Society's Child
Jason Colton, 42, is on trial for the October 2017 killing of 36-year-old Ramis Jonuzi at his house in Melbourne.
Prosecutors said that Jonuzi had been subletting a room at the house from Colton, who was also a tenant. The 36-year-old had initially rented the room for three nights on Airbnb, but agreed to stay another week for $149.
Recently, I went to have a beer with one of my friends from my former life as a social justice crusader. He's one of the few left-leaning friends I have left since I was mobbed and shamed out of my lefty, social justice community for "toxic behavior" on Twitter (in a straight-up Justine Sacco-style event). He's a great guy, and he's still friends with my old friends, so when we meet, it's a secretive thing.
As I was on my way, I started thinking about just how many people I had lost in my life over the last year or two. It's got to be in the hundreds. People who have known me for 20 years or more, who said they loved me, who took care of me and let me take care of them, are all mostly gone now. For many, it's a matter of their own social survival. Guilt by association is a h-ll of a thing.
Parkfield Community School has been forced to suspend its 'No Outsiders' classes until after Easter, while a consultation takes place with parents. Tensions between the school and parents have escalated due to a row surrounding LGBT lifestyles being taught in classrooms.
The ill-feeling from angry parents has even boiled over into threats against the assistant headteacher Andrew Moffat MBE, who is gay. He claims to have received "nasty emails" including one which warned he "wouldn't last long."
The primary school, which has around 740 pupils, is located in a predominantly Muslim area. It has come under fire from Muslim parents for implementing an LGBT programme which seeks to challenge homophobia, because homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam.
The two young men, aged 17 and 19, were not wearing helmets when they were crushed between a coach and a wall on a bridge as they fled the police on a stolen scooter on Saturday evening.
Rioting youths in the Mistral district of the city - where the victims lived - were filmed hurling fireworks and petrol bombs at police on Monday night, while as many as 65 vehicles were also reportedly torched.
Video footage from the scene shows police attempting to thwart the riot from behind the barricade that the youths had erected by launching canisters of tear gas. Hundreds of fireworks rang out among the skyrise apartment buildings in the city, and balls of flames appeared to land at random.
Comment: It's like three different countries exist within what used to known as France: there's rich/genteel suburbia in Paris and other major cities; there's the poor/middle class 'peripheral' France where most people live; then there are the 'no-go' ghettos where everyone lives on govt handouts and the proceeds of crime, the police rarely intervene, and when they do, the punks riot.
Note that, throughout 5 months of Yellow Vest demonstrations, which has included running battles with armed police and thus ample opportunity for the migrant-majority zones to express their dissatisfaction with the government, all was quiet in Les Banlieues.
They react now, understandably, because of a tragedy directly affecting them, but they are apparently otherwise satisfied with their lot.
According to Indian broadcaster NDTV, airline officials sent out a "reminder" to all staff to end in-flight announcements with the line "Jai Hind" (translated variously as 'Hail the motherland' or 'Victory to India') in accordance with the "mood of the nation..."
"With immediate effect, all (crew) are required to announce 'Jai Hind' at the end of every announcement after a slight pause and much fervour," wrote Amitabh Singh, director of operations, at the airline.
This shadowy character has found willing journalists happy to feed on uncheckable information which can be attributed to something as nebulous and authoritative-sounding as an "intelligence source." It's an extremely convenient 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine' relationship.
Every Skripal-linked allegation about poisoned steering wheels, doorknobs and gifts sent from home started life as a tempting nugget from a spy with no name.
The anniversary of events in Salisbury is clearly a useful landmark for leaky intel operatives wanting to keep the pressure up, and they've been out in force.
A video taken during demonstrations in Toulouse on Saturday shows the disabled man approaching a riot officer before being sprayed in the face at close range.
The Yellow Vest protester was pleading to have his glasses returned from the officer who tries to walk away from him, according to witnesses.
Comment: Numerous protesters have been maimed by police flash bombs, some have had a hand blown off, at least 18 have lost an eye - which is why some of these weapons are banned in most EU countries - journalists have been shot in the face; medics and journalists are constantly harassed and deliberately prevented from doing their job; protestors, young and old, male and female, are frequently beaten, pepper sprayed, tear gassed and unlawfully detained by gangs of police who will unleash whatever violence is necessary to scare them off protesting. And while some of the police have previously claimed to be victims of Macron's neo-liberal destruction of the country, a large portion of them don't seem to be too reluctant in acting with incredible violence on his behalf:
- Forgotten France rises up
- What do the protesters in France want? Check out the 'official' Yellow Vest manifesto
- Niall Bradley to PressTV: 'Yellow Vests Movement a Result of Sclerotic, Totalitarian Politics in Western Europe'
- NewsReal #26: Globalization vs Nationalism - The Hidden Causes of The Yellow Vest Protests in France
- NewsReal: Yellow Vest Protests, Brexit Farce - Revolutionary Climate in Western Europe?
- NewsReal: Révolution Jaune? France Revolts Against Macron
"I don't want blacks to work for whites. I want you to work for yourselves and white people will work for you. That will be true freedom," said Malema, who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the country's third largest political party. He has twice been convicted of hate speech and inciting violence against whites, and founded the EFF after being expelled from the African National Congress in 2012.
"Our Parliament, while it looks black, is controlled by white money and can't make laws to serve our interest. Why?" wondered Andile Mngxitama, president of the Black First Land First Party, in a heated debate on RT. "We want to end the system which is constructed today of white people on top, oppressing and exploiting black people."
Comment: Looks like South Africa is rapidly moving in a radical new direction - and not doing too well with it...
- New race row erupts in South Africa over recruitment drive for doctors that excludes white applicants
- South Africa's land reform stirring political debate amid looming property war
- It don't matter if you're black or white: South Africa's Zulu nation joins white farmers in fight against government land seizures
- South Africa now in economic recession amid failing government reforms
- 'Panicking' white farmers putting land up for sale in South Africa - no buyers
- South Africa: A tale of cabinet ministers, paedophilia and suspicious suicides
In a new official statement on the Directive (English translation), Kelber warns that Article 13 will inevitably lead to the use of automated filters, because there is no imaginable way for the organisations that run online services to examine everything their users post and determine whether each message, photo, video, or audio clip is a copyright violation.
Kelber goes on to warn that this will exacerbate the already dire problem of market concentration in the tech sector, and expose Europeans to particular risk of online surveillance and manipulation.
In fact, on January 18th of just a year back, 2018, Gallup had headlined "World's Approval of US Leadership Drops to New Low", and this plunge in the global rating of America's leadership could reasonably cause a person to expect a decline in the American public's view of America's national image in foreign countries, but it's not showing up, at all. The exact contrary is being displayed in the recent data. On February 25th of 2019, Gallup bannered, "Americans' Perceptions of US World Image Best Since 2003", and reported that "58% say US rates very or somewhat favorably in world's eyes." This disparity between reality and the public's view of reality, is clear in the data despite all of these polls' having altogether ignored almost all of the Islamic-majority nations, where there has long been a very negative view prevailing both of the United States and of US leadership. (The US regime prefers its pollsters to sample mainly favorable countries regarding its public image around the world, and so that is what is done.)
Comment: It's not really surprising that the average American lacks the kind of self-awareness necessary to have an accurate picture of how the world views them. Considering the bubble created by the filtered news they get, they probably don't have an accurate picture of much at all.
See also:
- Americans think the media has done more to divide the US than Trump - poll
- Americans think the media and kids' behavior are more pressing than 'situation with Russia'
- Sadly, 70% of Americans think government can protect them from terrorist attacks
- Study: Millions of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
- The propaganda is working: A significant majority of Americans think the economy is good... and only getting better
















Comment: See also: