Society's Child

Rule, Britannia! Hong Kong protesters sing ex-colonial sovereign's anthem

RT
Sun, 15 Sep 2019 08:36 UTC

Activists flocked to the UK Consulate in Hong Kong on Sunday, waving Union Jacks and singing 'God Save the Queen' in a bid to convince London to step in and protect them from Beijing like it would have in the colonial era.

The hundreds of protesters who gathered in front of the British Consulate-General claim the Chinese government is encroaching on their freedoms established under the 'one country, two systems' formula at the end of British colonial rule in 1984. Calling on the former sovereign to do something about it, they waved British flags as well as those of colonial Hong Kong, and sang patriotic British songs, including 'God Save the Queen' and 'Land of Hope and Glory'.

Britain had control over Hong Kong for decades after taking it from imperial China - a result of the Opium Wars, which reduced what was an economic powerhouse to destitution.

Since it's highly unlikely that modern Britain would launch a colonial war the way it did so often in the 19th century, the protesters have other ideas on how Her Majesty can support them. For example, granting full British citizenship to holders of the British National (Overseas) passport - a special type of document that was granted to hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents. It allows visa-free travel to the UK, but only for six months, and does not include work privileges.

Site of mall fire in Russia that killed 37 children turned into memorial 'Park of Angels'

RT
Sun, 15 Sep 2019 12:20 UTC

A park commemorating victims of one of the deadliest fires in Russian history was opened in the city of Kemerovo. Sixty people, most of them children, perished in the conflagration at a now-demolished shopping mall.

The memorial park that was opened on Sunday is located right where the mall stood, with a pine tree planted for each person killed in March 2018. There is also a chapel with the names of the victims engraved on the walls inside and a wall evoking images of a ruined building as a reminder of the tragedy.

Over 70 arrested in immigration protest at NYC Microsoft store

ABC News
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 07:04 UTC

Dozens of immigration policy protesters have been arrested at a demonstration outside a Microsoft store in New York City.

Police say they took 76 people into custody Saturday who blocked traffic near the Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan.

The protesters criticized Microsoft for doing business with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They decried what they called the agency's racist campaign against immigrants and asylum seekers.

Russia's floating nuclear power plant reaches Arctic coast, will be operational before year-end

RT
Sun, 15 Sep 2019 08:14 UTC

After a 5,000-km sea ride, Russia's pioneering floating nuclear power plant has reached its final destination on the Arctic coast and will soon deliver megawatts and gigajoules of energy to consumers on land.

The Akademik Lomonosov was towed from Murmansk, a major port city in northwestern Russia, all the way to the far eastern region of Chukotka, reaching a small town called Pevek on Saturday. The trip lasted 22 days and required a couple of tow boats to move the barge, which lacks its own propulsion, and an icebreaker to deliver the convoy safely through the chilly Arctic waters.

Comment: More details:

Iraqi security forces detain terrorist group plotting attack against Shiite pilgrims

Sputnik
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 19:18 UTC

Iraq's security forces detained six terrorists, who planned to carry out an attack against Shiite Muslims during the annual pilgrimage of Arbaeen, the organization's press service said on Saturday.

"The security services of the city of Samarra [north of Baghdad] were able to detain a network of terrorists consisting of six criminals planning an attack during the pilgrimage of Arbaeen," the statement read.

Earlier, the Baghdad Operational Command reported that 78 people have been detained in Iraq since August on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks during the Shiite Ashur holiday, celebrated earlier in September.

The Shiite Arbaeen pilgrimage will take place from October 19-20.

Comment: See also:

AR-15's are flying off the shelf after AZ gun store introduces the 'Beto Special'

Wayne Dupree
Carl Higbie
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 19:01 UTC

A gun store in Arizona is cashing in on gun-grabber Beto O'Rourke, by offering "Beto Specials" on select AR-15's.

During the Democrat primary debate in Houston, struggling 2020 candidate Beto O'Rourke vowed to seize every Americans' AR-15 guns.

Beto O'Rourke vowed to confiscate legally owned rifles during the third Democratic primary debate on Thursday evening.

the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, the former Democratic congressman said the federal government must seize certain semi-automatic rifles to prevent further tragedy.

"The high-impact, high velocity round, when it hits your body shreds everything insider your body because it was designed to do that, so that you would bleed to death on the battlefield," O'Rourke said to raucous applause.

"When we see that being used against children, and in Odessa, I met the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was shot by an AR-15 and that mother watched her bleed to death over the course of an hour because so many other people were shot by that AR-15 in Odessa, there weren't enough ambulances to get to them in time," he added. "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against a fellow American anymore." [National Review]

Watch anti-govt protesters fight with Beijing supporters in Hong Kong mall - Overall tourism down 40%

RT
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 14:15 UTC

Intense fistfights broke out at the high-end Amoy Plaza mall in the busy Kowloon district of Hong Kong, China's self-governing territory, on Saturday afternoon. Videos from the scene show the activists pulling and punching each other. Some clobbered their opponents with umbrellas and hurled objects at them.

A group of protesters were filmed chasing a man, before pinning him on the ground.

The confrontation started after hundreds of pro-Beijing activists gathered at the mall, waving China's national flags and singing the country's national anthem. A crowd of anti-government protesters later flocked to the mall to confront them, and the scuffles immediately broke out.

Some reports say the fights started after a few people were accused of taking pictures of the protesters' faces and filming them.

Comment: Pepe Escobar: Hong Kong, Kashmir: A tale of two occupations

Ryanair 'systems failure' grounds planes across Europe

Tom Davidson
Mirror
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 12:18 UTC

© @JollyGraeme /Twitter)
The budget airline is reportedly suffering major issues with dozens of complaints about passengers being unable to check in online - and then being charged £55. Ryanair check in problems at Rome Ciampino Airport.

Ryanair has reportedly suffered a major systems failure overnight with dozens of complaints of passengers being unable to check in and some planes delayed taking off.

One plane was kept on the tarmac for 90 minutes this morning with passengers being told there had been a 'country-wide systems failure'.

The budget airline confirmed the outage resulted in disruption to airport check-ins and boarding.

It caused disruption at airport check-in desks across Europe.

Comment: See also:

Volunteer battalions hand in weapons in E. Ukraine

RFE/RL
Fri, 13 Sep 2019 19:50 UTC

Servicemen from Ukrainian volunteer battalions in the village of Shyrokyne in the Donetsk region, pictured in June 2015.

Three volunteer battalions that for years fought for Kyiv against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have handed over their weapons to law enforcement.

The Sheikh Mansur battalion, the battalion of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and the 8th battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army voluntarily surrendered their arms to the National Police in the Donetsk region on September 11, according to a police statement.

Photographs published by the National Police showed artillery shells, rocket-propelled grenades, boxes of bullets, and crates of explosives that were turned in.

National Police First Deputy Chairman Vyacheslav Abroskin oversaw the transfer along with members of the military and the country's security services.

The battalions were among the last units comprised purely of volunteer soldiers fighting in the 5-year war that has killed more than 13,000 people. Most of Ukraine's volunteer battalions were incorporated into military and police structures in 2014 and 2015.

The Ukrainian military, neglected for years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, was caught flat-footed when Russia sent soldiers to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists fighting Kyiv in eastern Ukraine in the spring of 2014. Kyiv relied heavily on volunteer fighters funded by powerful businessmen to slow the advance of the separatists.

Comment: Translation: they were caught flat-footed by what should have been an easily predictable uprising by Ukrainian citizens in the east against the illegal, anti-Russian coup on the Maidan in 2014. Kiev had to rely primarily on extremist, neo-nazi mercenaries to fight a war of aggression against its own people.

'Tradition is important to us': Swedish town rebels against LGBT rainbow flag on city hall

RT
Sat, 14 Sep 2019 18:01 UTC

© Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
A man holds a rainbow flag during the Gay Pride Parade on August 2, 2014, in Stockholm, Sweden.

A municipality in Sweden decided to quit flying LGBT pride flags on public buildings, after conservative parties took over the city council.

The town of Solvesborg in southeastern Sweden has voted to stop hoisting the rainbow-colored flag on the city hall every August during Stockholm Pride, the annual LGBT-themed festival held in the nation's capital. From now on, only local and national flags are allowed on public buildings.

The idea of flying the Pride colors was introduced in 2013, when the city council was led by the center-left Social Democrats. But now the city is controlled by conservative Swedish Democrats (SD) and three other right-leaning parties, who decided to revise the local flag code.

If you read the linked white house statement try not to puke.

sbc

Let's go, Brandon! Fucking asswipe, worthless, POS. Fraud! Argh! 😤

slbeaudry

I don't think this new requirement has undergone proper public review. There are procedures codified for this sort of thing. If some sort of...

Buffalo_Ken

First it will be 100 employees,then 50, then one. Masses are collectively powerful against the intolerant vocal minority and it is time to wipe...

Bezel Bub

I most certainly would not park my arse on a plane full of vaccinated people and have them infect me with their mutated virus. Whilst my...

Winternights3

Society's Child

Rule, Britannia! Hong Kong protesters sing ex-colonial sovereign's anthem

Site of mall fire in Russia that killed 37 children turned into memorial 'Park of Angels'

Over 70 arrested in immigration protest at NYC Microsoft store

Russia's floating nuclear power plant reaches Arctic coast, will be operational before year-end

Iraqi security forces detain terrorist group plotting attack against Shiite pilgrims

AR-15's are flying off the shelf after AZ gun store introduces the 'Beto Special'

Watch anti-govt protesters fight with Beijing supporters in Hong Kong mall - Overall tourism down 40%

Ryanair 'systems failure' grounds planes across Europe

Volunteer battalions hand in weapons in E. Ukraine

'Tradition is important to us': Swedish town rebels against LGBT rainbow flag on city hall

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us