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Compromise or censorship? London gallery caves, covers artwork after blasphemy complaints


RT
Fri, 10 May 2019 16:58 UTC
Saatchi Gallery
© Reuters / Luke MacGregor
The Saatchi Gallery in London
London's Saatchi Gallery covered two paintings which showed the text of shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam, after complaints from Muslim visitors. RT UK guests debate over whether it was the right call.

The artist SKU used the holy Arabic text, which professes belief in God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet, in two works, both of which allude to the design of the US national flag and one also shows a nude woman. Some visitors complained about the pieces and called for their removal, but the gallery refused. SKU suggested a compromise solution: keep his work on display but cover them with sheets.

Comment: And yet:

South Africa magistrate rules 'F*ck White People' art not racist

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Laptop

Silicon Valley giants collaborate with the US government on Venezuela

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Sat, 11 May 2019 00:01 UTC
guaido social media
Whenever you speak out on a public forum against internet censorship, like the recent Instagram/Facebook banning of Louis Farrakhan, Infowars, and several right-wing pundits, you always offend two major political groups. The first group are the power-serving authoritarians who identify with the left side of the political spectrum; they argue that it's good and right to trust Silicon Valley plutocrats to regulate political speech on giant monopolistic platforms. The second group are the capitalism cheerleaders who believe there's a free market solution to every problem; they argue that these Silicon Valley giants are private companies which are completely separate from the government, so it's not accurate to refer to what they do with their own property as censorship.

Is that really true, though? Is it really accurate to claim that these sprawling corporations that nobody's been able to compete with are simply private companies, separate and distinct from the government of the nation they're based in? If you look at their behavior, it certainly doesn't seem like it.

Comment: The power of Big Tech to control the narrative is well-documented at this point, yet people still don't seem to realize it. While many decry the banning of high-profile agitators from social media (and rightly so) the very state of reality is being messed with on a masive scale.

See also:

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Pistol

There have been 15 school shootings in the US so far this year

Michelle Lou and Christina Walker
CNN
Thu, 09 May 2019 19:15 UTC
florida school shooting
Nineteen weeks into 2019, there have already been 15 school shootings in the US in which someone was hurt or killed.

They have occurred across the country, from Georgia to California, at elementary, middle and high schools and on college and university campuses.

Since there is no single definition for what qualifies as a school shooting, CNN set the following parameters:
  • The shooting must involve at least one person being shot (not including the shooter).
  • The shooting must occur on school property, which includes but is not limited to, buildings, athletic fields, parking lots, stadiums and buses.
  • We included accidental discharge of a firearm as long as the first two parameters are met, except in instances where the sole shooter is law enforcement or a security officer.
  • We included injuries sustained from BB guns, since the Consumer Product Safety Commission has identified them as potentially lethal.

Comment: Just for some context, this Wikipedia article lists the following numbers of school shootings within the US in recent years (note the Wikipedia article includes any incident that involved the discharging of a weapon, however, even tallying only the events that involved injuries or fatalities, the numbers are similar):

26 in 2013
34 in 2014
21 in 2015
15 in 2016
11 in 2017
37 in 2018

So, all in all, 2019 seems to be shaping up to be a pretty typical year for the US school shootings post 2010.

See also:

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Handcuffs

Former Florida officials charged with racketeering, extortion and drug conspiracies

John McCarthy
Florida Today
Fri, 10 May 2019 15:42 UTC
Dave Isnardi
© WKMG News 6
Former Palm Bay Deputy city manager Dave Isnardi being led into the Brevard County Detention Center Friday afternoon.
Former Palm Bay Deputy City Manager Dave Isnardi has been arrested on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to possess controlled substances, including oxycodone.

Isnardi is the husband of Brevard County Commission Chair Kristine Isnardi.

Dave Isnardi is being represented at his initial appearaby Bryan Lober, an attorney who also is the County Commission vice chair. Lober said he told the Isnardis not to comment on the case to the media, and he noted that being accused of something is not the same as being guilty.

A second man, Jose Aguiar, a former candidate for the Palm Bay City Council, also was arrested Friday morning and charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. In 1997 in Massachusetts, Aguiar was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine and was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison.
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Attention

Tanker and two barges collide spilling gasoline into the Houston Ship Channel

Cory McCord
Click 2 Houston
Fri, 10 May 2019 15:15 UTC
barge split
An outbound tanker collided with two barges in the Houston Ship Channel, releasing an unknown amount of gasoline product into the water, according to authorities.

The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. Friday, just east of Barbours Cut. One barge capsized. The other was damaged and leaked the product into the water. Both were carrying about 25,000 barrels of reformate.

The Houston Ship Channel was closed from Light 61 to Light 75.

Officials initially said about 25,000 barrels of reformate entered the water, but later said they were not sure how much was released.

Reformate is a refined product that is blended with gasoline to boost octane to achieve levels needed for commercial sales. It is an extremely flammable liquid and vapor and can be fatal if it is swallowed. Reformate is toxic to marine life.
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TV

NBC Law & Order episode slammed for Covington teen & Ilhan Omar similarities


RT
Sat, 11 May 2019 11:43 UTC
NBC building
© Reuters / Mike Blake
NBC offices
NBC is facing backlash for an episode of Law & Order SVU featuring characters that resemble the Covington teenager and Rep. Ilhan Omar. The show aired days after the real teen sued the network for $275 million.

The episode aired on Thursday featured a teenager wearing a red cap that resembled Covington high school student Nicholas Sandmann, who was accused of starting an abusive argument with an older Native American, Nathan Phillips, in Washington DC in January.

Sandmann is suing NBC for $275 million for defamation over its reporting on the misleading viral video. He has also filed suits against the Washington Post and CNN.
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Dollar

Teva Pharmaceuticals at the heart of a drug price-fixing conspiracy investigation

David McLaughlin
Bloomberg
Fri, 10 May 2019 14:37 UTC
medications
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. helped mastermind a sweeping conspiracy among generic drugmakers to raise prices for medicines, according to a new antitrust lawsuit filed by states that stems from a five-year investigation of the companies.

More than a dozen current and former executives at top generic-drug makers, including Mylan NV and a unit of Pfizer Inc., were sued on Friday by more than 40 states led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong.

"We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people," Tong said in a statement Friday. "We all wonder why our health care, and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this country - this is a big reason why."

Comment: See also:

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Info

Ukraine resumes oil transit to European consumers through the Druzhba pipeline


RT
Sat, 11 May 2019 15:01 UTC
Oil workers
© Reuters / Sergei Karpukhin
Ukrainian energy company Ukrtransnafta has resumed crude transfers to the EU along the Druzhba pipeline, after the supplies were halted due to contamination.

The crude started running through the pipeline at 11:35am GMT on Saturday, Ukrtransnafta wrote on Facebook. The transit was resumed after specialists from Hungarian firm MOL "conducted additional analyses of the oil currently held in the pipeline and confirmed their readiness to accept it," the company's statement adds.

The crude deliveries were suspended on April 25, after the European importers refused to take in Russian oil over quality concerns. Russian company Transneft, which controls the Russian segment of the pipeline, later said the oil was contaminated intentionally with organic chloride compounds. Four suspects have already been arrested for two months in connection with the case and an investigation is ongoing.
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Bell

Judge rules against Syracuse University for ignoring myriad problems with rape accuser's claims

Greg Piper
College Fix
Fri, 10 May 2019 14:18 UTC
ashamed man
University didn't record accuser's testimony: 'technical difficulties'

"Jane Roe" initially said the vaginal sex was consensual. Later, she said it wasn't.

Syracuse University rejected her two other nonconsensual claims about other forms of sex, but upheld the one that she switched during the investigation.

This is only one of many reasons that a federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the private university by an accused student.

In his memorandum and order Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Hurd approved Title IX and breach-of-contract claims to move forward against Syracuse.
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Pills

Zombie Nation: 46% of Americans have taken a Pharma drug within the last month

Michael Snyder
End of American Dream
Wed, 08 May 2019 00:00 UTC
Phrama drug pile
If it seems like about half the country is on drugs, that is because it is actually true. According to a new survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, almost half of all Americans have taken a pharmaceutical drug within the past 30 days, and that officially makes us "the most medicated country in the world". And needless to say, those dealing these drugs are becoming exceedingly wealthy at our expense. The average American spends $1,200 a year on prescription drugs, but of course many Americans spend far more than that and others spend nothing at all. In recent years there has been a tremendous backlash against the big pharmaceutical corporations, because many of them have become exceedingly greedy. As you will see below, prices have been raised on 650 different drugs this year alone. Once they get their claws into you, the pharmaceutical giants want to get every last penny out of you that they possibly can.

Without a doubt, there are some pharmaceutical drugs that greatly help people. In fact, many people wouldn't be alive today without them.

Comment: FDA medical adviser: 'Congress is owned by pharma'

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