment. Unsurprisingly, the views ascribed to him by dishonest or ignorant partisans was not accurate or fair:

Black Cat 2

Despicable: Judge no longer allowed in court after verbally abusing ill inmate who later died

Florida judge
© YouTube screencapA Florida judge has been reprimanded after a recorded hearing was released, showing her yelling at a woman with COPD who later died.
A Florida judge has been reprimanded after scolding a wheelchair-bound defendant who died days later.

Judge Merrilee Ehrlich berated Sandra Faye Twiggs in a recorded hearing on April 15. Twiggs was making her first appearance in front of the court for a domestic violence charge.

In the video, the court hears that the 59-year-old Twiggs has no prior convictions, and was in court after a domestic dispute with her daughter. As the proceeding continues, Twiggs is seen coughing and struggling, and the judge asks if someone can offer the defendant some water.

After the judge asks Twiggs to nod if she needs a glass a water, the woman nods and says that she also needs a breathing treatment.

Judge Ehrlich then unleashes, saying "Ma'am, I'm not here to talk to you about your breathing treatment."

Megaphone

The left's cult of violence has a history of backfiring on them

violent left
© Mr. Fish / Truthdig
The Weather Underground, a clandestine revolutionary organization that advocated violence, was seen by my father and other clergy members who were involved in Vietnam anti-war protests as one of the most self-destructive forces on the left. These members of the clergy, many of whom, including my father, were World War II veterans, had often became ministers because of their experiences in the war. They understood the poison of violence. One of the most prominent leaders of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (CALCAV), to which my father belonged, was the Catholic priest Philip Berrigan, who as an Army second lieutenant fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

The young radicals of the Vietnam era, including Mark Rudd - who in 1968 as a leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led the occupation of five buildings at Columbia University and later helped form the Weather Underground - did not turn to those on the religious left whose personal experiences with violence might have saved SDS, the Weather Underground and the student anti-war movement from self-immolation. Blinded by hubris and infected with moral purity, the members of the Weather Underground saw themselves as the only real revolutionaries. And they embarked, as have those in today's black bloc and antifa, on a campaign that was counterproductive to the social justice goals they said they advocated.

Handcuffs

Lawsuit says man spent 18 days in prisoner transport van

handcuffed
Edward Kovari's 18-day ordeal began Sept. 12, 2016, when some guys in a van showed up to take him from a jail in Virginia to Texas, where he was wanted on charges that he had stolen a car.

But the trip from Winchester, Virginia, to Houston took more than two weeks in a crowded van where inmates had to urinate in bottles and take turns sleeping on the van's floor, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by Kovari. The private company that contracted with the jail to transport Kovari, 39, kept him shackled in the back of that van for 18 days as it wound through the country picking up inmates in an effort at cost efficiency.

The charge on which Kovari was brought to Texas was later dismissed.

The company that transferred him, Nashville-based Prisoner Transportation Services, bills itself as the nation's largest prisoner extradition company. It did not respond Tuesday to messages seeking comment.

The lawsuit, filed by civil rights lawyers Jia Cobb, Glenn Schlactus and Orly May, alleges Prisoner Transportation Services prioritizes "transporting as many detainees, with as few stops for rest or care, as possible over their obligation to safely transport those in their custody."

In Kovari's case, that meant 18 days, most of which he spent in shackles. On only two or three nights did the van actually stop at a jail where prisoners were allowed to get out and spend the night in a bed.

Heart - Black

Parents keep infant alive via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after UK court rules he cannot be flown abroad for treatment

baby alfie
The horror out of the U.K. concerning sick 23-month-old baby Alfie Evans continues. Earlier on Tuesday, Alfie was effectively sentenced to death yet again by the U.K. court system after a judge denied the the parents' request to travel to Italy to seek further treatment.

Now, with the child off of life-support since Monday evening and battling for his life, the baby's parents have been forced to give Alfie mouth-to-mouth while sitting in a hospital.

"Evans' parents are giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a desperate bid to keep him alive after a court ruled he cannot be flown to Italy for treatment," reported The Sun on Tuesday evening. "Tom Evans tonight said he and Alfie's mum Kate are trying to help Alfie's breathing after 'his lips turned blue.'"

Cupcake Pink

Bubble-wrap generation: Penn State shuts down 'Outing Club' - decides going outdoors is 'too risky' for students

outdoor scene nature mountain
© National Parks Service
A backpacking trip in the Rothrock State Forest and day hikes in the Laurel Highlands and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia were among the Penn State Outing Club's 2018 spring-term events.

After this weekend, though, the 98-year-old organization has nothing on its calendar, and unless things change, it won't.

The Outing Club isn't allowed to go outside anymore.

According to an announcement posted by the club on its website last week, the university will not allow the club to organize and run outdoor, student-led trips starting next semester.

"This is a result," the announcement said, "of an assessment of risk management by the university that determined that the types of activities in which PSOC engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations."

Comment: Penn State later clarified its reasoning:
Penn State University now says "misuse of alcohol" contributed to its decision to disband three outdoor clubs.

Leaders of the Outing Club, the Nittany Grotto Caving Club and the Nittany Divers SCUBA Club all strongly denied allegations of drinking.

Following a two-month review of its 76 sport and three outdoor recreation clubs, the university said earlier this month that the outdoor trips by all three clubs to caves, quarries and forests posed an unacceptably high safety risk and would no longer be allowed.

But in a statement released Monday by PSU spokeswoman Lisa Powers, the university said student behavior on some of the trips was a concern, including the "misuse of alcohol in the context of already risky activities." It was the first time the university cited alcohol use as a reason for its actions.

Ms. Powers could not immediately cite specific examples.
[...]

Christina Platt, president of the 98-year-old Outing Club, said there were no alcohol-related incidents or injuries that she is aware of on any of the club's trips.

"The (Outing Club) officers believe that dry trips are better for both safety and our club culture, and we are in support of a zero-tolerance policy toward alcohol on trips," she said in an email. She added that it doesn't make sense to carry containers of alcohol when hikers are already carrying 40-pound backpacks.

"Alcohol is far more accessible to students who stay home for the weekend," she said.
[...]

Will Chang wrote that he signed the petition because "it's outrageous that the university would dismantle this community for safety reasons, while allowing other arguably more dangerous ones like football and Greek organizations."

The president of the now defunct student caving club, Michael Lacey, said there had been no alcohol use or reported problems for at least the last eight years, a time when he and the previous president had been in charge.

"As responsible outdoor enthusiasts, we definitely do not use alcohol at all on any of our caving trips," Mr. Lacey said, adding that there had been no serious injuries in the club's 70-year history.



Target

The liberal establishment's war on the Second Amendment

Second Amendment, gun control
Defending the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment, at its core, is about freedom for the citizens of the United States of America. It reads:
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the rights of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
However you choose to interpret the intention of the Founding Fathers, the fact remains that they believed that every citizen has a right to choose to be armed or not, and that government could not infringe on that right.

The Second Amendment has been argued and upheld in the highest court in the country. It was created for the protection of law-abiding citizens and ensures their right to bear arms. As recently as 2008, the Supreme Court in the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a Militia.

Comment: