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Jussie Smollett's hate crime hoax exposes America's shocking skepticism shortage

Michael McCaffrey
RT
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 19:06 UTC
lgbtq activist
© Global Look Press / G. Ronald Lopez
Jussie Smollett story is a microcosm of what is wrong with America and the mainstream media.

On Thursday, US actor Jussie Smollett was arrested in Chicago after being charged with filing a false police report.

Smollett, a gay African-American actor who stars on the hit TV show Empire, claimed that on January 29 he was the victim of a hate crime when two white men hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, punched, kicked and poured bleach over him, and then put a noose around his neck while taunting him by proclaiming "this is MAGA (Make America Great Again) country."

Smollett's story was dubious to some because the idea of two Trumpites out at 2am in progressive Chicago hunting gay black men with a noose and bleach in minus 20 degree weather seemed far-fetched, as does the idea that they would be pop-culturally aware enough to have watched Empire and recognize a marginal celebrity like Smollett in the first place.
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Oscar

Woke and broke: Oscars resort to purging rather than risking going off script

Simon Rite
RT
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:59 UTC
oscars
© REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
The Oscars is upon us, where people full of plastic will be rewarded for being good at pretending. The only real tension comes from waiting to find out which fake scandal will be cooked up at the ceremony this year.

The organizers now live in a such a state of fear of causing offence that it's going ahead without a host this year. Comedian Kevin Hart was going to take on the low-reward, high-risk gig, but someone unearthed homophobic tweets he'd sent back in 2010, so that was the end of that, and he stepped down.

In some ways, I was impressed how ahead of his time Hart was. There can't have been many people who had spotted Twitter's potential for bigotry all the way back in 2010!

Personally, I'm waiting for a remake of 'Back to the Future' where, after being sacked over an inappropriate photograph taken decades earlier, Marty McFly takes his DeLorean back in time to burn all the copies of his high-school yearbook and assassinate the inventors of Twitter. Now THAT would be a film deserving of an Oscar.
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Cross

Blasphemy! Russian Orthodox churchgoers offended by anime drawings of religious icons


RT
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:56 UTC
religious anime
© https://vk.com/ortodoksalanime
A social media account sharing anime-style drawings of religious icons has caused public outcry in Russia, with priests and believers calling the artwork "inappropriate" and "sinful."

A social media group followed by thousands of people has been posting images of religious icons with the faces of characters from Japanese cartoons. The pictures, which feature representations of Jesus, Mary and a number of saints, seemed to capture the imagination of netizens but failed to impress members of the Russian Orthodox Church, some of whom accused the artists of blasphemy. A number of people even suggested that the controversial pictures may have breached Russian laws.

The provocative images came to the public's attention in mid-February, when a TV channel in the Russian city of Ufa (1,355 km east of Moscow) aired an interview with a local church leader who called the artists' creative efforts "inappropriate" and "sinful."
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Handcuffs

Singer R. Kelly charged by grand jury with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse, warrant for his arrest issued


The Blast
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:51 UTC
R Kelly
© Getty
The R. Kelly case was presented to a grand jury and now the singer has been hit with 10 separate counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Kelly is due in court in March.

As The Blast first reported, the grand jury was convened last week after attorney Michael Avenatti delivered an alleged sex tape to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office of Kelly appearing to engage in sexual acts with an underage girl. Kelly is also still under investigation in Fulton County, GA over similar accusations.

Avenatti will be holding a press conference Friday afternoon to address the charges against Kelly. After he was charged, Avenatti said, "After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived."

The R&B star has continually denied any allegations of sexual abuse.

Comment: See also:

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Sherlock

Shamans investigated for the ritual sacrifice of five camels to strengthen Russia


RT
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:42 UTC
camels
© Sputnik / Valery Melnikov
Camels in Buryatia
Prosecutors in Buryatia have launched an investigation into a video showing the ritualistic killing of five camels after it went viral and attracted condemnation. Those responsible insist the act was meant to strengthen Russia.

The controversial video was published on February 1, but attracted little attention until going viral this week. It shows Artur Tsibikov, who calls himself the deputy high shaman of Russia, leading a group of supporters in a ritual animal sacrifice. The camels were slaughtered, and their meat was cooked before being laid out along with their pelts on a giant pyre, which was then burned. Drums could be heard during the ritual.

Tsibikov, also known by his shamanic name Zaarin, said the ritual that he and his group conducted was a very rare one, which required a very strong shaman to oversee it. The burnt animals were meant to bring strength to Russia and unify the people inhabiting it, especially the less numerous, like the Buryat people.
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No Entry

Drone seen flying above Dublin Airport brings flights to temporary standstill

Kara Fox
CNN
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport temporarily suspended all flight operations on Thursday following a "confirmed sighting of a drone" over the airfield.

"For safety reasons we are temporarily suspending flight operations @DublinAirport due (to) the confirmed sighting of a drone over the airfield," the airport said via its official Twitter account, adding that passengers should contact their airlines for flight updates.

A pilot reported the drone sighting to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) -- which operates air traffic control at the airport -- at about 11.30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET), the airport said.

Less than an hour later, the airport said that flight operations had resumed and apologized for an inconvenience.

Comment: These drone appearances are becoming ever more pervasive...

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Quenelle

Pro-independence protests grip Catalonia as tires burn and clashes with police ensue


RT
Thu, 21 Feb 2019 12:46 UTC
Catalonia protest
© Global Look Press / Nicolas Carvalho Ochoa/dpa; Matthias Oesterle/ZUMAPRESS.com; Ruptly
Pro-independence activists in Catalonia are venting their anger at Madrid's trial of the region's provincial leaders. Baton-wielding police scuffled with some of the demonstrators as people also blocked roads and set tires ablaze.

The group behind the protest is called the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs) and has been involved in demonstrations against Spain's central government for months. The goal of Thursday's action is to 'paralyze everything,' as the group put it.

Comment: In further coverage of the protests we learn that clashes have spread to a metro station:
Scuffles broke out between the protesters and the law enforcement at the Plaza de Catalunya station. Footage from the scene showed police officers in riot gear confronting activists, trying and failing to evict the crowds from the transport hub. Further clashes occurred on the streets of Barcelona.

In a matter of minutes, protesters overran turnstiles and flooded the station. Many were seen walking along the tracks, effectively stopping traffic there.

Activists, chanting pro-independence slogans and waving Catalan flags, amassed at the station and tried to force riot police out. Scuffles continued outside, with officers wielding batons to disperse the crowd.
One has to wonder if the relative success of the Yellow Vests movement hasn't in some way revitalized the push for pro-independence in Catalonia. See also:

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Sheriff

FBI & prosecutors open probes into deadly Houston drug raid

Phil Helsel
NBC News
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 11:33 UTC
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo
© Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo talks to reporters during a news conference at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on Jan. 29, 2019.Godofredo A. Vasquez / Houston Chronicle via AP file
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo talks to reporters during a news conference at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on Jan. 29, 2019.
The Houston-area prosecutor's office said it is reviewing more than 1,400 cases spanning the career of a city narcotics officer at the center of questions swirling around a deadly drug raid last month.

The FBI also said it has opened an independent civil rights investigation into Jan. 28 raid that left a man and a woman who lived at the home dead and several police officers shot and injured. The agency's Houston office said the investigation is "into allegations that a search warrant obtained by Houston police officers was based on false, fabricated information."

Houston officials discovered in the aftermath of the raid that an affidavit for the warrant appears to have included "some material untruths or lies," the city's police chief said last week.

Comment: Also see: 5 Houston police officers injured in drug bust, 2 suspects dead

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Bad Guys

Judge rules that federal prosecutors broke law in Jeffrey Epstein case


Miami Herald
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 11:33 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein
© Splash News/AP
Federal prosecutors, under former Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, broke the law when they concealed a plea agreement from more than 30 underage victims who had been sexually abused by wealthy New York hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

While the decision marks a victory for crime victims, the federal judge, Kenneth A. Marra, stopped short of overturning Epstein's plea deal, or issuing an order resolving the case. He instead gave federal prosecutors 15 days to confer with Epstein's victims and their attorneys to come up with a settlement. The victims did not seek money or damages as part of the suit.

It's not clear whether the victims, now in their late 20s and early 30s, can, as part of the settlement, demand that the government prosecute Epstein. But others are calling on the Justice Department to take a new look at the case in the wake of the judge's ruling.
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NPC

Conservative activist punched in the face at UC Berkeley

Alana Mastrangelo
Breitbart
Fri, 22 Feb 2019 11:13 UTC
Conservative attacked Berkeley
© screencap
A field representative from the Leadership Institute was punched in the face during an alleged attack at UC Berkeley on Tuesday while training student members for Turning Point USA.

A field representative for the Leadership Institute was allegedly physically assaulted on the campus of UC Berkeley on Tuesday morning while training members for Turning Point USA (TPUSA).

A witness captured the attack on video, which was then sent to TPUSA's founder and executive director, Charlie Kirk, who then posted it to Twitter. "Imagine if the attacker was wearing a MAGA hat," noted Kirk in his tweet.
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