Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

People 2

String of transgender murders could be the work of a serial killer, activists fear killings are linked

Transgender
Three transgender black women have been fatally shot in Jacksonville, Florida, since the beginning of the year, and local activists fear that the killings are linked.

"The transgender community in Jacksonville is frightened," Gina Duncan, a transgender-rights advocate with Equality Florida, said in a statement on Tuesday. "They fear this could be a serial killer or orchestrated violence targeting the community. They do not feel protected on their own streets."

Celine Walker, 36, was the first trans women killed in Jacksonville this year. Police found her body on Feb. 4 inside a room at an Extended Stay America hotel in the city's Southpoint area, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Antash'a English, 38, was found shot in the abdomen between two abandoned houses in northern Jacksonville on June 1, and she later died in a hospital, the sheriff's office said.

Passport

The cause of mass migration: Western wars and imperial exploitation uproot millions

migrants asylum seekers
© punghi / Shutterstock.com
Migrants on their way to Western Europe
"Immigration" has become the dominant issue dividing Europe and the US, yet the most important matter which is driving millions to emigrate is overlooked - wars.

In this paper we will discuss the reasons behind the massification of immigration, focusing on several issues, namely (1) imperial wars (2) multi-national corporate expansion (3) the decline of the anti-war movements in the US and Western Europe (4) the weakness of the trade union and solidarity movements.

We will proceed by identifying the major countries affected by US and EU wars leading to massive immigration, and then turn to the western powers forcing refugees to 'follow' the flows of profits.

Family

Number of homeless children in England at highest level since 2007

Child homelessness in England
© Alamy
Rough sleeping in England increased for a seventh consecutive year in 2017, reaching 4,751 people, although the true figure is believed to be much higher.
The number of homeless children and older people in temporary accommodation has reached the highest level since the global financial crisis in 2007, government figures show.

A total of 123,130 children were housed in temporary accommodation in England in the first quarter of 2018, an increase of nearly 80% since 2011. The number of people accepted as homeless over the age of 60 has increased by 40% in the last year, reaching 2,520. There has also been a significant rise in the number of homeless single parents.

Campaigners have blamed government welfare cuts, lack of affordable housing and rising rents for the growing number of homeless people housed in temporary accommodation by the state.

Dollars

China caps film star pay citing 'money worship', 'distortion of social values', and fake contracts

Fan Bingbing
© Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Yin-yang’ contracts said to belong to Fan Bingbing were posted online.
Chinese authorities are capping the salaries of celebrities, blaming the entertainment industry for encouraging "money worship" and "distorting social values".

The salaries of on-screen performers should be capped at 40% of the total production costs, according to a joint notice from five government agencies including China's tax authority, the television and film regulator, and the propaganda department. Leading actors should receive no more than 70% of total wages for the cast, according to the announcement, published in Xinhua.

The directive - the same as guidelines released last year by the China Alliance of Radio Film and Television - comes after a series of Chinese celebrities were accused of signing fake contracts to evade taxes.

In May a well-connected Chinese TV presenter, Cui Yongyuan, posted photos of contracts believed to belong to Fan Bingbing, one of the country's highest paid actors. The contracts, one for $1.56m and another for $7.8m, were meant to be an illustration of "yin-yang contracts", a common method of tax evasion in which only the smaller contract is reported to authorities.

Comment: Not a bad idea for a LOT of professions.


Bizarro Earth

Left wing justices don't like the law

Sotomayor Supreme court
© Renee Jones Schneider/Minneapolis Star Tribune via AP
Sonia Maria Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
The left doesn't like the rule of law much. If they legally lose an election, they take to the streets as if some injustice had been done to them. If we enforce our border laws, they become hysterical and try to intimidate and bully public officials. If they can't get a law passed by constitutional means, they are perfectly happy to use regulation to exert extra-legal control over the citizenry.

All of which is bad enough in leftist media, leftist mobs and leftist officials. But in leftist Supreme Court justices, it's even worse.

Comment:


Stock Down

Trump supporters to learn painful lesson: No one wins a trade war

harley davidson
© Henry Nicholls / Reuters
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com. Trending

On his HBO show two weeks ago, Bill Maher faced some searing scrutiny over his suggestion that only economic pain would save us from President Trump.

"I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point. And by the way, I'm hoping for it. I think one (way) you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy." He added, "So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it's either root for a recession or you lose your democracy."

Despite the fact that Maher would likely be spared the brunt of that pain, he doubled down last week, saying, "If a recession is what it takes to make Donald Trump not so cute anymore, then bring it on."

Comment:


Star of David

Palestinian Journalists' Club lauds BBC's Andrew Marr for bringing attention to Israel's killing of children

Andrew Marr
© Chris Boland/Flickr
BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr
Palestinian Journalists' Club (PJC) yesterday hailed BBC broadcaster Andrew Marr after he disclosing Israel's crimes against Palestinian children in Gaza, the Safa news agency reported.

Marr had been rebuked by the BBC on the grounds that he had breached its editorial guidelines when he accused Israel of killing "lots of Palestinian kids".

In a statement, the PJC called for the BBC to stand of the side of humanity and remain objective in reporting the news and not to ignore the Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians.

It stressed that the occupation's violations amount to "flagrant war crimes and crimes against humanity and they cannot be covered up."

The BBC broadcaster said in April as he was speaking about the killing of Syrian children by chemical weapons at the hands of the Assad regime: "And the Middle East is aflame again. I mean there's lots of Palestinian kids being killed further south as well by the Israeli forces," referring to the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza.

The BBC claimed that Andrew Marr had "risked misleading audiences on a material point," noting that he was in breach of its editorial guidelines.

Comment: The BBC has actually had some good coverage of Palestine over the years - one of the few mainstream channels to call Israeli propagandists on their lies. But notice the context in which Marr's comment was given: Assad "killing children" with nonexistent "chemical weapons".


Propaganda

Ex-Times editor hits back: The 'narcissistic' NYT making 'horrible mistakes,' needs a 'course correction'

new york times
After her 'pissed off' tweet, the former editor slams the newspaper staff's 'narcissism,' its 'crucifying' Ali Watkins profile, and 'missing' the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It may not have been the tweet heard 'round the world, but it was certainly heard-like a thunderclap-at The New York Times' headquarters at 620 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

"Kind of pisses me off that @ nytimes is still asking Who Is Ocasio-Cortez? when it should have covered her campaign," Jill Abramson erupted on Twitter on Wednesday morning - a biting reference to the newspaper's original headline concerning the 28-year-old socialist's shocking Democratic primary upset, a landslide actually, over incumbent Joe Crowley in New York's 14th Congressional District.

Info

Suspect behavior, not racism, explains 'racial disparities' in police conduct

border official
A new study on racial disparities in police conduct found that differences in offending by suspects, not racism, explains officers' responses.

In the study "Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force?" professors from Michigan State and Arizona State universities analyzed officer-involved fatal shootings in 2015 and 2016. The report's abstract says: "We benchmark two years of fatal shooting data on 2016 crime rate estimates. When adjusting for crime, we find no systematic evidence of anti-black disparities in fatal shootings, fatal shootings of unarmed citizens, or fatal shootings involving misidentification of harmless objects... Exposure to police given crime rate differences likely accounts for the higher per capita rate of fatal police shootings for blacks, at least when analyzing all shootings. For unarmed shootings or misidentification shootings, data are too uncertain to be conclusive."

Two recent studies found cops more reluctant to use deadly force against blacks, including one by a black Harvard economist. Professor Roland G. Fryer Jr. concluded: "On the most extreme use of force -- officer-involved shootings -- we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account."

Better Earth

Springtime in Russia as told by an American: Economy growing, focus on family values, people feel safer, life expectancy is up

spring russia
According to my calendar June 20 is the last day of spring. It has been a good one in Russia! When I was a kid growing up in South Carolina, I never understood the "solstice" explanation. I had no idea why they said summer started the third week in June. Most years, I had been playing outside barefoot, dressed in tee shirts and shorts for two months. Not every year was like that, but by June it was always HOT. Spring is not nearly as dependable here in the northwest section of Russia. Last year I thought the winter would not end. We even had a couple of significant snowfalls in May. This year, however, May was beautiful and warm. We had to get out our fans to cool our apartment. June is usually quite wet where we live in Russia, but this year we've had only a few rains, and the weather is actually cooler than in May. This morning it is 62 degrees (F). That is what it is most mornings when I walk. I love it.

Russians really appreciate good weather. You can almost sense the better mood in the streets. This year the World Cup is in Russia, and that has added to the excitement. I've read a few reports from journalists on how surprised they have been at the way things are here. Thus far the games are turning out to be the positive exercise of what some call Russian "soft-power," or showing the world that things here are quite different than what they have been told. Despite the fact no American team is participating I saw a report that there are huge crowds of American tourists who came to Russia despite Homeland Security's baseless travel warnings. I am quite sure there are those at work in the West trying to undermine this very positive view of the events. Many of us fear some kind of international incident designed to make Russia look bad.

Comment: Regardless of the West's relentless dirty tricks, Russia works on the side of good and continues to come out on top: Also check out SOTT radio's: