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Australian federal police admit they unlawfully accessed metadata more than 3,000 times

Paul Karp
The Guardian
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:32 UTC
Peter Dutton
© Mick Tsikas/AAP
Peter Dutton has said there are ‘consequences’ for unlawfully accessing metadata. ACT police have admitted they did so on more than 3,000 occasions
ACT Policing has admitted it unlawfully accessed citizens' metadata a total of 3,365 times, not 116 as previously disclosed in an explosive commonwealth ombudsman's report on Monday.

The new disclosures include a total of 240 cases that resulted in information valuable to criminal investigations and two that "may have been used in a prosecution".

In a statement on Friday, ACT Policing revealed the 116 unlawful metadata requests detailed in the report tabled in parliament on Monday are the tip of the iceberg, with a further 3,249 requests made from 11 March to 13 October 2015 under an invalid authorisation.
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Bulb

Australian watchdog calls for regulatory controls on Facebook, Google


Agence France Press
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:09 UTC
Josh Frydenberg
© AFP/File / SAEED KHAN
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg
Australia's competition watchdog on Friday recommended tighter controls on the use of personal data and measures to ease Facebook and Google's dominance of online advertising among a slew of measures to better police the internet giants.

Intensifying the global drumbeat of calls to regulate some of the 21st century's biggest corporate titans, Australia's government said it would take the watchdog's 23 recommendations and propose regulation by the end of the year.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg welcomed the report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, although it was unclear which of the recommendations the government may implement.
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Flashlight

Canadian manhunt for teen murder suspects zeroes in on small remote town in Manitoba

Morgan Winsor
ABC News
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 12:23 UTC
Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19,
© Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, both of Port Alberni, British Columbia, are pictured in these undated handout photos.
Canadian authorities have zeroed in on a remote, swampy area in their nationwide manhunt for two teenage boys suspected of killing three people.

Officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said at a press conference Thursday that there have been two "established and corroborated sightings" of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, near Gillam, a town of just over 1,200 people situated along the Nelson River in Canada's northeast Manitoba province.

The national police force has deployed "a significant amount of resources" to the area, including an emergency response team, a crisis negotiation team and aircraft. A checkpoint has been set up on the only road in and out of the community. But the dense, boggy terrain is making the search for the suspects challenging, police said.

"At this point in the investigation, we believe they are still in this area," Cpl. Julie Courchaine told reporters Thursday.

Comment: Very different reactions from the two fathers.

Here's cctv footage of the pair in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, on 21 July. By then, the suspects would have killed 3 people...



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Bacon

Inclusivity gone wrong: German kindergartens cause uproar for banning pork 'out of respect' for Muslim children


RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 07:53 UTC
German pork ban kindergarten

Responses have become so heated that daycare centers are under police protection after banning pork to please Muslim children.
An attempt at inclusivity has backfired after two German kindergartens banned pork out of "respect for a changing world." The controversy even saw the police involved, but parents told RT it was blown out of all proportion.

A couple of daycare centers in the eastern city of Leipzig caused a stir earlier this week when they decided to exclude pork from their menus because several of the enrolled children were Muslim. "Out of respect for a changing world, only pork-free meals and snacks will be ordered and served starting from July 15," they explained in a letter to parents.

The move sparked outrage on social media and prompted accusations of kowtowing to the country's Muslim minority, with the hashtag 'Schweinefleisch' (pork) occupying the top trending spot on Twitter. National and local politicians also chimed in, slamming the pork ban as inappropriate. Heated debates forced the kindergartens to put the pork ban on hold, and police were called in for protection.

Comment: Attempts to placate Muslim populations have been causing backlash from the native Europeans, and things aren't getting any less heated:

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Biohazard

Troubled nuclear firm in South Carolina kept radioactive trash in leaky bin


ABC News
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 08:02 UTC
Westinghouse Electric Co. nuclear fuel factory
Federal authorities say a nuclear plant in South Carolina kept radioactive trash in a leaky 40-foot shipping container, raising concerns that uranium has once again seeped into the surrounding soil.

The State reports the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state environmental officials are now investigating the Westinghouse Electric Co. nuclear fuel factory in Hopkins. The leak was discovered about two months ago. Last week, a sealed plant drum filled with rags, laboratory waste and mop heads caught on fire. No injuries were reported.
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Heart

Rebuilding Aleppo: Before & after photos show reconstruction of key Syrian sites destroyed by Western-led bombings


RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:05 UTC
aleppo
© SANA
Syria's ancient city of Aleppo was filled with bustling markets and historical buildings before it was engulfed in the devastating conflict. Now, before and after photos show progress in rebuilding its war-torn sites.

The reconstruction challenge is stark: In December 2018, the UN cultural agency UNESCO said 10 percent of Aleppo's historical buildings had been destroyed, and as much as 60 percent of the Old City, a World Heritage Site, was severely damaged.
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Arrow Down

Friendly 'persuasion'? California judge slashes $2 billion verdict against Bayer to $86 million, but rejects appeal to strike entire punitive award

Tina Bellon
Reuters
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 15:50 UTC
Roundup cancer

Bayer faces Roundup cancer lawsuits by more than 13,400 plaintiffs across the United States.
A California judge on Thursday reduced a $2 billion jury verdict, slashing the award for a couple who blamed Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup for their cancer to $86.7 million.

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith of the California Superior Court in Oakland said the jury's billion-dollar punitive damages awards were excessive and unconstitutional, but rejected Bayer's request to strike the punitive award outright.

Under Smith's final order, California couple Alva and Alberta Pilliod would receive roughly $17 million in compensatory and $69 million in punitive damages, down from $55 million and $2 billion, respectively.

The plaintiffs still have to formally accept the reduced award.

Comment: Monsanto / Bayer has never had any qualms about greasing palms or using threats to persuade authorities to act in their best interests:

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Arrow Down

Double standards: YouTube's new ad policy brands keyword 'Christian' as unacceptable, but 'Muslim' is still approved


RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 08:44 UTC
YouTubeCensored
© barenakedislam.com
When the founder of a Christian veterans group tried to upload a YouTube ad for his organization, he received an odd rejection, informing him the keyword "Christian" was no longer acceptable under the site's ad targeting policy.

Chad Robichaux, founder of the Mighty Oaks Foundation, a charitable group that helps veterans overcome wartime trauma, took to Twitter with a screenshot detailing his encounter with the tech giant.
So one of the keywords to boost the ad was the word 'Christian,' which we use regularly. The ad was denied specifically because of the use of the word 'Christian.'

Comment: Google is reflecting the trend among liberals to denigrate and alienate Christians:

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Attention

Comedian Norm Macdonald slams 'racist' Bette Midler for claiming Trump pays black people to pose in event photos

Hannah Bleu
Breitbart
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
Bette Midler racist tweets Trump

Midler tweeted a photo of a Trump campaign event with the caption: “Look, there are African American men in this shot! How much did he pay them to be ‘blackground’?”
Actor-comedian Norm Macdonald slammed actress Bette Midler, calling her a "racist" for insisting that President Donald Trump pays black people to pose in the background of photos at his events.

On Wednesday, Midler tweeted a photo of a Trump campaign event with the caption: "Look, there are African American men in this shot! How much did he pay them to be 'blackground'?"

Norm Macdonald did not mince words, tweeting, "Oh, Christ. Bette's a racist, too. Fucxk," to his one million Twitter followers.


Comment: There's been an epidemic of 'hoof in mouth' disease among Hollywood liberals ever since Trump was elected. Bette is only one among many who have succumbed.

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Cupcake Pink

Study: Democrats tend to be LESS tolerant of diversity than Republicans - And the more educated they are, the LESS tolerant they become

Arlie Hochschild
The Guardian
Sun, 21 Jul 2019 10:20 UTC
A new survey found Democrats live with less political diversity despite being more tolerant of it - with startling results
liberal bubble
© Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
In a surprising new national survey, members of each major American political party were asked what they imagined to be the beliefs held by members of the other. The survey asked Democrats: "How many Republicans believe that racism is still a problem in America today?" Democrats guessed 50%. It's actually 79%. The survey asked Republicans how many Democrats believe "most police are bad people". Republicans estimated half; it's really 15%.

The survey, published by the thinktank More in Common as part of its Hidden Tribes of America project, was based on a sample of more than 2,000 people. One of the study's findings: the wilder a person's guess as to what the other party is thinking, the more likely they are to also personally disparage members of the opposite party as mean, selfish or bad. Not only do the two parties diverge on a great many issues, they also disagree on what they disagree on.

Comment: Take stock of reality, in other words. But is that what happened after 2016? No, they crafted the most spectacularly unhinged political theater in known human history, blaming the leader of a foreign country for losing an election in their own.

The findings in this study probably replicate, to one extent or another, across the globalized 'Western' liberal-cosmopolitan island chain from NYC to London to Paris and beyond. It's not just that the West is divided into two camps, but that one of those camps is a clear minority, dominates the levers of power, and is rendering itself not only irrelevant but a danger to the continuation of human civilization.

Fair play to the Guardian for publishing these findings, which, of course, are devastating for most of its columnists' daily commentary...

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