Society's Child

Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman pleads guilty in NXIVM New York sex cult case

Brendan Pierson
Reuters
Sat, 20 Apr 2019 11:17 UTC

© REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
FILE PHOTO: Clare Bronfman, an heiress of the Seagram's liquor empire, arrives at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, for her trail regarding sex trafficking and racketeering related to the Nxivm cult in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., January 9, 2019.

Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty on Friday to harboring an illegal immigrant and enabling credit card fraud as part of an alleged sex cult based in upstate New York.

Bronfman, 40, entered her plea to the two criminal counts before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. She is one of several people charged in connection with a secretive organization called Nxivm, which federal prosecutors have described as a racketeering organization.

Bronfman admitted that she knowingly harbored a woman brought to the United States on a fake work visa in order to obtain that woman's labor for herself and the organization. She also said she helped Nxivm's founder, Keith Raniere, use a deceased woman's credit card.

Comment: Perhaps unsurprisingly: NXIVM sex-cult prosecutors claim evidence for illegal Clinton campaign contributions seeking "political influence"

See also:

'Don't touch Notre Dame': Fury at suggestion of 'reimagining' cathedral with modern twist

RT
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 13:03 UTC

Suggestions that Notre Dame Cathedral be reimagined following Monday's fire, complete with modern architecture and materials, have been met with outrage across France and around the world.

"Let's stop this madness: we need to have absolute respect for French heritage," Jordan Bardella, another member of the right-wing party, said to LCI channel.

"Modern art makes me nostalgic for the arts of the past."

Comment: While efforts to restore Notre Dame to its former glory are noble, they will likely never come close to the achievements of the original builders - but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try - as Heinrich Heine in Maxims and Descriptions writes:

While I was standing before the cathedral at Amiens, with a friend who with mingled fear and pity was regarding that monument,-built with the strength of Titans and decorated with the patience of dwarfs,-he turned to me at last and inquired, "How does it happen that we do not erect such edifices in our day?" And my answer was, "My dear Alphonse, the men of that day had convictions, while we moderns have only opinions; and something more than opinions are required to build a cathedral."

Obviously if the warped minds of Macron and his ilk get involved, like their 2018 interpretation of France's annual Fête de la Musique event, it could result in an abomination:

And check out SOTT radio's:

Facebook brings in Daily Caller affiliate for fact-checking mission

Samantha Grasso
Splinter News
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 20:03 UTC

When Facebook said it was getting its shit together to do a better job of preventing the spread of false news after the 2016 election, this wasn't exactly what we had in mind.

Facebook has added CheckYourFact.com to the already-crumbling list of its independent Poynter-certified fact checkers that identify and debunk false news stories shared on the website, Axios reported on Wednesday. CheckYourFact.com is better known as the "fact-check department" of the right-wing website the Daily Caller, co-founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Comment: Sounds like the author is less interested in whether 'Check Your Fact' is doing a credible job, than in being offended that a portions of the staff does not boast the political bona fides she finds acceptable. Perhaps she should offer her services to redress the perceived imbalance? And yes, the existence of a second Beetlejuice movie might be of interest to some people.

Turpin children speak out as parents are sentenced in torture case: 'I'm taking my life back'

Matt Gutman and Emily Shapiro
ABC News
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 01:38 UTC

A son and daughter of David and Louise Turpin spoke out in court for the first time Friday as their parents were sentenced for torturing and imprisoning them for years.

"Now I'm taking my life back," a daughter -- one of the Turpins' 13 children -- said in court. "I'm a fighter. I'm strong and I'm shooting through life like a rocket."

"I'm in college now and living independently," she said. "I love hanging out with my friends and life is great. I believe everything happens for a reason. Life may have been bad, but it made me strong. I fought to become the person I am."

"I saw my dad change my mom," she said, visibly shaking and clutching tissues. "They almost changed me."

Young journalist shot and killed during riot in Derry, Northern Ireland

Haley Ott
CBS News
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 18:05 UTC

A young journalist was killed in Northern Ireland overnight in what police are treating as a "terrorist" incident. Lyra McKee, 29, was shot during riots ahead of the anniversary of the revolt that led to Irish independence from Britain.

McKee was an investigative reporter and editor. Her work often focused on the conflict in Northern Ireland, known as "The Troubles," which saw decades of violence between those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, known as "unionists," and those who wanted it leave and join a united Republic of Ireland, known as "republicans." The conflict officially ended with a peace accord, the Good Friday Agreement, in 1998.

The latest rioting broke out in Londonderry after the Northern Irish police, fearing violence over the weekend, conducted a series of raids searching for weapons and ammunition. Gunshots were fired towards police and McKee was struck, they said.

Comment: We now know that British intelligence was responsible for framing republicans and committing heinous acts of terrorism during The Troubles. The same covert criminality is still active in the UK, and we should apply the lessons from the past to today. With Brexit coming, the desire for an independent Ireland remains strong.

See also:

Finley: America's hate crime surge is a hoax

Nolan Finley
The Detroit News
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 17:04 UTC

© Getty images
Before actor Jussie Smollett’s whopper unraveled, it was wildly parroted by a media too eager to believe anything that confirms its conviction that America is boiling with hate, Finley says.

It's been repeated so often it's taken as fact: Hate crimes have soared over the past two years, and the blame rests with President Donald Trump and supporters inspired by his hateful rhetoric.

It's a compelling story, supported by statistics that show an increase of 17% in the number of hate crimes reported to the FBI during the Trump presidency.

But it isn't true. The surge has little to do with Trump and his red hat brigade. This according to Will Reilly, a Kentucky State University associate professor, who extensively researched hate-fueled violence in America for his book Hate Crime Hoax.

"Almost all of that surge is due to the simple fact that in 2017 the number of police departments reporting hate crimes to the FBI increased by 1,000," says Reilly. "The surge narrative is pretty dishonest."

Comment: See also: The Jussie Smollett Hate-Crime Hoax is Nothing New in Trump's America

WikiLeaks calls for release of unredacted Mueller report

RT
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 16:45 UTC

WikiLeaks has called for the US Justice Department to remove some of its redactions to the Mueller report, claiming that the blanked-out sentences only fuel conspiracy theories about WikiLeaks' role in Trump's election.

"WikiLeaks has always been confident that this investigation would vindicate our groundbreaking publishing of the 2016 materials, which it has. We disapprove of the large redactions which permit conspiracy theories to abound. Full transparency please," WikiLeaks tweeted on Thursday.

Some observers wondered whether WikiLeaks disputes Mueller's claim - expounded in the report - that 'Russian hackers' had stolen Democratic National Convention emails in 2016. Large chunks of text concerning the supposed hacking operation are left blank in Mueller's report, to protect the investigative techniques used.

With all due respect: Stalin-approving Russians don't want to live in his time - poll

RT
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 16:50 UTC

Although a majority of Russians say they approve of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's role in history, according to recent polls, just a tiny portion of them would have liked to have lived under his rule, a new survey reveals.

Earlier this week a Levada Center poll, which revealed that over 50 percent (the highest ever) of Russians view Joseph Stalin positively, made headlines in Russia. It sparked another heated debate about the role of the controversial Soviet leader.

However, a new survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), showed that only 5% of Russians would want to live in Stalin's era during the times of mass repressions, industrialization and WWII.

Political analysts explain that the rising approval rating of Stalin shows society's attitude to the mythical image of the Soviet leader - a symbol of order and a champion of the oppressed - rather than the actual historical figure of Stalin.

Unsurprisingly, 40% said they prefer living in modern Russia. Meanwhile, almost the same amount (37%) would prefer to go back to the times of the rule of Leonid Brezhnev. The Brezhnev period, spanning over more than two decades from 1964 to 1986 is often referred as Era of Stagnation in Russian history, associated with low economic growth, as well as social and economic stability.

Comment: That's an important qualifier you never see in Western 'serious analyses' of Russians' respect for Stalin. Just cause they respect the man, doesn't mean they want to return to Life Under Stalin.

See also:

Indian man 'chops off finger' after voting for wrong party by mistake

RT
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 15:01 UTC

An Indian man who accidentally voted for the wrong party in the country's general election says he was so disgusted with himself that he chopped off his index finger to atone for the mistake.

In a video that has gone viral in India, Pawan Kumar says he accidentally ended up voting for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because he was confused by the symbols on the voting machine.

Indian voting machines use symbols beside the names of candidates so that people who cannot read are still able to vote. The 25-year-old cast his vote in the second phase of polling in the general election in Bulandshahr in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

In the video, Kumar explains that he wanted to vote for the Bahujan Samaj Party, which has a lot of support in Uttar Pradesh, but instead of pressing the BSP's elephant button, he pressed the button with the lotus, which represents the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP.

Comment:

Veterans Affairs whistleblower 'protection' office being investigated for retaliation against whistleblowers

Eric Katz
Government Executive
Fri, 19 Apr 2019 16:20 UTC

The Veterans Affairs Department's watchdog is investigating a new office created by President Trump early in his administration that was designed to protect whistleblowers from reprisal but is now facing allegations of aiding retaliation against them.

VA's Office of Inspector General is leading the investigation from its new Office of Special Reviews, which the IG created to conduct "prompt reviews of significant events" and examine allegations of senior VA employee misconduct, an IG spokesman said. The new IG office is looking into activities at the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection as part of an ongoing review of the implementation of the 2017 law that created OAWP.

Trump created OAWP by executive order in 2017 and later codified it when he signed the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law. The office was mostly celebrated, with advocates hopeful that the focus on the rights and protections for whistleblowers would reverse a culture infamous for intimidation and reprisal. That optimism has largely soured, however, leading to hotline tips to the inspector general and bipartisan scrutiny from Congress.

Comment:

She's better off dead. The ones that die quickly are the lucky ones. Cancers, chronic pain and exhaustion? No thanks.

DeliciousTears

Here's what lithium ion batteries also do. [Link] R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

She always looks like she's having a painful bowel movement, and is trying very hard to do it silently.

Eventide

Parzival. [Link] Documentary on who owns everything and the current situation and intention NWO. Good summary.

Joyly

"Obama's job is to lie to a nation of liars". Kiese Laymon "the amerikan liberal wants to preserve the essence of the past--the amerikan...

smertzasmert

Society's Child

Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman pleads guilty in NXIVM New York sex cult case

'Don't touch Notre Dame': Fury at suggestion of 'reimagining' cathedral with modern twist

Facebook brings in Daily Caller affiliate for fact-checking mission

Turpin children speak out as parents are sentenced in torture case: 'I'm taking my life back'

Young journalist shot and killed during riot in Derry, Northern Ireland

Finley: America's hate crime surge is a hoax

WikiLeaks calls for release of unredacted Mueller report

With all due respect: Stalin-approving Russians don't want to live in his time - poll

Indian man 'chops off finger' after voting for wrong party by mistake

Veterans Affairs whistleblower 'protection' office being investigated for retaliation against whistleblowers

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