Society's ChildS


Binoculars

Auntie Maxine's 'charm' wearing thin? Waters plays to empty seats at campaign event

Kyle Olson
The American Mirror
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters likes to say millennials love her, but if her own campaign event is any indication, that might be more rhetoric than reality.

79-year-old "Auntie Maxine" held a Meet & Greet Tweet-A-Thon on Sunday for two hours, and while it's hard to know what she hoped the outcome would be, but the turnout seemed to be underwhelming.

"Come join top social media influencers for a tweet-a-thon in support of Auntie Maxine, our fearless champion in Congress who taught us how to reclaim our time!" the flyer read.

Comment: There is cause for celebration if this event is any indication that we may be seeing the last of Mad Maxine. A few recent examples of Maxine in action:

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Books

Jordan Peterson: Articulating the rational explanations of why tradition matters

Max Diamond
The Federalist
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 15:10 UTC
Jordan Peterson
What makes Jordan Peterson's message importantly different and provocative is not the content of his advice and rules, but rather the manner and strength of his rationale.

Anyone who knows of University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan B. Peterson will find it somewhat strange that someone with such traditional, even unoriginal advice should have gained such enormous celebrity. Peterson has 1.1 million YouTube subscribers and his new book, 12 Rules For Life, has been a top Amazon seller throughout the English-speaking world.

Peterson enjoins his audiences of young people to clean their rooms, stand up straight, face evil, and do what's meaningful and right, not what's expedient. It's undoubtedly noble. But Admiral William McRaven said something like it much more succinctly when he told the University of Texas class of 2014, "If you wanna change the world, start by making your bed."

Comment:

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People 2

UK NHS boss says to prepare for skyrocketing number of transgender cases in coming years


RT
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 14:44 UTC
lgbt flag
© AFLO / Global Look Press
The UK must "be prepared" for more Britons to question their gender in the coming years. An NHS health boss has said that he believes up to three per cent of the population will contact transgender health services in the future.


Comment: Is that a prediction, or a policy goal?


James Palmer, the medical director for specialized services at NHS England, said at a conference on Monday that the expansion and improvement of NHS gender health services could cause demand to "accelerate".

"We've got to be prepared to start thinking about designing a healthcare service that will allow somewhere around one to three per cent of the population at some point in their lives having a discussion about their gender. Referrals to adult services have increased by 240 per cent over the last five year period," he said.

Based on current estimates, 1.97million people across the UK would be using gender identity services. Roughly 1.6million of those would reside in England.

Palmer added that no other specialists have seen such recent growth in demand quite like the gender health services. "There are currently 7,500 adults waiting for an appointment with our services. No other specialist service has seen this growth, anywhere near. As a result there is absolutely not sufficient capacity in the system."

Palmer said that he thought such growth was "a good thing" that "people out there that want to explore their gender."

Comment: What madness. Palmer and the academic-yet-idiot doctors like him apparently didn't stop to think that perhaps the unprecedented rise of transgender cases is because the phenomenon (especially in younger people) is a social contagion - i.e., mass hysteria. Most cases of gender dysphoria in youth are temporary. Sex change operations are not, and we have no idea of the long-term effects of the various forms of "treatment". But ideology must reign supreme, so these questions are not even asked, because they might "offend" the trans "community".

See also:

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Dollars

California city fights poverty with "no strings" guaranteed basic income of $500/month for residents

Jane Ross
Reuters
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 12:11 UTC
Michael Tubbs mayor Stockton
© REUTERS/Jane RossMichael Tubbs, the 27-year-old mayor of Stockton, sits in his office at Stockton City Hall in Stockton, California, U.S., April 24, 2018. Picture taken April 24, 2018.
Michael Tubbs, the 27-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, has a radical plan to combat poverty in his cash-strapped city: a "no strings" guaranteed basic income of $500 a month for its residents.

Starting in early 2019, Tubbs plans to provide the monthly stipend to a select group of residents as part of a privately funded 18-month experiment to assess how people use the money.

"And then, maybe, in two or three years, we can have a much more informed discussion about the social safety net, the income floor people deserve and the best way to do it because we'll have more data and research," Tubbs told Reuters.

Comment: More on Stockton's basic income experiment: Stockton, CA, attempts Universal Basic Income experiment after bankruptcy, overspending and decades of failed diversification

While on its face, it seems like a good idea, with Gawker touting "A Universal Basic Income Is the Utopia We Deserve" and the Silicon Valley technochratic elite are singing its praises (always a red flag), it's interesting to take a look at the other side of the argument.

See:

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Cell Phone

Media experts made uneasy by France's fake news law

Jacques Klopp
Yahoo!
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 00:01 UTC
social media phone
© AFP Photo/CHANDAN KHANNAUnder the law social networks would have to introduce measures allowing users to flag up false reports.
France is the latest country attempting to fight the scourge of fake news with legislation -- but opponents say the law won't work and could even be used to silence critics.

The draft law, designed to stop what the government calls "manipulation of information" in the run-up to elections, will be debated in parliament Thursday with a view to it being put into action during next year's European parliamentary polls.

The idea for the bill came straight from President Emmanuel Macron, who was himself targeted during his 2017 campaign by online rumours that he was gay and had a secret bank account in the Bahamas.

Comment: It seems the various actors in the EU are pulling out all the stops to regain control of the narrative. The internet is clearly a beast that can't be controlled in its current form, and the powers that be are working tirelessly to try and reign it in.

See also:

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Boat

Sailor pardoned by Trump is suing Obama and Comey for going easy on Hillary Clinton while sending him to prison for photographing nuclear sub

David Martosko
Daily Mail
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:30 UTC
sailor Kristian Saucier
© FacebookFormer sailor Kristian Saucier is pictured with his wife Sadie (right) and baby daughter; he said as a felon, the only work he could get after his prison release was a job as a garbageman.
A former U.S. Navy seaman who spent a year in federal prison for photographing a classified area of a nuclear submarine plans to sue former President Barack Obama and fired FBI director James Comey for selectively prosecuting him.

Donald Trump issued a presidential pardon this year to Kristian Saucier, whose lawyer Ronald Daigle told Fox News on Monday that the pending lawsuit will also name the Justice Department as a defendant.

Daigle says former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was given a free pass by avoiding prosecution for mishandling classified information on her infamous private email server.

Comment: His lawsuit probably hasn't got a chance in hell of actually leading anywhere, but good on him for pointing out the hypocrisy.

See also:

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Green Light

EU companies are cautious about risk of US anti-Iran sanctions


Sputnik
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:35 UTC
oil rig
© Wintershall
Washington's decision to rip the Iran deal up and resume restrictions against the country has put European companies at risk. Sputnik has asked 42 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to weigh the pros and cons of their cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the aftermath of Donald Trump's move.

Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, and the subsequent resumption of sanctions could complicate international trade with the Islamic Republic.

Sputnik has surveyed 42 companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland involved in trade with Iran, asking whether they would maintain cooperation with the Islamic Republic at the expense of their business activity in the US or yield to Washington's pressure.

While the answers were different, all the companies demonstrated a cautious approach.

Comment: Also:

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Dollars

Spain's oil company Repsol braves US ire with first Iran's South Pars field cargo


PressTV
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:19 UTC
Repsol
A man walks past the headquarters of Spanish oil company Repsol in Madrid.


Iran's oil exports hit a new record in May which also saw the country sell its first cargo from West Karoun to Spain's Repsol, the Ministry of Petroleum's Shana news outlet reported.

National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) exported 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil on top of 300,000 bpd of condensate, an ultra light grade of oil extracted from the giant South Pars gas field, it said.

The rise highlights Iran's resolve to fight US sanctions which are due to snap-back into place after President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Tehran.

The first sale of West Karoun oil also indicates Tehran's decision to boost oil exports and uphold trade with the Europeans in the face of hostile US measures.

Repsol has ordered 500,000 bpd of spot cargoes of West Karoun crude which Iran is marketing as Pars oil, Reuters reported.

Comment: What is the US to do if its threats are not as intimidating as they used to? See:

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Newspaper

Killer clown harasses Arnhem kids

Janene Pieters
NL Times
Tue, 05 Jun 2018 11:05 UTC
clowns
© FACEBOOK/GAGS - THE GREEN BAY CLOWNGags, the Green Bay clown in Wisconsin
The Arnhem police spent Sunday afternoon searching the forest at a playground on Engelenburgstraat for a so-called killer clown. The man dressed as a scary clown harassed eight children at the playground earlier in the day. He had knives with him, according to one child. The clown wasn't found, AD reports

The man hung around the park, near the children for over three hours. "It was a killer clown", 11-year-old Naomi said, according to the newspaper. "In the beginning he just waited, but he kept coming closer and had knives with him. At one point it became scary because there were also many small children. He tried to touch us. When we ran away, he quickly went into the forest." Naomi told her friend's mom, who called the police. According to the girl, this is not the first time she's seen the man at the playground. "He comes back every few months. We now stay away from the forest."
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Propaganda

The most devious form of mainstream fake news: the limited hangout

Jon Rappoport
Activist Post
Mon, 04 Jun 2018 08:37 UTC
Fake news invasion
Big media attacks "fake news." Independent reporters rightly point the finger at big media as the predominant purveyor of fake news.

Here I want to comment on one of the most devious forms of MSM fake news: the limited hangout.

When necessary, news outlets will do a PARTIAL EXPOSURE of a hidden crime. The assumption is, once the story is published and broadcast, everyone will shake their heads and say, "That's terrible," and move on. The whole thing will be forgotten in a matter of days, as if the whole truth has been revealed. Limited hangout.

From media's point of view, a limited hangout means: "We won't do any further digging. We'll shut down further investigation." Vital questions won't be asked:

Why did the criminals do what they did? Why are they still at large? Who is refusing to press charges and make arrests? What deeper crimes are still secret?

The mainstream press could set their hounds loose and build a story into a huge wave. Over time, they could bring hidden players out into the open and expose them and wring confessions out of them. They could get some of these players to roll over and point to higher-level criminals. The story could achieve tsunami status, at which point the government would have to make arrests and lay on trials in open courtrooms.

But that doesn't happen. Limited hangout rules the day.

Comment: See also:

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