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Tue, 02 Nov 2021
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Right-wing Tory MP blasted claiming black people are more likely to be murderers

Police
© l94/ Global Look Press
A Tory MP has been slammed after he claimed black people are "more likely to be murderers." MP Philip Davies made the remarks during a parliament debate last month while advocating the policing strategy of stop and search.

The tactic was reduced in 2014 by PM Theresa May when she was Home Secretary amid claims it disproportionately targeted black people as they were seven times more likely to be searched. Only one in ten searches were followed by an arrest. According to official figures in the year to 2017, black people were eight times more likely to be stopped.

Quoting 2016 murder statistics, Davies told MPs: "It is clear that black people, and in particular black males, are far more likely to be victims. They are also more likely to be murderers. It is also a fact that black people are more likely to use a knife or a sharp instrument to kill."

Attention

Minister of Agriculture: It's 'panic buying' not protesting French farmers that will cause fuel shortages in France

france gas
© AFP
Protesting French farmers have begun blockading a number of oil refineries and fuel depots around the country. Will it lead to fuel shortages at petrol stations across France as seen during similar blockades in recent years?

Members of France's main farmers unions the FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Famers) have begun blockading oil refineries and fuel depots owned by French multinational oil and gas company Total around the country.

The protests are mainly motivated by plans by oil giant Total to import palm oil for use in biofuels, a move they denounce as unfair competition which jeopardises their livelihood, particularly that of farmers who produce rapeseed oil which is used for biofuel.

The blockades are set to remain in place for at least the next three days. Although some farmers have suggested the militant action will continue beyond three days.

Farmers are currently blocking 14 oil refineries and depots in France out of a total of seven refineries and around 200 fuel depots, 90 of which are described as "principle" depots.

However things could quickly escalate, with members of the farmers union in the greater Paris region of Ile-de-France announcing their intention to also block the principal fuel depot of Grigny in Essonne which would paralyze other depots in the region.

Comment: Earlier this year:


Star of David

Arab-Israeli couple asked to strip and prove marriage by Israeli authorities in Crete airport for no reason whatsoever

Sahar Issawi Arab Israeli
© Emil Salman
Issawi in Jerusalem, May 10, 2018
The incident occurred in an airport in Crete when the couple was returning from Greece to Israel.

The Arab Israeli couple, Sahar Issawi and her husband, Firas Asali, was subjected to a thorough check at Heraklion airport in Crete, during which they were asked hundreds of questions about their marriage and were forced to remove their underwear, Haaretz reported.

Israeli security guards met them at the check-in counter on May 10, when the couple was going to fly home and showed them into separate rooms where the questioning began.

"The security guard asked me how long I knew my husband, how many times we had traveled together, when, and to where," Issawi said, adding that she had answered all question although she felt humiliated.

The woman was also asked to present their marriage license, but she didn't have it with her.

Comment: Arab? Married? Heading for Israel? Probably a dangerous terrorist! One of the comments on Facebook reads:
So Much for the great Middle East democracy. Looks like apartheid to me.
Indeed.


Handcuffs

Grandmother drives with children in cages as 'no room in car,' gets charged after VIDEO goes viral

Woman puts children in cages
A Memphis grandmother has been arrested after a video went viral which appeared to show her releasing two children from animal cages in the back of her car.

Leimome Cheeks, 62, was charged with two counts of child endangerment after allegedly locking the two girls inside a pair of pet kennels. Footage of the incident was widely shared and re-uploaded online.

Attention

Israeli special forces train white South African farmers to fight off violent attacks

Isreali soldiers Krav Maga South Africa farmers
© Nir Elias / Reuters
A female Israeli soldier from the Haraam artillery battalion takes part in a training session in Krav Maga, an Israeli self-defence technique.
With rising violence, being a farmer in South Africa has become a dangerous job. Some are hiring former Israeli special forces experts to teach them self-defense.

There were 74 farm murders and 638 attacks primarily on white farmers in 2016-17, according to minority rights group AfriForum. "Current murder tendencies indicate that we will lose more people on farms than in the past three years," AfriForum's Ian Cameron recently wrote.

The situation has forced white farmers to begin preparing themselves to survive a possible assault. Some of them turned to Idan Abolnik, a former member of the Israeli special forces, who trains them in hand-to-hand combat and weapons handling, Sky News reported.

Comment: See also:


Stock Down

Bitcoin price takes a hit due to hack on South Korea's Coinrail exchange

Bitcoin hacker
© CC0
There were numerous hacker attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges throughout the past year. Each time these hacks led to a decrease in value not only of the coins stolen, but of cyptocurrencies as a whole.

Bitcoin's price has fallen to $6,627 (on the Bitstamp exchange) on the news of a hack of a major cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea - Coinrail. The cryptocoin's value has reached a two-month low, losing $500 in just an hour, The Guardian reported.

Coinrail released an official statement on June 10 saying that a "cyber intrusion" had taken place, leading to a loss of 30% of its total coins in trade. The rest of the coins were then moved to a safe "cold valet," which is disconnected from the internet.


Comment: See also:


Bad Guys

Leftist tyranny: Eggless salad emojis, bikini bans and other 'PC gone mad' debates

miss america swimsuit
© Reuters
A bikini swimsuit pageant.
The phrase 'PC gone mad,' an age-old trope, is a favourite of reactionaries fearful that a societal shift will yield a feeble snowflake civilisation. Below are four moments that have recently stirred wild PC debates.

With US President Donald Trump in power and those Bond villains in Russia set to host the World Cup, it's been a year to let your pure, unbridled outrage run wild. Julian Assange is still sans internet connection, gun control is again up for debate and women can now get a driving license in Saudi Arabia. But are you exasperated enough? Not nearly, you say.

Comment: While it's easy to scoff at any outrage over these seemingly trivial changes, the PC wave is truly destructive in its implications and overall goals. What seem like small things are simply the ripples of the coming tsunami. Take shelter!


Light Saber

Eva Bartlett: My speech at Al Quds Day demonstration in Toronto

Eva Bartlett speaking in Toronto
© Eva Bartlett
My speech at the Al Quds Day demonstration yesterday.


Sheriff

US law enforcement officials travel regularly to Israel to receive training

US Police and the IDF
© The Free Thought Project
As the death toll near the border in Gaza continues to grow, and Israeli military snipers shoot and kill innocent women and children, journalists, and nurses rendering aid to wounded victims, Americans should consider the influence Israeli forces are having on police in the United States, given the extensive training select law enforcement officials receive during seminars in Israel that have been ongoing for years.

It may sound like a "conspiracy theory," but the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel-which costs American taxpayers nearly $4 billion a year-has extended to the training of law enforcement, and dozens of American officials are sent to Israel to train with Israeli law enforcement each year.

In September 2017, the Jerusalem Post reported that 52 American police officers from 12 states made a special trip to Israel "to train in counterterrorism techniques and attend an annual 9/11 memorial service outside Jerusalem" with the Police Unity Tour, which was established in 1997. During the trip, the delegation of officers was based at the Beit Shemesh police academy where they participated in counterterrorism drills and received training from Israeli military and police before they concluded on Sept. 11 with a 9/11 memorial service.

Comment: Given the IDF's historical indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza, this doesn't bode well for US citizens.


Newspaper

Republicans warn Trump's tariff on Canadian newsprint is 'killing US newspapers'

Trump newsprint tariffs
© Maurico Palos/Bloomberg
The newsprint tariffs are being collected, but they are not finalized yet. The Commerce Department is set to finalize its decision by August.
A dozen House lawmakers have introduced legislation to remove President Trump's tariffs on Canadian newsprint so a study can be done on how much those tariffs are crushing local newspapers around the country.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., is a response to the 22 percent tariff that the Trump administration has imposed on some Canadian newsprint since the beginning of this year. Noem said that tariff has led to rising costs for local newspapers, and are a threat to their survival.

"In recent years, new tariffs on Canadian newsprint have increased paper prices by 20 to 30 percent," Noem said in a statement. "That's significant. A paper that services around 20,000 customers, for instance, could see paper costs rise by about a quarter-million dollars annually, threatening the newspaper's survival."

Comment: Further reading: Trump's Outrageous New Trade Policies - Is There a Method to His Madness?