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TV

SOTT Focus: Culture Wars: ABC cancels TV show 'Roseanne' after Barr tweets something politically incorrect

Jake Nevins
The Guardian
Tue, 29 May 2018 20:46 UTC
roseanne
Roseanne Barr's revived sitcom has been cancelled after she posted a racist and Islamophobic tweet that attacked former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The sitcom star falsely alleged that Jarrett, who was born in Iran to American parents, has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and compared her to an ape. Barr wrote: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," using Jarrett's initials.


Comment: It's an ignorant comment for her to make of course (for starters, Muslim Brotherhood has zero traction in Iran), but this was clearly just the pretext the liberal media elites were waiting for to nix a TV show that is even mildly conservative.


ABC swiftly announced the show's cancellation. The network said in a statement: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."


Comment: Pfft, it wasn't something you'd fire someone over... unless you were politically and ideologically-motivated.

Freedom of speech, much? First Amendment?

The media doesn't just get things wrong every day - it often flat-out LIES with FAKE NEWS. Barr tweets something - however incorrect it may or may not be - and she's FIRED from completely unrelated employment??


Comment: Roseanne - both the show and the actress - was a nightmare for the liberal elites: a high-profile celebrity whose very presence exposed the whole Russiagate lie: that 'only Kremlin trolls say those things'.

So she had to go. This silly tweet from her was merely the pretext. All the faux indignation about it is just authoritarian followers doing whatever pleases Master.

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Airplane

SOTT Focus: Why is Russia Being Blamed For The Downing of Flight MH17 - Again?

Andrés Perezalonso
Sott.net
Mon, 28 May 2018 20:28 UTC
MH-17
© Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters
On Thursday 24th of May, the Dutch, Australian and Ukranian-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 gave a press conference in which, for the first time, they explicitly accused Russia of providing the anti-aircraft system that shot down the passenger plane - although they had suggested as much in the past.

They made two central claims:
  1. That a BUK-TELAR Russian unit from the 53rd brigade based in Kursk crossed the border into Ukraine, and
  2. That the markings on the remains of the BUK missile allegedly used in the incident indicate it was Soviet made.
Bizarrely, the first claim is borrowed largely from articles on the Bellingcat website (such as this one). JIT members themselves mentioned that the arguments had been published by Bellingcat already, although they insisted they performed their own 'independent analysis' and that they are withholding further evidence. Eliot Higgins, the man who runs Bellingcat, is listed as an "expert" on the Atlantic Council website, and described as a "Nonresident Senior Fellow, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Future Europe Initiative". The Atlantic Council 'think-tank' is known for its pro-US/NATO and anti-Russian stance, and among the members of its Advisory Board and Directors we find Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, James Woolsey, James Clapper, Rupert Murdoch and the heads of finance and defense corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Airbus and Goldman Sachs, among many others. Thus, any research based on Bellingcat's is hardly unbiased and independent.
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Gem

SOTT Focus: Yulia Skripal looks so well everything Britain said about poisoning has reason for doubt - Putin


RT
Fri, 25 May 2018 17:07 UTC
Yulia Skripal
© Dylan Martinez / ReutersYulia Skripal
The fact neither of those poisoned in Salisbury died and one seems to have recovered well after what Britain called an exposure to a Russian military-grade chemical weapon, casts doubts on London's stance, says Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president made the remarks during a session with journalists from leading world media outlets on Friday, replying to a question by Clive Marshall, the head of UK's Press Association Group. Putin reiterated that despite Britain's initial claim that Russia used a military-grade chemical weapon dubbed Novichok to attack former double agent Sergey Skripal and his daughter, the actual effect of the toxin seems far from lethal.

"I am no expert in military-grade chemical weapons, but as far as I understand if one is deployed the victims are killed on the spot and practically instantaneously. Thank God nothing like that happened,"he said.

Comment: See also : Alive and well: Yulia Skripal says 'returning to Russia is the long-term goal' in her first interview since attack

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2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Conflict with Iran - What You're Not Being Told

Chris Kanthan
Sott.net
Sun, 27 May 2018 15:55 UTC
Forget the hullabaloo about Iran's nuclear program - Netanyahu and the Neocons have been screaming about the imminent demise of the globe by Iran's non-existent nukes for more than twenty years. The truth is that Iran is in the cross hairs of Western imperialists for four main geopolitical reasons:
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Truth Perspective: Free Will Is Not An Illusion: Why Materialists Are Wrong To Deny Their Own Freedom


Sott.net
Sat, 26 May 2018 16:00 UTC
choices doors free will
The great free will debate has raged for generations. But now we live in a world where the establishment intellectuals either deny freedom's existence completely, or tacitly accept it but can't adequately explain it. One poll showed that more than 40% of Americans didn't believe in free will. Given how fundamental free will is to everything about our lives - from our interactions with loved ones to our intellectual and career activities, and our legal systems - this is a scary thought.

Materialists will often cite finger-tapping experiments as evidence that free will doesn't exist. The brain shows signs of activity before subjects are consciously aware that they are going to move their fingers. But as Jordan Peterson and others have pointed out, this is not the only (or the best) interpretation of the data.

Today on the Truth Perspective, we take a look at Professor Peterson's recent defense of free will and share our thoughts on what free will is and isn't, and why it makes no sense to deny a certain type of freedom of will.

Tune in this Saturday, May 26, at noon Eastern Standard Time, and find out if you're a completely controlled automaton, an unlimited divine being, or just a regular part of creation with some degree of freedom and a whole lot of limitations.

Running Time: 01:40:17

Download: MP3

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Cheeseburger

SOTT Focus: Grass-fed Beef — The Most Vegan Item In The Supermarket

Drew French
Medium
Sat, 26 May 2018 12:11 UTC
A steak
Probably the most vegan item you can buy in the supermarket is a pound of grass-fed beef.

I was thinking about that heretical idea as I drove through my neighboring countryside, scanning empty cornfields for signs of life and wondering at the hubris of mankind. When did we decide that we can own all the lands of the Earth and use every square inch of it for our own needs? About 10,000 years ago, actually, when we invented the idea of agriculture.

Sadly, in the practice of agriculture it is impossible to not cause endless suffering to many living creatures. One could argue that the most suffering of all is caused by annual agriculture, the cultivation of vegetables, including grains, beans, and rice, that only take one year to grow from seed to food. We displace countless wild animals from their homes and lands when we cultivate annual crops. Not only that, we also kill thousands of creatures when we till the soil.

A perennial agriculture, on the other hand, based on trees, shrubs, and livestock, allows nature to thrive.
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: The Health & Wellness Show: Dunning-Kruger Effect: Stupid is as Stupid Does


Sott.net
Fri, 25 May 2018 15:00 UTC
Dunning Kruger
What makes people think that they are better-than-average? Why do some people have an unwavering tendency to overinflate their skills? Having a realistic view of the world and oneself is considered to be the foundation of good psychological health. However, many of us tend to move through life with a sense of unconditional, positive self-regard -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- and downplay or ignore our faults to the detriment of ourselves, our families and society at large. Researchers have discovered that unrealistic positivity is a fundamental feature of human nature.

We've all seen it; the blowhard who can't stop spouting off about topics of which they know very little, the highly sensitive co-worker who doubles down in the face of constructive criticism, the 'expert' who misleads with false claims. On this episode of The Health and Wellness Show we discuss the Dunning-Kruger effect, the illusion of competence and the pitfalls of failing to recognize the extent of one's own -- and other's -- limitations and lack of knowledge.

And stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment, where she explores the age old question: Do animals think?

Running Time: 01:07:06

Download: MP3

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Cheeseburger

SOTT Focus: The Meat-Guilt Industry: The Quest For The Perfect Veggie Burger Can't Remove The Taste of Lies

Doug DiPasquale
Sott.net
Thu, 24 May 2018 06:28 UTC
veggie burger
Whatever this dry hockey puck is missing in flavour is more than made up for by the benefits of self-righteous virtue-signaling when eating it. Smug is the new satiety
Exploiting guilt has probably been used as a manipulative technique for driving behavior since humans evolved the ability to feel emotions. Most of us are thoroughly conditioned to do whatever is necessary to reduce feelings of guilt, and the reality-creators who decide what is and is not acceptable are as adept as an Italian mother at exploiting this fact. Global warming, identity politics, smoking, being overweight - by establishing through repetitive conditioning what is considered acceptable, and thoroughly admonishing those who don't conform to such behavior, the actions of the populace at large are controlled via emotional manipulation.

People are heavily guilt-tripped into correct behavior via diet. A lot of this comes from advertising, which is manipulative by nature, but it's also coming from most diet-related 'news' items in the mainstream media. These days the party line is essentially that meat is bad for you, bad for the environment, bad for the planet - and is unspeakably cruel on top of that. The closer you are to hardcore vegan, the better you are as a person.

See this manipulative meme as an example:
meat guilt
Rock-solid logic
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Vader

SOTT Focus: US And Israel Holding Global Economy Hostage in Showdown With Iran

Corey Schink
Sott.net
Tue, 22 May 2018 19:19 UTC
Iran currency
Squeezing Iran's economy
For decades now the US and Israel have waged regime change across the Middle East and North Africa. In the chaos that ensued Iran underwent a transformation that naturally expanded its influence. Now, upset with the consequences of their actions, the US and Israel have a new plan: take the global economy hostage in order to force Iran to abandon that influence. As usual, Russia is doing its best to manage the West's insanity while maintaining course for a more sane future.

On May 1, 2018, hours after Netanyahu issued his bizarre 'Iran lied' powerpoint presentation, and a week before Trump ditched the Iran deal, Netanyahu and Putin had a phone conversation. During this chat Putin stressed the deal's importance for international stability, reiterating that it must be "strictly observed by all parties." Not one who's prone to taking 'international stability' into account, Netanyahu had other ideas.
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Gold Seal

SOTT Focus: Iran in The Crosshairs as The Empire Enters Its Mad Dog Days

John Wight
RT
Tue, 22 May 2018 19:37 UTC
trump iran wall
Mike Pompeo's bellicose rhetoric against Tehran leaves no doubt that Washington has embraced the status of international renegade.

Pompeo's speech, delivered in his capacity as secretary of state, evinced a blatant disregard for the integrity of international treaties and respect for international law. It also ensures that the last vestiges of credibility enjoyed by the US has now been shredded in the eyes of a world grown weary - weary of a Trump administration which, in its caprice and continual threats, is more redolent of a New York mafia crime family than a respectable and responsible government.

With Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - better known as the Iran nuclear deal - his administration has embarked on the path of conflict with Iran in conjunction with regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. Together they comprise an axis of aggression that imperils the stability of the region, with potentially grave consequences for the rest of the world given the succour such a regional conflict would give to extremism and global terrorism.

It also sets a dangerous precedent when it comes to arriving at a peaceful resolution to the on-going crisis in Ukraine and ensuring a successful outcome to the inchoate process of peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.
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