Welcome to Sott.net
Mon, 08 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Attention

Will schools ban best friends?

Maggie Parker
Yahoo News
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 21:00 UTC
best friends
© Getty
I hope those smiles aren't exclusive between the two of you. Please distribute those smiles equally among the class.
Students may soon have to say goodbye to their best friend, and they have Prince George to blame.

We can't help but wonder ... does this mean George doesn't have someone he can call a best friend? Boy, would he be missing out." The concept was introduced when the royal tot first started school a few years ago. Ben Thomas, headmaster of St. Thomas's Day School, said at the time, "I would certainly endorse a policy which says we should have lots of good friends, not a best friend," according to the Telegraph. We can't help but wonder ... does this mean George doesn't have someone he can call a best friend? Boy, would he be missing out.

In the last few months, the trend has moved from Europe to America, according to Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist specializing in family and relationship issues. Why would schools do such a thing? "They want to foster inclusivity," Greenberg tells Yahoo Lifestyle. "And they want their schools to be characterized as having children that don't exclude other ones. So what they did was take an extreme stance, which was to ban the whole concept of best friends in the hope that children would then form a group of friends."

Comment: Ridiculous. It's natural for people to form closer, more intimate relations with the people they like best. Watered down, meaningless relationships with scores of people are unfulfilling.

Leave Them Kids Alone! Micromanaging Kids to Death by Banning Best Friends

      Read More...
Attention

The media ceased reporting the Russian collusion story because they helped create it

Lee Smith
The Federalist
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
LIES
© The Right Angle
The press has played an active role in the Trump-Russia collusion story since its inception. It helped birth it.

Half the country wants to know why the press won't cover the growing scandal now implicating the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice, and threatening to reach the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, and perhaps even the Obama White House.

After all, the release last week of a less-redacted version of Sens. Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham's January 4 letter showed that the FBI secured a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to search the communications of a Trump campaign adviser based on a piece of opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Fourth Amendment rights of an American citizen were violated to allow one political party to spy on another.

If the press did its job and reported the facts, the argument goes, then it wouldn't just be Republicans and Trump supporters demanding accountability and justice. Americans across the political spectrum would understand the nature and extent of the abuses and crimes touching not just on one political party and its presidential candidate but the rights of every American.

That's all true, but irrelevant. The reasons the press won't cover the story are suggested in the Graham-Grassley letter itself.
      Read More...
Propaganda

The Intercept is morphing from guard dog to attack dog for the establishment

Caitlin Johnstone
Steemit
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Intercept
© Daniel Greenfield/KJN
The New Attack Dog
The Ecuadorian embassy in London cut off Julian Assange's internet access in October of 2016, but the WikiLeaks Twitter account kept posting about leak drops uninterrupted. The embassy's action made headlines all across mainstream media. It is common knowledge for anyone who was paying attention to WikiLeaks during that time. The Intercept's editors are unquestionably aware of this.

They are aware of this, and yet they allowed an article to be published about allegedly leaked Direct Messages on Twitter which continuously, pervasively and fundamentally assumes that the WikiLeaks account is controlled by Assange and Assange only. The account is referred to as "Assange" throughout the entire article.

"Throughout this article," the latest establishment effort at undermining public opinion of WikiLeaks states, "The Intercept assumes that the WikiLeaks account is controlled by Julian Assange himself, as is widely understood, and that he is the author of the messages, referring to himself in the third person majestic plural, as he often does."

There is no basis whatsoever for The Intercept to assume this. In addition to the obvious implications of the WikiLeaks account continuing to tweet despite Assange's lack of internet, WikiLeaks has made repeated public statements that it is a shared staff Twitter account. There is absolutely no excuse for such a spectacular journalistic failure to be interwoven without apology throughout an entire article of a widely esteemed publication. Even if The Intercept does end up retracting this grotesque embarrassment and extensively editing the article to reflect fact instead of fiction, there will be no reason to believe that this was due to anything other than public outcry, and the damage is already irreparable.

Comment: News positioning is not INFORMation; it is MANipulation.

      Read More...
Arrow Up

Soaring violent crime spikes in Sweden beg politicians to respond

Paulina Neuding
The Spectator
Sat, 10 Feb 2018 09:00 UTC
citygrenade
© Unknown/KJN
Shootings, hand-grenade attacks and gang warfare have made some city areas no-go zones

January was a particularly violent month in Sweden. A 63-year-old man was killed in Stockholm by a hand grenade lying in the street. A Dutch exchange student was hit by a stray bullet during an execution-style killing at a pizza restaurant in Uppsala. In Gothenburg, a hand grenade was thrown into a flat and exploded in the kitchen - the same predominantly immigrant-populated suburb where an eight-year-old British boy was killed in a grenade attack less than two years ago. In Malmö, a grenade was tossed at a police station and exploded outside. So it has not, so far, been a very happy new year.

For Swedes, this has become a familiar theme. Gun violence is on the rise, with daylight shootings and without regard for bystanders. In the past nine years, reported and attempted murders involving guns have almost doubled. According to Swedish police, hand-grenade attacks (which were virtually unknown until a few years ago) are without parallel in countries not at war.

The grenades - dubbed 'apples' by criminals - are smuggled into the country from former Yugoslavia. They are plentiful in the black market for weapons after the wars in the Balkans and are sold cheaply, or even handed out as freebies upon purchase of assault rifles. Stockholm police recently put a figure on it: less than £890 can buy you five automatic weapons and ammunition with 64 hand grenades as a sweetener. The grenades can, of course, be sold on. The street price in Sweden is about £100.

Comment: Clearly Sweden is clinging to an archaic illusion that is not serving anyone. See also:

      Read More...
Arrow Up

UK restores support to a Syrian aid project accused of funding 'extremists'

Jamie Merrill
Middle East Eye
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:44 UTC
Free Syrian Police
© Reuters
Free Syrian Police in rebel-held town of al-Rai.
The UK Foreign Office has restored funding to a controversial Syrian aid scheme accused of putting money in the pockets of hardline militants responsible for summary executions and stoning women, Middle East Eye can reveal.

The plug was pulled on the multi-million-dollar scheme to train a civilian police force in Syria in November after a BBC documentary aired allegations that officers from the Free Syrian Police (FSP) were working with courts accused of summary executions and torture, including the stoning of women.

The report, "Jihadis You Pay For", claimed that UK taxpayer money paid to the FSP reached people with links to the Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. The documentary also claimed that dead and fictitious police officers were listed on the force's payroll.
      Read More...
Arrow Down

Florida's Governor Scott demands FBI director's resignation over missed Parkland shooter tip


RT
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 19:55 UTC
Governor Scott
© Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Florida Governor Rick Scott
Florida Governor Rick Scott has called for the FBI director to resign in the wake of the high school shooting that killed 17 students.

Scott is responding to the news that the FBI didn't follow proper protocol in following up on a tip about the shooter, Nikolas Cruz. "The FBI's failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable....The FBI Director needs to resign," said Scott in a statement.

"We constantly promote 'see something, say something,' and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act. 'See something, say something' is an incredibly important tool and people must have confidence in the follow-through from law enforcement. The FBI director needs to resign," Scott added.

On January 5, a person close to Cruz called an FBI tip line about the 19-year-old's potential to carry out a school shooting, his desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts.

"We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information received by the PAL on January 5. The information was not provided to the Miami field office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time," the FBI said in a statement Friday.

Comment: When the FBI doesn't pursue a lead, we have to question why not.
See also:

      Read More...
Cut

Spread of moronic insanity: Body piercer chopped off her finger and turned it into a pendant

Georgia Diebelius
Metro
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:13 UTC
pinky finger pendant
© Mercury
Torz decided to mark the occasion by immortalising the frozen finger as a pendant necklace.
A body piercer who sliced off her own finger because it 'looks cute' has turned the severed limb into a pendant.

Torz Reynolds decided to cut off her little finger with bolt cutters on Valentine's Day last year after wanting to do it for a decade.

After keeping the stump in the freezer next to a bag of peas for 365 days, Torz decided to mark the occasion by immortalising the frozen finger as a pendant necklace.

The 30-year-old body modifier bought a glass vial, filled it with alcohol solution and dunked the detached digit inside attached to a chain so it wouldn't waste away in the freezer.

Boyfriend Xav also presented Torz with a collection of tiny hats to dress her stump, which she has affectionately named Wiggles.
      Read More...
Handcuffs

Accused child-rape plotter told undercover cops they could make $millions making violent child porn for "top political people", killing the victims

Virginia Hale
Breitbart
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:52 UTC
metropolitan police
© Carl Court/Getty Images
Gihan Muthukumarana told undercover police they could make £10 million raping children on video for "top political people", a court has heard.

The 28-year-old, who appeared in court this week accused of plotting to kidnap, rape, and beat young girls, allegedly claimed that footage of the abuse could be sold for "ridiculously big" sums of money if they "got rid" of the victims by dissolving their bodies in a vat of acid afterwards, Court News UK reports.

Southwark Crown Court heard that police were tipped off after it emerged the 28-year-old had divulged his plans to an escort who he regularly met for sex, at meetings in Hounslow, west London.

During the course of these meetings, which took place between April and November 2015, Muthukumarana had made remarks that "began to cause increasing concern", the court heard.

Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly said: "One was he had previously slept with a twelve-year-old, which he said had happened outside the UK.

"In September 2015 he told her that he had a business proposition that he wanted to discuss at the end of their session."

Comment: It's possible Muthukumarana is just a con man and a pathological liar. But given the number of pedophile scandals coming out of British politics, perhaps it's not too far fetched.

      Read More...
Handcuffs

Sixth-grader arrested for threatening to kill Florida middle school classmates


RT
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 19:28 UTC
Police
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
An 11-year-old girl has been arrested in Florida for threatening to shoot up her middle school in a note that she slipped under the door of the assistant principal's office.

The sixth-grader at Nova Middle School in Davie, Florida, was arrested Thursday by local police and charged with one count of written threats to kill or do bodily injury, according to CBS Miami.

The note, released to local media by the police, read "I will bring a gun to school to kill all of you ugly ass kids and teachers bitch. I will bring the gun Feb, 16, 18. BE prepared bitch!"

Police say surveillance video showed the student placing the note under the door. The girl later gave a written confession to the police claiming she was pressured to do so by another classmate.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Pistol

Texas cops shoot, kill special needs teen with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 19:25 UTC
Dustin Castillo
© KENS5
Dustin Castillo, 19
A heartbroken mother is speaking out after her disabled teenage son was shot and killed by police, and she is questioning why the three officers who confronted the boy decided to use lethal force against him.

Dustin Castillo, 19, was killed after a confrontation with police officers who accused him of stealing a BMX bicycle from a local Target. Police Chief William McManus claimed that Castillo "evaded security and rode the bike on the Northwest Loop 410 highway, with three police cars in pursuit."

The officers surrounded Castillo, and when he got off of the bike, McManus claimed that he pulled out a knife that was "certainly big enough to kill someone," and then cut officer Paul Armendariz' hand.

Armendariz responded by pulling out his gun and shooting Castillo in the abdomen, according to the chief. Castillo was pronounced dead at the scene.

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts