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Review of 'Inside the Bruderhof' documentary: Is this a religious stirring I feel?

bruderhof community uk
I had always believed that if I were ever visited by religious feeling, it would be the blood-and-thunder Catholicism of my forebears. Folk memory or epigenetics would stir, and there I would be - calling fire down from heaven, searching for stigmatists and generally making a nuisance of myself, especially to Protestants. As I have grown older, I have realised this is unlikely for many reasons. First of all, God is dead - this was surely confirmed on Wednesday when Boris Johnson moved into 10 Downing Street. Second, my forebears must have been a much more extrovert lot than I am. I temperamentally incline to something quieter; less show, more focus. Something to which I can, since this documentary, call "more Bruderhoffy".

The Bruderhof is a radical Christian movement, founded 100 years ago, that comprises 3,000 members living in 23 settlements around the world. Inside the Bruderhof (BBC One) followed the lives of some of those ensconced in Darvell, their Sussex enclave. Bernard Hibbs, who has lived there for 30 years, explains that their purpose "is to follow Jesus as closely as possible, especially the Sermon on the Mount, and not wait for some future glorious kingdom to come". To this heaven-on-earthly end, the Bruderhof live as collectively and non-hierarchically as possible. Possessions are shared, clothes (many made on site) are issued from a central repository, food also comes from a central store and is cooked and eaten communally. There's a farm, a school, a laundry and no electricity, smartphones or other technology.

Comment: That sounds like a success story. Elsewhere, we read that:
The Bruderhof Christian movement is based around common ownership and was founded in Germany in 1920 by protestant theologian Eberhard Arnold.

The community was forced to flee in 1937 after refusing to join the Nazi Party, and many members moved to England.
There have actually been many like it for several centuries, also German-Protestant in origin, and generally flourishing in the US. What they're partially recreating is monastic life, a strong feature of the medieval period in Europe. In any event, it can work, even in the modern environment.

If we were to quibble about the above set-up though, there would ideally be no externally-mandated rules about dress, relationships, belongings, money and much that is personal. True colinearity towards a group aim ought to come from individually-realized principles or rules, and 'works' - creative and pecuniary - that are voluntarily given.

For example, people would just know, from their own basic rearing and miminal social feedback, what is or is not appropriate to wear in specific circumstances; there's no need for archaic uniforms.


Attention

Kidnapped Austrian triathlete sweet-talks captor into letting her go

Nathalie Birli
An Austrian triathlete said she was kidnapped and stripped naked by a van-driver earlier this week but managed to sweet-talk him into returning her home before he could do worse, according to report Friday.

Graz resident Nathalie Birli, 27, was riding her bike near her home when a van driver knocked her unconscious and took her back to his home, The Times reported.

When she regained consciousness, she was naked and tied to a chair "in an old house," Birli told the paper.

Blackbox

Transgender woman, Jessica Yaniv, testifies at human rights tribunal after being refused Brazilian wax

transgender jessica yaniv
© Maggie MacPherson/CBC


Jessica Yaniv says she was rejected by more than a dozen B.C. beauty salons


A transgender woman testified before the B.C. Human Rights tribunal Friday complaining that she was refused Brazilian waxes at more than a dozen beauty salons because she is transgender.

Jessica Yaniv says she's been repeatedly refused waxing services since 2018. For the past several months, the tribunal has been conducting hearings into the complaints against each of the waxing salons and independent estheticians.

"None of these providers had any issue with anything until I mentioned I was transgender. Why was it not brought up saying, 'Hey we don't do services on male genitalia'?"

Comment: It's absurd that you have to say this, but getting your genitals waxed is not a human right. The idea that some pervert (and make no mistake, Yaniv is a pervert) thinks he should be able to identify as a woman and force women to touch his parts is so loony toons it just boggles the mind. And the fact that the Human Rights tribunal is taking this seriously is simply more proof that we're living in clown world.

See also:


X

PSU punishes prof who duped academic journal with hoax 'dog rape' article

Peter Boghossian
The professor who duped academic journals into publishing bogus articles has now been banned by Portland State University from conducting any and all university-sponsored research and threatened with an administrative review of his "questionable ethical behavior."

Peter Boghossian made headlines in 2018 after he and two other researchers set out to prove a point about the integrity of "peer-reviewed" academic publications by submitting several fake studies including an analysis of "dog rape culture," and a piece that was simply a section of Hitler's Mein Kampf reworked to include a smattering of academic buzzwords.

After seven of the team's fake submissions were accepted and published by esteemed academic journals, a Campus Reform investigation led the publisher of the infamous Portland "dog park rape culture" article to question the origins of the submission. This ultimately revealed the article as part of a larger effort by Boghossian and his team to demonstrate the inadequacies of these publications.

After his experiment, Portland State threatened Boghossian with disciplinary action, accusing him of conducting research misconduct. The school asserted that Boghossian had unethically conducted research on human subjects with his experiment. According to the school's Institutional Review Board, Boghossian would have needed to obtain "informed consent" from the individuals reviewing his hoax articles in order for his actions to have been considered ethical.


Comment: How "informed" would they need to be? In order to demonstrate the inadequacies of these journals, they couldn't exactly be told the papers were hoaxes.


Comment: See also:


Heart - Black

Black rag dolls made to 'slam into walls' pulled from shelves over racism complaints

Black dolls
© Assemblywoman Angela V. McKnight / Facebook
A 'disturbing' black rag doll designed to make kids 'feel better' by slamming it against a wall to vent their anger has been pulled from New Jersey stores after outcry.

The 'Feel Better Doll' is a black smiling rag doll with multi-colored hair styled like dreadlocks, and bears instructions to "slam" the stuffed toy "whenever things don't go well and you want to hit the wall and yell."

The dolls were pulled from three retailers in New Jersey, including one in Bayonne that withdrew about 1,000 dolls after complaints from local legislator Angela McKnight.

Sheriff

Moscow police detain 1000 protesters at unauthorized rally over city council election

Protesters Moscow
© AFP / Kirill Kudryavtsev
Protesters clash with riot police during an unauthorised rally in downtown Moscow, on July 27, 2019.
A protest was organized by the Russian opposition after the Central Election Commission disqualified some candidates wishing to run for the city council. Police detained some of the activists and ordered others to disperse.

People gathered in front of the Moscow mayor's office on Saturday, a week after a previous rally saw at least 12,000 protesters gather in the city center. Unlike the previous demonstration, however, the latest event was not sanctioned.

Mayor Sergey Sobyanin warned Muscovites that the rally could be used for provocations, and advised citizens not to attend. There is a heavy police presence in the area, with some officers wearing riot gear.

Comment: More from RT:
Protesters
© AFP / Maxim Zmeyev
Protesters attempt to break through a police cordon during an unauthorised rally in downtown Moscow, on July 27, 2019.
A standoff quickly escalated when protesters, who had sought to stage a rally outside the Moscow mayor's office, defied police orders to disperse. On Tverskaya Street, where the office is located, law enforcement personnel were assaulted with pepper spray.

"The gas was sprayed from above, probably from one of the balconies of a nearby building," a police source told TASS. The officers even had to wear gasmasks for a period of time, the Russian media reported.

Six officers were injured in the incident, according to media reports. Two other police officers suffered injuries in separate incident, police said, without providing any further details.

In a separate incident, protesters also pelted officers with stones and sought to break through a police cordon on several occasions. The demonstrators blocked several streets in the city center near the mayor's office, and vandalized some outdoor dining areas, according to TASS.

The police had to respond by forcibly dispersing the crowd. Almost 300 people were detained following the initial clashes by 15:20 (local time) (12:20 GMT), police said in a statement. Some activist groups claimed, though, that the number of those arrested exceeded 500 at that time. Most of those detained were not Moscow residents, according to police.

Over 3,500 people took part in the action in defiance of a ban by the Moscow authorities. Following the clashes with police, the protesters retreated from the Tverskaya Street and moved to the Trubnaya Square, also in the city center, where they attempted to stage another unsanctioned rally. A group of protesters briefly blocked part of the Garden Ring (Sadovoye Koltso), a ten-lane transport artery.



The police moved in seeking to disperse the crowd. More than 1,000 people were detained following the Saturday protests, the police said in a statement. At least 10 people were detained during the follow-up action. Earlier, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin warned Muscovites that the rally could be used for provocations, and advised citizens not to attend.

The protest organizers apparently planned provocations at the Saturday rally all along, said a member of the presidential human rights council, Kirill Kabanov. "The provocations ... were prepared in advance. They were needed to give the protests a flavor favorable towards the organizers," he told the Russian media.

Saturday's protest was called by an opposition activist, Aleksey Navalny, during another demonstration last weekend, which was sanctioned by the Moscow authorities. He was detained on Wednesday and sentenced to a 30-day administrative arrest for organizing an illegal event. Some other opposition activists were also detained either before or during this Saturday's rally.
For more Navalny and his activities:


Wolf

"Human rights activists" celebrate the Facebook-Twitter censorship of Tony Cartalucci

facebook social media police censorship free speech
All Facebook and Twitter accounts associated with Bangkok-based geopolitical analyst Tony Cartalucci have been deleted. The extent to which both American-based tech companies went to target Cartalucci could be seen in a recent Reuters article reporting on it.

Written by Thai Reuters correspondent Patpicha Tanakasempipat, the article titled, "Facebook removes fake accounts from Thailand, Russia, Ukraine, Honduras," referred to the author claiming:
The accounts removed in Thailand used "fictitious personas" to promote narratives about Thai politics, U.S.-China relations, protests in Hong Kong, and criticism of democracy activists in Thailand, Gleicher said.

"We were able to determine conclusively that some of the activities of this network was linked to an individual based in Thailand associated with New Eastern Outlook, a Russian government-funded journal based in Moscow," Gleicher said.

Comment: Tony Cartalucci's statement on being banned from Twitter and Facebook may be read on his "Land Destroyer Report" website. A portion is excerpted below:
I have operated for over a decade on Facebook and Twitter openly under the pen name "Tony Cartalucci." This is not in any conceivable way "inauthentic behavior," though Facebook never does explain what they defined as "inauthentic behavior."

Facebook also revealed that "civil society organizations" aided them in their efforts to censor my work. Facebook in their statement claims:

We identified these accounts through an internal investigation into suspected Thailand-linked coordinated inauthentic behavior. Our investigation benefited from information shared by local civil society organizations.

I can only assume - since no specific organization was mentioned - that they are the same US-funded fronts I regularly expose through my work. This is particularly ironic since most of these organizations pose as "rights advocates," yet voluntarily aided a corrupt foreign corporation in carrying out censorship.

Facebook claims that my account was not taken down because of the content I published, but produced several examples of my content to make their case. They also attempt to associate me with Russian-based New Eastern Outlook to bolster their case and obviously once again referring to the nature of my content.

While I do contribute to New Eastern Outlook, Facebook never makes it clear how this is grounds for deleting my account.



Attention

Cyprus police think 3 Israeli gang rape suspects fled to Israel - as rabbi brings hummus to those who were arrested

israeli gang rape
© AP Photo/Petros Karadjias
Suspects cover their faces with their shirts as they arrive at the Famagusta courthouse in Paralamni, Cyprus, July 26, 2019
Police in Cyprus believe three more individuals may have been involved in an alleged gang rape of a teenage British tourist in a hotel room last week, following analysis of DNA samples collected from the scene, Hebrew-language media reported Friday.

The three new suspects may have fled to Israel, according to the reports.

Cypriot police officers are expected to fly to Israel and request travel agencies hand over lists of tourists who stayed in the hotel at the time of the alleged attack, Channel 12 news reported. DNA samples will then be taken from those tourists and checked against the crime scene evidence.

According to the report, they will work in coordination with the Israel Police.

Police in Cyprus said Friday that statements had been taken from 36 witnesses in the investigation. Testimonies from a further 20 individuals will be taken.

A court in Cyprus on Friday remanded for six more days seven Israelis arrested in connection with the alleged attack, a day after other five suspects were released from custody.

Comment: See also:
Maybe because for the rabbi, it's not rape when the woman isn't a Jew...

UPDATE: Turns out the teen fabricated the rape charges. The Israeli teens plan to sue.


Brick Wall

No sense of humor or something darker? Instagram users vent after site culls meme-posting accounts

instagram
© Reuters / Charles Platiau / File
Instagram has suspended scores of popular 'meme' accounts that collectively have tens of millions of followers, during a mass purge of the platform. The move was met with shock and anger by users.

The cull was carried out on Friday with no warning to users other than an email to tell the account holders that they had been suspended. One, @Finest.Inventions, claimed more than 13 million followers alone.

Comment: Purging social media platforms of dissenting or Establishment-subverting voices has been going on for a while. It started with the outliers like Alex Jones. But apparently now they felt bold enough to execute a mass move.


Attention

Whisteblower says Siri records drug deals, medical records, sexual relations - workers hear all of it

siri
© Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or "grading", the company's Siri voice assistant, the Guardian has learned.

Although Apple does not explicitly disclose it in its consumer-facing privacy documentation, a small proportion of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors working for the company around the world. They are tasked with grading the responses on a variety of factors, including whether the activation of the voice assistant was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was something Siri could be expected to help with and whether Siri's response was appropriate.

Apple says the data "is used to help Siri and dictation ... understand you better and recognise what you say".

But the company does not explicitly state that that work is undertaken by humans who listen to the pseudonymised recordings.

Apple told the Guardian: "A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user's Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple's strict confidentiality requirements." The company added that a very small random subset, less than 1% of daily Siri activations, are used for grading, and those used are typically only a few seconds long.