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

Society's Child
Map

Star of David

Clashes erupt at anti-Netanyahu protest in Jerusalem

Neti protest
© Reuters/Ronen Zvulun
Anti-Netanyahu prostest Jerusalem, Israel
Clashes between Israeli police and protesters, angry at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his continued hold on power, broke out Tuesday outside his residence in Jerusalem, media said.

Thousands gathered on Balfour Street to demand the veteran politician's resignation, according to the Jerusalem Post newspaper. Some protesters reportedly carried torches.

A spokesperson for the Jerusalem police could not confirm reports of violence. The police said that several roads near the protest site had been blocked and drivers were urged to consider alternative routes.


Comment: The anti-gov riots in Jerusalem reported demonstrators throwing eggs, vandalizing shops and blocking the Jerusalem light rail. Netanyahu may be silver-tongued with other leaders, but many in Israel are not taken in!





Alarm Clock

COVID-19: Response by scientists, medical experts to German government to censor its own report

COVID-19
© CDC
Response by Scientists and Medical Experts to Germany's Ministry of Interior Decision to Censor its Own Report

The report was an initiative of the Interior ministry's Unit KM4, a department responsible for the "Protection of critical infrastructures".

This is also where the German official turned whistleblower, Stephen Kohn, worked, and from where he leaked it to the media.

The authors of the report issued a joint press release on May 11th, berating the government for ignoring expert advise, and asking for the interior minister to officially comment upon the experts joint statement."...

The German government officially scorned the 93 page report, claiming it was an unauthorized opinion of one government employee with possible involvement of "third parties" outside the government.

Black Magic

Decapitated, dismembered body of tech CEO found in New York City apartment

Fahim Saleh
© Instagram
The body of a decapitated, dismembered tech CEO was found inside a Lower East Side apartment on Tuesday afternoon — sorted in plastic bags right next to a power saw, sources told The Post.

Police came upon the grisly scene shortly after 3:30 p.m., after a cousin of the dead man requested a welfare check at the man's East Houston Street building and called police, the sources said.

An electric saw was found near the body, which was described as that of a 33-year-old man. The victim's arms and legs below the knees were removed, and body parts were found in plastic bags found in the apartment, the sources said.

Police sources believe the victim was Fahim Saleh, a venture capitalist and CEO of the Nigeria-based motorbike startup Gokada.

USA

Captured Syrian militants tell media they are US-trained, sent to spy on Russian, Iranian & Syrian facilities

Three gunmen caught by the Syrian Army
© TV Zvezda
Three gunmen caught by the Syrian Army have told Russian media they were part of a US-backed militant group and had been sent on a spying mission in the Raqqa governorate.

The detainees were shown to journalists near the city of Palmyra, where they were delivered by the Syrian army. The three men claimed they belonged to the Revolutionary Commando Army, a militia group based around the US base in Al-Tanf in southeastern Syria.

According to the detainees, they left Al-Tanf on motorcycles and rode north for a reconnaissance mission in the Mansoura subdistrict of the Raqqa governorate. Upon reaching their destination they were supposed to look for Syrian, Russian and Iranian facilities.

Health

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized for possible infection

Ginsburg
© Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday for a possible infection, according to a spokeswoman for the court.

The justice, 87, received treatment at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after experiencing fever and chills. She underwent a procedure to clean a bile duct stent and will stay in the hospital for a "few days," court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said in a statement.

"The Justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment," she said.

Ginsburg, the oldest Supreme Court justice, has endured a range of health issues in recent years. In January, she said she was "cancer-free" after undergoing treatment for what was likely pancreatic cancer last year.

The year before, she underwent treatment for cancerous growths on her lungs.

People

Falling fertility rates to trigger 'major shifts' in economic power, research predicts

  • The analysis says that improvements in access to modern contraception and the education of girls and women could underpin "widespread" and "sustained" declines in global fertility.
  • It means that, in the absence of liberal immigration policies, 183 of 195 countries on the planet will not be able to maintain current populations by the end of the century.
  • Professor Ibrahim Abubakar of University College London, who was not involved in the research, said if the findings of the study were "even half accurate" then migration would become "a necessity for all nations and not an option."
street market in Osogbo, Nigeria
© Jorge Fernández | LightRocket via Getty Images
People with colorful dresses selling and buying goods in a street market in Osogbo, Nigeria at dusk.
Declining fertility rates will likely mean almost every country has shrinking populations by the end of the century, according to a new study, triggering "major shifts" in global economic power.

A new report in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, published Tuesday, expects the global population to peak at 9.7 billion by the year 2064, with the number of people across the globe forecast to fall back to 8.8 billion by 2100.

Comment: How far can we trust these models in a unpredictable fast changing world?


Brick Wall

Supreme Court clears way for first federal executions in 17 years

prison guard tower
© Scott Olson / Getty Images
A guard tower sits along a security fence at the Federal Correctional Complex at Terre Haute, Indiana, on Tuesday.
The 5-4 ruling says that federal executions may proceed. The last time an execution occurred at federal level was in 2003.

The Supreme Court early Tuesday ruled that the first federal executions in 17 years can be carried out.

The justices ruled 5-4 hours after a U.S. District Judge preliminary blocked four inmates from being executed.

Daniel Lewis Lee was originally scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital at 4 p.m. ET Monday, but a federal judge's order prevented his execution.

Colosseum

Museum curator resigns after he is accused of racism for saying he would still collect art from white men

garry garels
© Drew Altizer/Sipa USA/Newscom
Until last week, Gary Garrels was senior curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). He resigned his position after museum employees circulated a petition that accused him of racism and demanded his immediate ouster.

"Gary's removal from SFMOMA is non-negotiable," read the petition. "Considering his lengthy tenure at this institution, we ask just how long have his toxic white supremacist beliefs regarding race and equity directed his position curating the content of the museum?"

This accusation — that Garrels' choices as an art curator are guided by white supremacist beliefs — is a very serious one. Unsurprisingly, it does not stand up to even minimal scrutiny.

Post-It Note

Bari Weiss resignation: Palestine advocates decry 'hypocrisy'

New York Times building
© AFP/File photo


In a blistering resignation letter, the columnist with history of anti-Palestinian activism says she was bullied by 'progressive' colleagues at the
New York Times.

The resignation of pro-Israel columnist Bari Weiss from the New York Times has fuelled an already raging debate in the United States about "cancel culture" and the changing media landscape where social media has given readers a platform to air their grievances against public figures, including journalists.

Early on Tuesday, Weiss announced that she was quitting the Times citing a "hostile work environment" and lack of tolerance towards "centrist" voices such as herself by what she portrayed as a "progressive" orthodoxy that now controls whom and what gets published at the newspaper.

Comment: See also:


X

Judge denies bail for Ghislaine Maxwell after she pleads not guilty in Jeffrey Epstein sex crimes case

Ghislaine Maxwell
© Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail for her role aiding Jeffrey Epstein to recruit and eventually abuse of minor girls, in Manhattan Federal Court, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. July 14, 2020 in this courtroom sketch.
A federal judge on Tuesday denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of facilitating the sexual abuse of young girls in the mid-1990s by her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, the now-dead investor.

Maxwell, who will remain in jail pending trial, pleaded not guilty at the bail hearing in Manhattan federal court, where her lawyer had sought her release on a $5 million bond.

Maxwell poses "a substantial risk of flight," said Judge Alison Nathan.

"The risk is simply too great" for Maxwell to be released on bail, Nathan said.

The judge noted Maxwell's wealth, her citizenship in Britain and France, other international ties, and her lack of strong family or business connections in the United States, as she denied the bail request.

Nathan also cited the "seriousness" of Maxwell's alleged crimes as a reason she would have to flee and said no bail condition, or combination of conditions, would ensure she would willingly appear in court on the charges.

Maxwell, 58, faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of crimes that include enticing minors into traveling to have sex with Epstein, and perjury.

Comment: See also: