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Uri Avnery, the Israeli optimist who played chess with Yasser Arafat, has died

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 16:16 UTC
Uni Avnery
© Source: dovblog
It was somehow fitting that first news of Uri Avnery's plight should reach me from one of Israel's staunchest enemies, the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. One legend sending sad news of another, you see, a socialist preparing to mourn a fellow socialist, sending his sympathy for the 94-year-old Israeli political philosopher. That same philosopher was once a German Jewish schoolboy, originally called Helmut Ostermann, who refused to give the Hitler salute at school, but who was, when I received Jumblatt's message - still, just - "an indispensable mind to understand the history of fascism, a major destructive element of the 20th century". Jumblatt's words. Avnery, he added, also understood "the history of Zionism, another despicable apartheid theory that is an offshoot of fascism".

Uri Avnery suffered a massive heart attack at the weekend and died on Monday morning, but he was himself a Zionist, or at least a believer in a left-wing, courageous but humble "light among the nations" Israel; the kind many of us, in our heart of hearts, would like to believe in. He was the sort of Israeli that we bleeding heart liberals go and see when we arrive in Israel because they say what we want to hear.
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Bad Guys

Facebook throws hissy fit over WaPo headline revealing 'reputation score': 'Plain wrong'


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:28 UTC
facebook thumbs down
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Facebook has accused the Washington Post of being "misleading" as the outlet published an article on users' "reputation score," the social media giant told RT in a statement. The mere idea of such a system is "just plain wrong."

On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed "previously unreported ratings system" developed by Facebook to allegedly assign social media users individual trust ratings and predict "their trustworthiness on a scale from zero to 1." The article cited Tessa Lyons, who is heading up the platform's fight against fake news, but one day later it turned out that the reported approach is not inclusive and the outlet distorted facts, according to Facebook.
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Handcuffs

German police arrest Russian citizen suspected of plotting Islamic terror attack


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 15:40 UTC
german police
© Ralph Orlowski / Reuters
German police raided a Berlin apartment, detaining a Russian man suspected of planning a bomb attack in Germany, the prosecutor's office has announced.

The 31-year-old man identified only as Magomed-Ali C. was detained during a raid on Wednesday. The operation was conducted by a special unit of the federal criminal police and the Berlin criminal police.

Magomed-Ali C. is suspected of preparing "a serious act of violence against the state and a crime using explosives," a statement by the General Prosecutor's Office said. It added that the suspect had planned to detonate a bomb at an unspecified location in Germany to kill and injure "as many people as possible."

Authorities say that Magomed-Ali C. is linked to a French national, referred to as Clement B., who arrested last year in Marseille on suspicion of plotting an attack in France. Both are believed to be radical Islamists. Prosecutors say that the alleged criminals split in 2016 after their plans were disrupted by a "preventive police measure."

Comment: TATP is the favorite explosive of European jihadists (i.e., intelligence-service-linked useful idiots).

See also:

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Bandaid

Savchenko, Sentsov & Udaltsov: Blatant hypocrisy makes the Russian people deeply cynical about the West

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 15:22 UTC
Ukrainian lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
Ukrainian lawmaker Nadiya Savchenko
For the present generation of Western politicians, 'human rights activists' and the mainstream media, it seems to be all about the prison, not the prisoner. And erstwhile 'hero of Ukraine' Nadia Savchenko would surely agree.

MOSCOW - In 2016, she was a "modern martyr" (The Economist), and also known as "Ukraine's Joan of Arc" (Foreign Policy).

In fact, one website even used facial reconstructions of the legendary French heroine to argue that the pair looked the same. Which gives you an idea of the hysteria the campaign unleashed.

Comment:

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Megaphone

Nationwide US prison strike demands end to 'slave labor' & 'racist' sentencing


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 14:43 UTC
US prison
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
Inmates across several US states are launching a three-week prison strike, protesting what they call racist sentencing laws, inhumane conditions, and lack of pay for prison labor that amounts to slavery.

Spearheaded by a group of prisoner activists called Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, the strike is supposed to take form of civil disobedience from August 21 to September 9. Protesters have published a 10-point list of demands, centering on restoring the voting rights of prisoners and ex-convicts and treating those imprisoned with dignity.
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Hearts

All beauty, grace and humanity: Syrian First Lady, Asma al-Assad visits children's cancer hospital while fighting her own battle with the disease

Jonathan Azaziah
Fort Russ News
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Asma al-Assad visit children's cancer hospital
Syrian First Lady, Asma al-Assad is all class; all beauty; all grace; all humanity. Despite being in the middle of her own struggle with breast cancer, Syria's First Lady has gone to a children's cancer hospital in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana to spend the first day of Eid al-Adha with Syrian kids fighting off the deadly illness and support them in their battle. They hugged and they laughed. They played games and they talked. They shared stories of their hardships and prayed that they would get better-for themselves, their families, their friends and their nation on top of it. The smile of the Heroine of Homs has never been more incandescent. And having the reciprocated cheesing of these little ones had to make not just her day but her whole LIFE as well as that of President Assad's.

Comment: The Syrian people are fortunate to have such a gracious First Lady; it's understandable why she is so loved and respected. More about this amazing woman:

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Cheeseburger

Semper fat? Marine Corps to overhaul chow in bid to curb obesity


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:17 UTC
US military service members
© Omar Sobhani / Reuters
File photo.
No more burgers or beer? The fitness-obsessed US Marine Corps is rolling out a color-coded food labeling scheme in a bid to trim the fat and fight the growing problem of its members being classified as overweight or obese.

Obesity is widespread in the US, and not even the military elite is safe. A 2017 Army report classified 17 percent of soldiers as 'obese,' and the problem is rearing its ugly head even in the USMC, which has the strictest physical fitness requirements of all military branches.

Keen to avoid the Devil Dogs from becoming unfit and blubbery, USMC leadership is starting the fight against obesity at the chow halls, reported Military.com.

Comment: The Armed Forces, assuming they want their soldiers in tip-top shape, should be revisiting what they're recommending as healthy:

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Stock Down

South African agricultural bank warns land confiscation could trigger defaults costing economy $2.8 billion


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 07:50 UTC
Vineyards Stellenbosch South Africa
© Mike Hutchings / Reuters
Vineyards sit beneath hills at a farm near Stellenbosch, South Africa
Seizing privately-owned land without compensation could be costly for the South African economy. The government would be forced to bail out banks as farmers stop investing and paying off debts, warns state-owned Land Bank.

The government's new decree on land reform could trigger defaults that would cost the economy 41 billion rand ($2.8 billion) if the bank's rights as a creditor are not protected, according to the lender. Land Bank is an agricultural bank guided by a government mandate to provide financial services to the commercial farming sector and agri-business.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this month that his government is enforcing a change in the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation. According to the ruling Africa National Congress party (ANC), the white minority in the country still own most of the land more than two decades after the end of apartheid.

The ANC wants to redistribute the land confiscated from white farmers to the black citizens of the country. Land Bank chairman Arthur Moloto said expropriation without compensation would immediately cost the bank 9 billion rand (about $620 million).

Comment: The ANC appears determined to get the results it wants but it's likely it will get more than it bargained for in terms of economic and societal disruption:

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Heart - Black

Georgia cop suspended for allegedly kidnapping and raping 15y.o. girl, then stalking her at the hospital

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
cop abuse teenager
A disturbing case of police sexual misconduct has been reported out of Georgia this week involving the alleged kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl, her sexual assault which lasted for hours, and stalking and intimidation at the hospital after the girl sought treatment for the injuries sustained during the abuse.

According to Thomas Reynolds, an attorney for the family, the cop stalked the 15-year-old girl after her and her friends left a Waffle House. Reynolds said the group of teens then stopped at Sykes Park in East Point.

When the cop approached the group, he told the three friends with the girl to leave while keeping her, according to Reynolds. The cop said he was detaining the girl because she was out after curfew.

According to the attorney, the officer then took the young girl to the Village Highlands apartment complex and sexually assaulted her for hours. Before he finally brought the girl home, the officer had kept her for a total three hours, according to Reynolds.

"She just broke down and was crying," the girl's mother told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne.
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Newspaper

Trump: "I would rather have fake news than have anybody - including liberals, socialists, anything - stopped and censored."


RT
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 13:02 UTC
Trump
© Leah Millis / Reuters
Despite being constantly at odds with liberal mainstream media - often calling them 'fake news' - Donald Trump has told his supporters that even having to tolerate CNN is a much better alternative to censorship.

Talking to his supporters at a rally in Charleston, West Virginia, President Trump firmly warned them against embracing censorship of opposite viewpoints no matter how much opposite they are.
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