Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 19 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Oscar

Russian Union of Journalists awards its Solidarity prize to Julian Assange


TASS
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 19:07 UTC
Assange
© Reuters
Founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange
Assange decided to donate the monetary part of the prize to families of killed journalists

The Russian Union of Journalists awarded WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with its Solidarity prize, the union's head Vladimir Solovyev told TASS on Tuesday.
"The International Day of Journalists' Solidarity is marked worldwide on September 8. The second phase of Julian Assange's extradition trial began in London. Our colleague, a journalist, sacrificed his whole life to fight for truth and freedom of speech. Because of that, he is suffering and is being kept in prison. Moreover, in case he is handed over to the United States, his extradition might be equal to life imprisonment or death penalty.

"We had no doubts about who should receive this prize. We decided that it should go to Julian Assange, a true fighter for the freedom of speech."
In his words, Assange has already been informed about the award. He made the decision to donate the monetary part of his prize to families of killed journalists.

The Solidarity award is bestowed on journalists who demonstrated courage and devotion to their profession while defending the freedom of speech.
      Read More...
X

A farewell letter from an independent restaurant owner

Heather Lalley
RestaurantBusinessOnline.com
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 00:01 UTC
the Mermaid Inn
© Photo courtesy of the Mermaid Inn Instagram page
As Danny Abrams and Cindy Smith shutter their original location of The Mermaid Inn, they reflect on the pandemic's impact on neighborhood restaurants and hope for better days in the future.

Danny Abrams opened a restaurant six blocks from the World Trade Center site six weeks after 9/11.

Even during that difficult time, the restaurant was welcomed by the city with more than 100 covers a night for the first year.

"But this is very different," Abrams said. "It's hard to compare."

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
TV

Many mainstream film critics have come out in defense of 'Cuties.' Here's why their arguments are wrong

Matt Walsh
The Daily Wire
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 00:01 UTC
Netflix
© Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The child-sexualizing "Cuties" on Netflix has prompted enormous backlash from the public, but the media and mainstream critics have circled their wagons around the film. The enormous chasm between the audience and critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes — 3% vs. 88% fresh, respectively — highlights this severe clash of perspectives.

I already covered some of the rather desperate excuses and rationalizations being offered for the film's sake. But the most common pro-"Cuties" talking point, put forward most stridently by Washington Post critic Alyssa Rosenburg, warrants a more thorough response. Saying that the "freak out" over the movie "bothers" and "deeply disturbs" her, Rosenburg chided the film's detractors for not having taken the time to actually watch it. According to Rosenburg and many other mainstream media defenders of the film, the hypersexualized content involving pubescent children is appropriate and morally sound because it all leads to a positive message. In her piece titled "The people freaking out about 'Cuties' should try it. They might find a lot to like," Rosenburg argues:

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Network

Search autocomplete rejigged by Google for political queries, as tech giants become the election meddlers they claim to fight

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:49 UTC
hey google billboard
© AFP / Robyn Beck
'Hey Google, who do you want me to vote for?'
Google is tightening its autocomplete feature on searches, vowing to remove predictions that support or oppose any political party, and any voting info - even if true. If anyone else did this, it would be called election meddling.

The tech behemoth is clamping down on election-related searches, announcing in a blog post on Thursday it will remove all autocomplete entries that "could be interpreted as claims for or against any candidate or political party." Statements about "voting methods, requirements, or the status of voting locations" will also be axed - even if they're 100 percent accurate.

Appearing to grow weary of its self-appointed role as reality's fact-checker, Google explained that "predictions like 'you can vote by phone' as well as 'you can't vote by phone,' or a prediction that says 'donate to' any party or candidate," will not appear in autocomplete at all - regardless of their veracity.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
NPC

Top Australian cop compares anti-lockdown rally to 'dog eating own vomit'


RT
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 09:31 UTC
Melbourne lockdown protest
© AFP / William WEST
FILE PHOTO: Anti-lockdown protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne
A top Victoria police officer minced no words when reminding Melbournians that joining this weekend's anti-quarantine rally is unlawful and "selfish." It comes as an alleged leader of the upcoming action was arrested again.

"As I've previously said, as was repeatedly said, it is at the moment unlawful to leave home to engage in protest activity," Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius told the media earlier on Friday - one day ahead of a demonstration against Melbourne's strict Covid-19 lockdown rules.

Hundreds of defiant residents reportedly declared they will attend the 'freedom walk' at the Royal Botanic Gardens' Tan track this Saturday, subscribing to a now-deleted Facebook page.


Comment: The tyrannical actions perpetrated by Australia's authorities, against people even thinking of attending these rallies, doesn't seem to have dissuaded everyone: 'Full-blown fascism': PREGNANT woman handcuffed & charged with inciting anti-lockdown event on Facebook


Comment: What's happening in Australia should be considered a warning:

      Read More...
Attention

#CancelNetflix trends after 'Cuties' release, as media critics dismiss outrage at child sexualization as 'right-wing campaign' UPDATE: Netflix doubles down


RT
Thu, 10 Sep 2020 17:49 UTC
cuties still image
© Netflix
Still from 'Cuties' Dir. Maïmouna Doucouré (2020).
The debut of 'Cuties' on Netflix has sparked renewed accusations that the streaming giant is sexualizing kids — but the New Yorker seems unbothered, sparking backlash after calling the anger over the movie a "right-wing campaign."

'Cuties,' which debuted on Netflix on Wednesday, previously inspired controversy over a poster featuring pre-pubescent girls posing provocatively. The synopsis accompanying the photo didn't help either, describing an 11-year-old who begins to "explore her femininity" as she tries to join a "twerking dance crew."

Netflix apologized for the "inappropriate artwork" used to promote the French film, but now footage from the movie itself has critics branding it "soft core child pornography" and deeming those behind it criminals.

Comment: The director is either lying or completely deluded. How can she not realize sexual depictions of pre-pubescent girls is not a means of decrying the objectification of women and, more importantly, children? This isn't the first time Netflix has courted controversy as a result of sexualizing children. The company likes to skate the line of what's acceptable (or help to push the Overton window) for the sake of lining their pockets. But in this case, they're so far beyond the line it's hard to believe they're even aware of it.

UPDATE: From RT:
Netflix breaks silence on 'Cuties' after massive backlash over sexualization of children, defends movie as 'powerful story'
11 Sep, 2020 04:59

Netflix has addressed a wave of condemnation directed at its new release 'Cuties,' defending the film as a "powerful" social commentary while hitting back at irate critics who say the movie sexualizes young girls.

Released on the platform internationally earlier this week, the movie immediately stoked controversy, sending #CancelNetflix into the trends on Twitter as thousands denounced the film for wildly inappropriate depictions of children. After days of silence, Netflix attempted to speak to the criticism on Thursday, urging detractors to give the film a chance.

"Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children," the company said in a statement to Fox News. "It's an award winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up - and we'd encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie."

Though the film has been panned in the harshest terms by critics, it also found a number of defenders among movie connoisseurs in the media, such as the New Yorker's Richard Brody, who deemed the work "extraordinary" and chalked up the negative reaction to a "right-wing campaign."

Other supporters online argued that those up in arms over the movie were missing the point, saying the film explicitly attacks the sexualization of children, though many remained unconvinced.


...Some critics went well beyond the #CancelNetflix proposal, calling on Congress, the FBI and state attorneys general to investigate the platform and the film's creators for potential "violations of child exploitation and child pornography laws."


...
See also:

      Read More...
Beaker

University of Waterloo chemistry professor blames 'COVID fake emergency' for cancelling exams

Kevin Nielsen
MSN
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 08:56 UTC
university of waterloo
© Ahmad Fareed Khan / Global News
The University of Waterloo had 36,333 full-time students last year.
A chemistry professor at the University of Waterloo has come under fire after he sent a syllabus to students which called the COVID-19 pandemic a "fake emergency."

In the syllabus for a Chemistry 430 class, which was posted to reddit by a student on Tuesday, Michael Palmer writes, "because of the COVID fake emergency, in class exams cannot be made mandatory, I have therefore decided to cancel them entirely."

The post was deleted from the uwaterloo reddit page later in the day.

Comment: At least the University hasn't disowned and cancelled him, as of yet. One wonders, though, if his days are numbered. You can't have University students getting even a brief glimpse of the truth. It interferes with the indoctrination programming.

See also:

      Read More...
Handcuffs

Under cover of Covid, the Government has launched an all-out assault on British civil liberties

Silkie Carlo
The Telegraph
Wed, 09 Sep 2020 19:00 UTC
covid police uk
Social gatherings of more than six people will be banned from Monday. Government pronouncements like this raise little more than an eyebrow these days, but they should raise a ruckus.

The need to limit social contacts is arguable - positive test numbers have risen and winter is coming. But if it is a winning argument, why isn't the case being made democratically? Why isn't Parliament voting on this major incursion into our lives? Why is there such an absence of democratic debate?

Britain seems a little too comfortable being ruled by diktat. It remains the case that a lockdown has never been in place in England with full and explicit parliamentary approval. The greatest loss of liberty in British history has been imposed largely by ministerial pen. In fact, there have been more than 350 minister-made laws relating to coronavirus across the UK. "Urgency" is often cited, but rarely evidenced, with policies announced days or weeks in advance of their "urgent" imposition. I fear parliamentary democracy is an overlooked casualty of this crisis.

The public is enduring a shock-and-awe campaign of contradictory ministerial commands endowed with the weight of legal sanctions. We have been told to go back to the office, eat out to help out and send our children to school - but now, this arbitrary limit on gatherings of more than six people looms over our social and private lives.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Eye 1

Contrived spectacles of "protecting and caring for the people"

Thomas Harrington
OffGuardian
Sat, 12 Sep 2020 05:52 UTC
President Bush

President Bush giving a speech to first responders in the aftermath of 9/11.
The 1970s marked an important turning point in the history of Western democracies. Having led their populations to the obscene carnage of World War II in reaction to Nazi aggression, the elites of North America and their non-communist European subjects understood — above all, for pragmatic reasons linked to the need to rebuild markets and industries — that it was in their interest to provide ordinary citizens of their societies with social and democratic rights and privileges seldom, if ever, seen in the history of humankind.

The effort was, for the most part, an enormous success. And therein lay precisely the problem: the masses who had grown up during the three decades following the war did not understand that the economic and governmental elites had no intention of allowing the regimes of supervised democracy of those years to evolve, over time, into true receptacles of the popular will.

The masses' inability to comprehend the implicit limits on their political agency was not a new problem. What was new were the restrictions on elite manoeuvrability imposed by the reality of the Cold War in this historical moment.

How could the elites resort to overwhelming violence, as they had traditionally done, to crush youthful rebellions in areas under their control when heavy-handedness of this type was precisely what they were criticizing day after day in their anti-communist propaganda?

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Attention

From terrorists to viruses: Dystopian progress

Edward Curtin
OffGuardian
Fri, 11 Sep 2020 05:41 UTC
world trade center covid
For anyone old enough to have been alive and aware of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and of so-called COVID-19 in 2020, memory may serve to remind one of an eerie parallel between the two operations.

However, if memory has been expunged by the work of one's forgettery or deleted by the corporate media's flushing it down the memory hole, or if knowledge is lacking, or maybe fear or cognitive dissonance is blocking awareness, I would like to point out some similarities that might perk one up to consider some parallels and connections between these two operations.

The fundamental tie that binds them is that both events aroused the human fear of death. Underlying all fears is the fear of death. A fear that has both biological and cultural roots. On the biological level, we all react to death threats in a fight or flight manner.

Culturally, there are multiple ways that fear can be allayed or exacerbated, purposely or not. Usually, culture serves to ease the fear of death, which can traumatize people, through its symbols and myths.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts