© Graeme Jennings/Pool via REUTERS
Society's Child
Facebook censors almost 90 percent of 'hate speech' before it's allowed to circulate, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress at Wednesday's Big Tech hearing, responding to pressure from Democrats to submit to the advertiser boycott.
The tactics were quickly compared to those of federal agents in Portland, where local officials have raised concerns over arrests they say are unlawful and without probable cause as videos there have similarly shown authorities seemingly swoop in and pull protesters from the streets into unmarked vehicles.
The New York Police Department said in a statement after video of the arrest was shared widely that the person taken into custody was wanted for allegedly damaging police cameras in five separate incidents. The department said it was its Warrant Squad that made the arrest Tuesday.
"The Warrant Squad uses unmarked vehicles to effectively locate wanted suspects," NYPD tweeted.
Comment: And the response from people angered over the arrest came quickly:
Angry protesters have swarmed the NYPD commissioner's home on West 73rd street in Manhattan, in response to the arrest of a protester who was bundled into an unmarked van on Tuesday.
Furious that one of their own had been arrested in such a way, the protest march, which the 'kidnapped' woman was part of, made its way to NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea's home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as eyewitness video from the scene purports to show.
Sirens wailed and strobe lights flickered as the mob grew restless outside the top cop's house. The clearly aggrieved group also began banging, jeering and whistling, creating as much noise as possible.
Video of the arrest went viral and generated outrage online, with commenters decrying the authoritarian tactics used against protesters. The NYPD claimed that the woman bundled into the van had been "wanted for damaging police cameras during five separate criminal incidents in and around City Hall Park."
The NYPD added that its warrant squad regularly uses unmarked vehicles to locate wanted suspects and that uniformed bicycle police were also on-scene while carrying out the arrest.
Shea also ordered the tearing down of the Occupy City Hall encampment last week, further invoking the ire of anti-police brutality protesters.
The commissioner on Monday decried the uptick in violence, particularly shootings, in his city, warning residents that the spike in shootings would likely continue for the rest of the summer.
"It's going to take some time to address the significant uptick in violence that we see," Shea said, citing the 15 shootings "just on Sunday" as an example.
Protesters held banners reading "Let Us Live" and "Women's Strike" as they marched against the government's plans
The country's justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro said the treaty "contains elements of an ideological nature, which we consider harmful".
The right-wing cabinet says the treaty violates parents' rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender, according to reports.
Mr Ziobro said on Saturday that his ministry would ask the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy to begin the withdrawal process on Monday.
The convention is formally known as the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
Comment: A move to "legalize domestic violence" against women because the "right wing" Polish government doesn't care if women get abused - or a legitimate way for said government to address the ideological possession that's running rampant across the West?
See also: The socio-religious ideology behind Poland's Three Seas Initiative: "Make Europe Christian again"
© Twitter / @ElijahSchaffer
Masked white protester confronts Dr Stella Immanuel
Masked white protester confronts Dr Stella Immanuel
"You're not black on the inside, I'm more black than you on the inside," a masked white man yelled at Immanuel yesterday on the steps the Supreme Court in Washington, where she was part of a group of doctors staging a press conference to promote the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a coronavirus cure. The man added that Immanuel was "betraying Black Lives Matter" and that "there were people during the time of slavery who enabled the slavers."
Pakistani police officers gather at a district court in Peshawar following the fatal shooting of a man accused of blasphemy on July 29.
It was not immediately clear how the young assailant, identified as Khalid Khan, managed to get into the court on July 29 amid tight security. The attacker was subsequently arrested.
The suspect told police the prophet Muhammad had ordered him to kill the man standing trial, Tahir Nasim, because he had belonged to the Ahmadi faith.
Ahmadis, a 4-million-strong minority group in Pakistan, have faced death, threats, intimidation and a sustained hate campaign for decades.
© Getty Images / Universal History Archive
FILE PHOTO: Harrison H Schmitt stands on the lunar surface near the United States flag during NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series 13 December 1972.
FILE PHOTO: Harrison H Schmitt stands on the lunar surface near the United States flag during NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series 13 December 1972.
That's according to a new survey by pollsters WCIOM, who questioned Russians about their attitudes to popular conspiracy theories.
The study revealed that 94 percent of participants believe Earth is spherical, with just two percent thinking it is flat. The released data suggests that the lack of knowledge about Earth's true form is not due to skepticism, or a penchant for conspiracy, but perhaps instead down to a lack of secondary education - only 82 percent of those who didn't complete high school know about the shape of the blue planet.
© Ruptly
Screenshot
Screenshot
Roughly a thousand protesters gathered outside the home of Israel's Minister of Internal Security Amir Ohana Tuesday night.
The demonstrations followed the publication of recordings in which Ohana appeared to call for Jerusalem district police commander, Superintendent Yaron Yedid, to crush ongoing protests outside embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence.
30+ Russian citizens detained in Belarus as part of 'foreign' private military company - state media
© RUPTLY
Belarus government officials would not immediately confirm the report, saying details of what had happened would be made public "through official channels" in due course.
Belta, the state news agency, said a total of 33 Russian citizens were snatched. Of those, 32 belong to 'Wagner,' a Russian company said to be a provider of mercenary services throughout the world. The news agency's law enforcement sources said that they'd received the information about the arrival of more than 200 militants on Belarus' territory, to allegedly destabilize the situation during the election campaign.
The group of 32 suspected Wagner fighters were arrested overnight at a country resort near Minsk. Another person, not identified in Belta's report as a potential militant, was arrested in the country's south. Belarus state security agency KGB and the Interior Ministry's special forces had been involved in the operation.
Comment: See also: No official information received on Russian 'mercenaries' detained in Belarus - embassy
The Russian embassy in Minsk has said it does not have any information about Russian citizens being detained in Belarus. It follows media reports about the arrest of suspected members of the 'Wagner' private military company.Update 7/30/20:
The embassy has requested official information on detentions following the media reports, diplomats said. "The embassy has not received any official notifications about any Russian citizens detained on the territory of Belarus," the diplomatic mission wrote in a Twitter post.
Earlier, Belarusian state news agency, Belta, reported citing law enforcement sources that 33 'Russian citizens' suspected of being the members of the company were arrested in Belarus.
Lukashenko 'demands answers' as KGB chief briefs him on 'Russian mercenaries' detained in Belarus
"If these are indeed Russian citizens... we must immediately contact the Russian officials and demand that they explain what is going on," Lukashenko said at the emergency meeting of national security chiefs broadcast by local channels.
It is too early to jump to any conclusion or level accusations, Lukashenko pointed out, saying that "if they [the Russians] are innocent then it is for the better. We have no intention of smearing an allied nation." The KGB head, Valery Vakulchik, told the president that those detained were "members of the 'Wagner' private military company" - a shady company providing mercenary services throughout the world said to be operating from Russia.
The media has immediately tied the arrests to the August 9 election in Belarus, where Lukashenko is seeking re-election for the sixth term in a tense election campaign. State news agency Belta reported that as many as 200 'Wagner' fighters could have arrived in Belarus to supposedly "destabilize" the situation in the country ahead of the vote, already marred by controversial arrests of opposition figures, with one even fleeing to Russia and claiming the KGB were after him.
Meanwhile, some Russian media have theorized the timing of arrests were in favor of Lukashenko, bringing up his recent comments about private military contractors used in "Maidan"-like revolutions - a reference to the 2014 coup in Ukraine - which he offered to a special forces brigade on Friday. Lukashenko bluntly responded to these theories during the briefing, telling these media and some "Telegram channels" to "cut the cr*p."
Moscow on Wednesday said it received an official note on the arrests from Minsk, while several officials said they were baffled at the allegations of a 'Russian plot.' Russia has never had any plans aimed at political destabilization in Belarus and "something like this cannot exist even in theory," Vladimir Dzhabarov, a deputy head of the Senate's foreign relations committee and a high-ranking officer of the FSB, has said, adding that "Belarus will remain our closest ally in any case."
"The activities of private companies have nothing to do with the government's policies," added senator Aleksey Kondratyev, addressing the alleged role of the 'Wagner' group.
© Hopper Stone/Hopper Stone, SMPSP; TM/2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film
Still shot from the film 'Hidden Figures'
Still shot from the film 'Hidden Figures'
Systemic : fundamental to a predominant social, economic, or political practice
Institutionalized : established as a common and accepted part of a system or culture
I watched the movie Hidden Figures last weekend. It's a fantastic documentary about the brave and brilliant black women who worked for NASA in the early 60s and the rampant racism of the era. While I was very young, I do remember what it was like. And I've seen nothing like it since.
© Shutterstock
With renewed calls for reformed policing ringing through the U.S., it is important to separate fact from fiction.
In the wake of George Floyd's tragic death, Democrats like Joe Biden are vowing to address "institutional racism" yet lack basic understanding of the issue.
If Democrats truly want to solve police brutality they should do a little research.
Comment: Did you read that folks? 10 years ago you would have been labelled a conspiracy theorist for mentioning that intelligent agencies were watching you through social media platforms... And now it comes straight from Zuckerbarf's mouth.