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California judge rules Twitter CAN be sued for falsely advertising free speech

Allum Bokhari
Breitbart
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 01:23 UTC
Francois Durand
© Francois Durand/Getty Images
A California judge has ruled that Twitter's policy of banning users "at any time, for any reason or for no reason" may constitute an "unconscionable contract", and that a lawsuit against the company brought by self-described "white advocate" Jared Taylor may proceed on that basis.

The judge rejected Twitter's motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Taylor, who was banned by the platform in December last year.

In particular, Twitter's argument that it has a first amendment right to ban whoever it likes from its platform, for whatever reason was rejected.

The judge ruled that Twitter's belief that it had a right to ban users "at any time, for any reason, or no reason" could be a legally unconscionable policy on the company's part.

The judge also ruled that Twitter could be sued on the basis of misleading its users, due to the platform's promise - frequently expressed, frequently violated - not to ban accounts on the basis of viewpoint or political affiliation.

"This ruling has massive implications for the platform going forward," said Noah Peters, Jared Taylor's lawyer. "this is the first time that a social media company's argument that it can censor user speech has been rejected by a court."
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Megaphone

'Free Tommy' protests: Letter to the Guardian urges people to 'come together' to defeat UK's resurgent far-right


RT
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 21:07 UTC
‘Free Tommy’ protests
© Joel Goodman / Global Look Press
Protests surrounding the imprisonment of ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson have caused over 50 prominent figures to collectively voice their concerns in a letter to the Guardian, urging a "defence of our multicultural society."

Published Tuesday, the letter accuses the "racist right" of using the ongoing protests demanding the release of Tommy Robinson from prison to "reorganise."

Stating that the demonstration, which saw 5 police officers injured in running clashes, is the "first serious attempt since the collapse of the English Defence League (EDL) to develop a racist street movement and give it a political form.

Comment: See also:

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Pills

D.C. school approves program to give 13yo girls hormone-altering drugs without parents' consent

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:54 UTC
child hormone drugs
While parental consent is typically required when a student goes on a field trip or is subjected to a vision test in school, students as young 13 years old are being prescribed birth control at a public school in Washington D.C. and they could leave school with a prescription for pills or a newly inserted IUD, without their parents ever being notified.

The program is currently happening at Anacostia High School, a public school in D.C. that has around 450 students, 98.9 percent of whom are African American. Only 1 percent of the students are proficient in Math, and only 4 percent are proficient in English, according to the school's website.

Midwife Loral Patchen, who runs the program at the school and is responsible for administering pregnancy and STD tests, and prescribing various forms of birth control to underage girls, told NPR that the goal is to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy.
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Bullseye

Separating children from their families is nothing new to the US - it has been doing it for decades

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Tue, 19 Jun 2018 17:04 UTC
Children at camp near Sanaa, Yemen
© Khaled Abdullah/Reuters
Children at a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) near Sanaa, Yemen, March 18, 2018.
Outrage over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy appears to have little to do with genuine concerns over human-rights abuses committed by the US government on a routine basis.

The Trump administration's Stephen Miller-inspired immigration policy of coercively tearing children from their parents is rightly receiving a hefty load of criticism, even from some of the more traditional Republicans. Some 2,000 children have already been separated from their parents and placed in makeshift government shelters in less than a month and a half, with estimates that this number will continue to rise (and has probably already risen).

The outrage over this policy - while blame is still being deflected elsewhere by Donald Trump himself - is understandable and far-reaching indeed, right across the political spectrum.
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Bizarro Earth

The internet groans with revulsion as Madeleine Albright and Bana Alabed honored as bastions of freedom


RT
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 19:53 UTC
Bana Alabed and Madeleine Albright
© Umit Bektas & Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Bana Alabed and Madeleine Albright
The pro-NATO Atlantic Council think tank is set to honor former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Syrian child activist Bana Alabed at its Freedom Awards this week.

The Freedom Awards honor individuals who "defend and advance the cause of freedom around the world" and will be hosted in Berlin later this week - but the nominations have caused quite a few puzzled reactions online.

According to the Atlantic Council website, Albright will be recognized for her "championing of global democracy" and as an exemplar of "the power of diplomacy in achieving solutions to the most pressing challenges facing our world."

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Red Flag

Postmodern indoctrination: Princeton offers new course that will teach students to 'read queerly'

Matthew Penza
Campus Reform
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 19:19 UTC
queer reading
Princeton University is offering a new course this fall that will teach students about the "theory, narrative, and aesthetics" of "queer literatures."

According to the official course description posted on the school's website, students will "both read from various trajectories of queer literature and engage what it means to read queerly" as part of the "Queer Literatures: Theory, Narrative, and Aesthetics" course.

"We will consider the historical etymology of the term queer and think through its affiliate terms and acronyms: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans," the description continues. "We will investigate how discourses of power and institutions of normativity have come up against queer bodies, narratives, and politic-and how such encounters are historically situated."
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Key

Palestinians still have keys to homes they fled decades ago, many determined to return

Robert Fisk
CounterPunch
Mon, 18 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Palestinian keys
© Daily Sabah
A Palestinian woman holds the keys to the house her parents were driven from
Keys must always be the symbol of the Palestinian "Nakba" - the "disaster" - the final, fateful, terrible last turning in the lock of those front doors as 750,000 Arab men, women and children fled or were thrown out of their homes in what was to become the state of Israel in 1947 and 1948.

Just for a few days, mind you, for most of them were convinced - or thought they knew - that they would return after a week or two and re-open those front doors and walk back into the houses many had owned for generations. I always feel a sense of "shock and awe" when I see those keys - and I held one in my hand again a few days ago.

Palestinian man w key
© claude el khal
A key to the past and future.
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Arrow Down

Ex-Trump campaign chief Lewandowski denounced online for mocking migrant girl with Down Syndrome


RT
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:39 UTC
Corey Lewandowski
© Joshua Roberts
Former Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski
Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager to then-presidential nominee Donald Trump, has angered critics after mocking a story of a disabled migrant being separated from her mother. During an appearance on Fox News, Lewandowski responded to a story of a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome being taken from her mother and placed in caged detention in Texas by saying "womp, womp" - an onomatopoeic phrase sometimes heard in cartoons.

Fellow panelist Zac Petkanas, a former adviser on the Democratic National Committee, then became enraged, shouting as the interview descended into cross-talk. Lewandowski continues to make his point, saying: "When you cross the border illegally, when you commit a crime, you are taken away from your family because that's how this country works."
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Russian Flag

Gasp! Estonia to spend millions on a new pipeline so it can get Russian gas from Finland (not Russia?)

Ruslan Ostashko
Russia Insider
Mon, 18 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Map pipeline Estonia
© Unknown
Dear friends, here are some perplexing news. I read and reread them several times, checked sources and encyclopedia, and still couldn't understand what exactly is happening. Hopefully, together we will get to the bottom of it.

Estonia has decided to fight for its "energy independence" and decided to buy natural gas from...Finland. There is only one question regarding this otherwise normally sounding news. What is the source of natural gas in Finland?

Let's figure this out step by step...

Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, reports that the construction of the Balticconnector gas pipeline project to connect Finland and Estonia with the natural gas pipeline started on 8th of June 2018 near Helsinki. The reason for this project, as I have said already, is "to reduce dependence" on Russian gas.

During the opening ceremony, Finnish Minister of the Environment and Energy Kimmo Tiilikainen stated that the construction of the Balticconnector will be beneficial to all participants on the Eastern part of the Baltic Sea region. It will also open the Scandinavian energy market for the Baltic countries. This gas pipeline also, in his opinion, will increase the security of natural gas deliveries.

So far so good.

Comment: In some respects it is disturbing to think of whole countries out there are, shall we say, just 'passing gas'!

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Star of David

Occupied West Bank: Israel to pay $16.7M to illegal settlers after home demolitions

Emma Fiala
MintPress News
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Angry Settlers
© AP/Ariel Schalit
Jewish settlers march during a demonstration against a proposed decision to evacuate the Jewish-only West Bank colony of Beit El near Ramallah.
An Israeli official said this week that the occupied West Bank and all of its illegal settlements will "soon become part of the State of Israel."

Israel plans to pay illegal Israeli settlers $16.7 million in compensation for demolishing their homes. The settlers, their supporters, and right-wing Israeli ministers have been protesting the move.

Fifteen buildings were set to be demolished in the illegal settlement of Netiv HaAvot. The settlement, south of Bethlehem, is in the occupied West Bank and the buildings were built on private Palestinian land. The buildings will be demolished because they were constructed on private land. The compensation funds will be used to rebuild the structures on nearby land in the occupied West Bank that is "not privately owned."

Israel's Education Minister and leader of the orthodox Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, called the demolitions "senseless," adding: "This is a difficult night. It is incomprehensible to the residents of the Netiv HaAvot neighbourhood and for everyone who has settled the precious land of Israel."

Comment: Over $1M compensation per Israeli house up for removal to then be rebuilt on 'other' Palestinian land. No compensation for the destruction and confiscation of Palestinians' homes and land.

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