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Hardhat

The Yellow Vest movement spreading, now going global

yellow vests paris flags
© Patrice Calatayu
The Yellow Vest anti-government movement started in France on November 17, when over 300,000 people across France protested a carbon tax on fuel that French President Emmanuel Macron touted as evidence of France's leadership when it comes to mitigating climate change.

The Yellow Vest protests quickly evolved into a general anti-government movement - with hundreds of thousands of angry French citizens taking to the streets for ten straight weeks of mostly peaceful protests marked with pockets of violence, looting and mayhem.

What's more - the movement has gone worldwide - with perhaps the most notable protests outside France taking place in Belgium, where Brussels riot cops have dealt with week after week of protesters blocking oil depot and throwing hard objects at them.


On December 8, Belgians attempted to breach a riot barricade while calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Charles Michel, resulting in around 100 arrests.

Comment: See also:


Bullseye

Libyan journalists hold rally condemning killing of RT's video agency photographer Mohamed Ben Khalifa

journalist rally libya
© RT
Journalists covering Libya protest killing of RT photographer Mohamed Ben Khalifa
The death of acclaimed photographer, Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who worked with RT's Ruptly and AP, had left his Libyan colleagues shaken as dozens of journalists took to the street to denounce violence against the media.

In Tripoli, some of protestors had their mouths symbolically taped. The journalists held portraits of Ben Khalifa and slogans in Arabic, English and French languages, reading "Libya without media" and "Journalism is not a crime."

"He died while he was defending and demanding our rights as journalists," fellow reporter, Tariq al-Houni, said of his slain colleague.

Comment: Acclaimed photographer & video journalist killed in Libya while working for RT's video agency


Attention

Identity politics does truth no favors

MAGA hat
In public discourse, an opponent's identity and experience can matter more than their arguments. For instance, if you are a philosopher who supports the use of torture in a narrow set of circumstances on utilitarian grounds, you would not want to find yourself debating the ethics of such a position with a victim of torture. The optics of such a debate would be horrible, and in the minds of many observers they would place the philosopher at a decisive disadvantage no matter how careful or well defended his arguments happened to be. In the same way, whole groups of people consigned to the bottom of the identity politics grievance hierarchy are saddled with a similar handicap, often in situations far less contentious than the debate over torture.

On Saturday in Washington DC, a group of Catholic school kids fell victim to this presumptive logic. The progressive media ran with a story that confirmed their intersectional priors and, in the process, damaged their credibility, established an unsustainable precedent, and unwittingly affirmed President Trump's demagogic "Fake News" mantra.

The prevailing media narrative in the immediate aftermath of the incident was roughly as follows:
  • A group of boys from Covington Catholic High School were on a trip to attend the March for Life rally.
  • The rally happened to coincide with an indigenous peoples' demonstration nearby.
  • Motivated by white privilege and racism (rather than, say, garden-variety teenage obnoxiousness), the schoolboys began chanting to drown out the activists.
  • Native American activist Nathan Phillips was then surrounded by menacing and entitled youths wearing MAGA hats.
  • Phillips beat his drum and sang a tune intended to heal the boys.
  • The boys responded by mocking him and yelling "Build the wall!" while one of their number smirked into Phillips's face, an act of effrontery that apparently reflects the entitlement and racism of white Americans, the moral arrogance of Trump supporters, the malevolence of privileged high school bullies like Brett Kavanaugh, and so on and so forth.

Comment: See also: Student provides full video, says classmate didn't mock Native American Vietnam veteran


Camcorder

Student provides full video, says classmate didn't mock Native American Vietnam veteran

native protest child maga hat

Rorschach test: Is this boy mocking the elder, or so confused by why a drumming native would be standing in his face, that all he can do is smile?
After Friday's "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., a group of boys from an all-boys Catholic high school in Kentucky were assembled near the Lincoln Memorial, awaiting the buses that would take them home. During the wait some of the boys encountered a Native American Vietnam Veteran, Nathan Phillips, who was beating a drum. A brief video of the incident, which many claimed showed a student mocking or "jeering at" Phillips (as covered by our Sarah Quinlan) went viral. By Saturday afternoon the student was doxxed, threatened with expulsion, and the incident was being used by the usual suspects as yet another example of toxic masculinity and white privilege.

No one, apparently, attempted to talk to the students involved to hear their side or to see if there were any misunderstandings. One student who was in attendance emailed a local television station, then spoke to one of their reporters on the telephone, to share his version of events. WKRC's Adam Clements tweeted screenshots of the email.

Comment: The radical Left was quick to get out the knives:
The same far left media that ran with the junk Buzzfeed report on Friday is now smearing a group of pro-life high school kids in MAGA hats.

On Friday a group of pro-life high school boys who attended the March for Life went to check out the Lincoln Memorial.

While standing at the memorial a group(?) of Native Americans were beating drums at the public memorial.

One man, reportedly a Vietnam veteran, got up in one boy's face and started screaming and beating his drum.
The video is going viral.
This MAGA loser gleefully bothering a Native American protestor at the Indigenous Peoples March. pic.twitter.com/jIb5K68vIs

- Talia (@2020fight) January 19, 2019
[Ed. note: "Talia" has deleted this tweet.]

The children were chanting their school song.

A much older man approached a group of teenage boys who were ALREADY chanting a school song.


The native American man APPROACHED the kids!


Now the fake news media is blaming the children for harassing a Native American.

(Obviously, from the video the reverse is true - but we are talking about the fake news media.)

Now the left is blaming Trump and screaming holy hell at the high school children.


The Native American Nathan Philips said he was upset because he heard children yell build that wall.(?)
(They were chanting their school cheer.)

And now this...

The high school boy was doxxed by the liberal fascist mob.

The boys are from a Catholic HIGH SCHOOL in Kentucky!

Daily Beast doxxed the high school.
daily beast maga hat boy native protest
Reason.com adds:
[T]he rest of the video-nearly two hours of additional footage showing what happened before and after the encounter-adds important context that strongly contradicts the media's narrative.

Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained despite being subjected to incessant racist, homophobic, and bigoted verbal abuse by members of the bizarre religious sect Black Hebrew Israelites, who were lurking nearby. The BHI has existed since the late 19th century, and is best describes as a black nationalist cult movement; its members believe they are descendants of the ancient Israelites, and often express condemnation of white people, Christians, and gays. DC-area Black Hebrews are known to spout particularly vile bigotry.

Phillips put himself between the teens and the black nationalists, chanting and drumming as he marched straight into the middle of the group of young people. What followed was several minutes of confusion: The teens couldn't quite decide whether Phillips was on their side or not, but tentatively joined in his chanting. It's not at all clear this was intended as an act of mockery rather than solidarity.

One student did not get out of Phillips way as he marched, and gave the man a hard stare and a smile that many have described as creepy. This moment received the most media coverage: The teen has been called the product of a "hate factory" and likened to a school shooter, segregation-era racist, and member of the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea what he was thinking, but portraying this as an example of obvious, racially-motivated hate is a stretch. Maybe he simply had no idea why this man was drumming in his face, and couldn't quite figure out the best response? It bears repeating that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.

And that's all there is to it. Phillips walked away after several minutes, the Black Hebrew Israelites continued to insult the crowd, and nothing else happened.

You can judge for yourself. Here is video footage of the full incident, from the perspective of the black nationalists. Phillips enters the picture around the 1:12 mark, but if you skip to that part, you miss an hour of the Black Hebrew Israelites hurling obscenities at the students. They call them crackers, faggots, and pedophiles. At the 1:20 mark (which comes after the Phillips incident) they call one of the few black students the n-word and tell him that his friends are going to murder him and steal his organs. At the 1:25 mark, they complain that "you give faggots rights," which prompted booing from the students. Throughout the video they threaten the kids with violence, and attempt to goad them into attacking first. The students resisted these taunts admirably: They laughed at the hecklers, and they perform a few of their school's sports cheers.



Roses

At 113, world's oldest man dies at his home in northern Japan

Masazo Nonaka
© Masanori Takei/Kyodo News/AP
Masazo Nonaka upon receiving the certificate from Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living man at then age 112 years and 259 days during a ceremony in Ashoro on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.
The world's oldest man has died at his home - a hot springs inn - in northern Japan at the age of 113.

Masazo Nonaka died in the early hours of Sunday while sleeping at home in Ashoro on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido, his family said.

He died peacefully from natural causes, according to his granddaughter Yuko Nonaka.

The supercentenarian, whose family has run a hot springs inn for four generations, was certified by Guinness World Records in April 2018 as the world's oldest living man at 112 years and 259 days.

Born on July 25, 1905, Nonaka grew up in a large family and succeeded his parents running the inn. The 106-year-old inn is now run by his granddaughter Yuko.

Family

A converted school bus and a family of nine who travel the country 'unschools' kids on the road

Bus/Family
© The Mango Market
A family of nine from Florida converted a school bus into an RV and travel the country.
A family of nine from Florida have taken to life on the road after converting a school bus into an RV they live in while traveling across the country.

Michelle and Steve Lawson bought the 265-square-foot "skoolie" in 2017 for $14,000 and spent $17,000 to convert it over the course of six months. It's now equipped with a king size bed along with two triple bunk beds and living areas to accommodate their large family.

The couple, along with their kids, Caleb, 16, Jacob, 13, Joshua 10, Matthew, 6, Liam, 5, Charlotte 2 and nine-month-old Owen, try to take at least one week-long adventure a month. The children are homeschooled and Steve and Michelle have a photography business, making it possible to spend so much time away from home.

The parents teach their kids with a method called "unschooling," where they decide what to learn based on real-life experiences.

"Life is learning and yes, 100 percent unschooling is the way to go. We believe that life is learning and the best way to learn is to do. Also, the big kids really help the little kids learn too, they are a huge help along the way," the couple told The Daily Mail.
4 pics Lawson fam
© Daily Mail

Comment: Way to go!


Brick Wall

The sticking point: Suspected drug smugglers try to drive over US-Mex border fence

car on fence
© cnn.com
Suspected smugglers who tried to use ramps to drive an SUV over a 14-foot-tall border fence had to abandon their plan when the Jeep became stuck on top of the barrier, authorities said Wednesday.

Agents patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border near the Imperial Sand Dunes in California's southeast corner spotted the Jeep Cherokee teetering atop the fence early Tuesday, Border Patrol spokesman Spencer Tippets said. The vehicle was perched about five miles west of the Colorado River and the Arizona state line.

The Jeep was spotted just after midnight, CBS Yuma affiliate KSWT-TV reports.

Two smugglers on the Mexican side of the border were trying to free the Jeep when the agents approached, Tippets said. They ran further into Mexico and escaped.


Comment: A validation? Even back in 2012, walls worked.


Bomb

Syria: Double bomb blasts in Afrin leave 10 dead, 18 injured

Afrin explosion
© Sputnik/Hikmet Durgun
Afrin, Syria
As many as 10 people were killed and 18 others were injured in two bomb explosions in the Syrian city of Afrin, a source in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) told Sputnik on Sunday.

"Ten people were killed and 18 were wounded as a result of a detonation of two explosive devices near the Kawa ring. The first one targeted a bus close to the Saraya bridge in Afrin," the source said, adding that the FSA defused the third explosive device in the city.

Earlier it was reported that a bus departing from the station in front of the city's administration has exploded, killing at least 2 people; 13 more were injured, Turkey's NTV TV channel reported.

Attention

California Dept of Ed proposes new guidelines to teach kindergartners about '15 different genders'

genders school
California kindergartners could soon learn all about the "gender stereotypes" plaguing society, the importance of accepting transgender lifestyles, a kaleidoscope of 15 different genders to choose from, and other "health guidelines."

The California Department of Education's proposed Health Education Framework for K-3 students, which would be mandatory with no opt-out option for parents, promotes a decidedly liberal perspective on gender and sexuality many parents would likely disagree with, and some educators are speaking up, Christian Headlines reports.

Chapter three of the proposed guidelines encourages teachers to "discuss gender with kindergartners by exploring gender stereotypes and asking open-ended questions, such as what are preferred colors, toys, and activities for boys/girls, and then challenging stereotypes if presented.

Brick Wall

Largest-ever group of migrant families tunnels under Yuma, AZ border fence

Tunnels
© Courtesy of U.S. Border Patrol
U.S. Border Patrol officials in Yuma said 376 asylum-seeking migrants dug seven holes on Jan. 14 to tunnel under the existing border fence and turn themselves in to agents near San Luis, Arizona.
The largest single group of migrant families and minors ever recorded in the Yuma area tunneled underneath a border fence and voluntarily turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, according to Customs and Border Protection officials in Arizona.

A group of 376 migrants, composed almost overwhelmingly of Guatemalan families and children seeking asylum, breached the U.S.-Mexico border just before noon Monday, approximately 4½ miles east of the San Luis commercial port of entry.

Customs and Border Protection officials disclosed details of the incident on Friday, releasing videos and photos showing the migrants walking along the U.S. side of the border fence and waiting in line for agents to process them.

Agent Jose Garibay, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector, said that migrants, with the help of smugglers, dug seven holes in the sandy soil underneath the bollard-style fence and the metal plates welded to the bottom of the barriers.

Comment: Watch video: 376 illegal immigrants tunnel under border wall in Yuma, AZ.


See also: New migrant caravan sets out from Honduras for the US border