Sunday, August 27, 2017

Father of three-year-old Barcelona attack victim hugs imam...

India’s moment of shame...

The world’s largest democracy has an image problem. When it comes to women. Or rather when it comes to taking men to task for crimes committed against women. We don’t say this to gloat at our neighbour. We know what we are talking about. It is an image problem that we, on this side of the border, share.

Over the weekend an Indian court found guilty of rape a self-styled spiritual leader. It was a long journey to get here. Fifteen years to be exact. Though this was not due to judicial laxity. But, rather, to the power wielded by Ram Rahim, leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda religious sect. The journalist who first reported the rape allegations was found fatally shot not long after.

This power, borne of a toxic mix of politics and what some Indian commentators have termed synthetic spirituality, is said to be eroding Indian democracy. And it is true. That a crowd, 200,000-strong by some accounts, came out to support a man charged with rape (not to mention one who faces separate charges of murder and forced castration) is an embarrassment. That this happened just five years after Joyti Singh was literally raped to death on a New Delhi bus is nothing short of criminal.

Criminal in the same way that 15 years after Mukhtaran Mai stood up to patriarchal system of codes and so-called customs as well as to the state apparatus itself, after she shook the latter to the core after refusing to fade away, or worse — two girls from the surrounding area found themselves at the centre of a locally-sanctioned revenge rape. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. The strange deaths around India’s ‘godman’
  2. How many more "Godmen" must we tolerate?
  3. Indian guru booked for forcing minor girl into unnatural sex...
  4. Kashmir's self-styled godman arrested for rape of young girls...
  5. Swami Nithyananda implicated in serious video sex scandal... 
  6. Hot yoga's Bikram Choudhury accused of sexual harassment by protege...
  7. Psychic faces jail for conning women into performing naked sex acts...
  8. Exposing India's fake god-men and gurus...

How to get away with murder in small-town India...

On my last week in India, I went to say goodbye to Jahiruddin Mewati, the chief of a small village where I had made a dozen or so reporting trips.

Jahiruddin and I were not precisely friends, but we had spent many hours talking over the years, mostly about local politics. I found him entirely without scruples but candid. He suspected my motives but found me entertaining, in the way that a talking dog might be entertaining, without regard for the particulars of what I said.

Jahiruddin, though uneducated, was an adept politician, fresh from winning a hard-fought local election. During our conversations, he would often break into rousing, patriotic speeches about truth and justice, thumping the plastic table in emphasis and making it jump. The effect was somewhat tarnished by his Tourette’s syndrome, which caused him to interject the word “penis” at regular intervals.

He was frank about the dirty aspects of his job. He occupied a post reserved for women from lower castes, but no one pretended this was any more than a sham; his wife’s name appeared on the ballot, but the face on the poster was his.

Nearly everything he did in local government was transactional, driven by the desire to secure the votes of minuscule family and caste groups. The funny thing was, it seemed to be working pretty well. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. How a Bihar panchayat punished the rapist of a Dalit girl...
  2. Dalit women and village justice in rural India...
  3. Woman in India paraded naked on donkey...
  4. India shame: Man made to lick spit of leaders commits suicide...

Duterte’s drug war stumbles on allegations of teen’s murder...

The apparent Aug. 18 assassination by police of a 17-year-old student appears finally to have kicked off widespread objection to President Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous drug war and its spate of extrajudicial killings.

The killing of Kian Delos Santos, who was dragged from his home, handed a gun and told to run as he screamed that he had a test in school the next day, has generated a Philippine Senate hearing into the affair and even chastened Duterte, who called for a full probe of the killing, vowing that heads will roll with those responsible ending up behind bars.

The Senate investigation saw the opposition outraged at remarks at another hearing by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, a Duterte fraternity brother and appointee, that media coverage of the death had been “blown out of proportion.”

Opposition lawmaker Risa Hontiveros, who took protective custody of witnesses including two minors with information about the killing, called Aguirre’s remarks repulsive. “How will they protect the witnesses if they themselves don’t believe in the case?” Hontiveros asked in a statement. Hontiveros also expressed scorn over previous remarks made by government lawyers that there have been no extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Duterte faces nationwide revolt over drugs war after killing of schoolboy...
  2. Duterte, the Philippines and a psychopathic reign of terror...
  3. Anger simmers in Philippines over Duterte's drug war...
  4. Nationwide outrage after Duterte's drug war results in murder of...
  5. Bloodiest week yet: At least 80 dead in Duterte's war on drugs...
  6. Philippine police 'dumping bodies' of drug war victims...
  7. Bodies every night: documenting the brutal Philippine drug war...
  8. More than 1000 suspects killed per month in Philippines drug crackdown...

Face scans, robot baggage handlers - airports of the future...

Passengers' baggage is collected by robots, they relax in a luxurious waiting area complete with an indoor garden before getting a face scan and swiftly passing through security and immigration -- this could be the airport of the future.

It's a vision that planners hope will become reality as new technology is rolled out, transforming the exhausting experience of getting stuck in lengthy queues in ageing, overcrowded terminals into something far more pleasant.

The Asia-Pacific has been leading the way but faces fierce competition from the Middle East as major hubs compete to attract the growing number of long-haul travellers who can choose how to route their journey.

The regions "are the two leading pockets of technology growth because they are really competing to be the global hubs for air transportation," Seth Young, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at Ohio State University, told AFP.

"If I'm going to fly from New York to Bangalore, do I transfer through Abu Dhabi or Dubai or do I transfer through Hong Kong? That's a huge, huge market." Full story...

Related posts:
  1. As train companies say they'll use facial recognition technology to ...
  2. There's a reason you should be terrified of iris scanners and...
  3. Researchers find flaws in police facial recognition technology...
  4. 117 million Americans in the FBI database. That’s about 50 percent...
  5. India is scanning people’s fingerprints and eyeballs to make a database...
  6. 'Faceless recognition system' can identify you even when you...
  7. Windows 10 to add facial recognition, iris scans and fingerprint reader...
  8. NSA collecting millions of faces from web images...
  9. Facial recognition: is the technology taking away your identity?
  10. Face-recognition software: Is this the end of anonymity for all of us?

How college loans got so evil...

"I'm not afraid": 500,000 march for peace in Barcelona...

Hundreds of thousands of peace marchers flooded the heart of Barcelona on Saturday shouting "I'm not afraid" -- a public rejection of violence following extremist attacks that killed 15 people, Spain's deadliest in more than a decade.

Emergency workers, taxis drivers, police and ordinary citizens who helped immediately after the attack on Aug. 17 in the city's famed Las Ramblas boulevard led the march. They carried a street-wide banner with black capital letters reading "No Tinc Por," which means "I'm not afraid" in the local Catalan language.

The phrase has grown from a spontaneous civic answer to violence into a slogan that Spain's entire political class has unanimously embraced.

Spain's central, regional and local authorities tried to send an image of unity Saturday by walking behind emergency workers, despite earlier criticism that national and regional authorities had not shared information about the attackers well enough with each other. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Controversy mounts over Spain police cooperation after attacks...
  2. Beautiful Barcelona...
  3. European cities add barriers to thwart vehicle attacks...
  4. London, Manchester, Paris et al – state sponsored terror, again and...

Friday, August 25, 2017

Iran bans teachers with acne, unsightly moles and dental problems...

Iran’s education department has issued a list of hundreds of ailments which can be used to exclude teachers from working in the country’s schools.

The document covers all kinds of illnesses and conditions but some of the most controversial relate to the appearance of teachers.

Those working in classrooms should not be cross-eyed, have unsightly facial moles, severe acne or eczema, burn marks or less than 20 teeth. Women with facial hair are also banned.

Other rules relate to conditions which would usually go completely unnoticed such as female infertility or cancers, bladder stones or colour blindness. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. UNLV study: Students perform better with attractive teachers...
  2. Ridiculously good looking? You're not going to get the job...
  3. Forget university! It's a PRETTY FACE that helps guarantee a ...
  4. Pret A Manger staff give free coffee to their favourite customers...
  5. You don't need a uni degree if you are good-looking...
  6. Paris restaurant 'keeps ugly diners hidden'
  7. 41% of young women prefer bigger boobs than high IQ'
  8. BBC presenter dropped because 'she was not young and pretty enough'
  9. Jealous wives in Italy launch petition against " too sexy " waitress!!!
  10. Parents in Italy angry with beauty queen "too attractive" to be teacher!!!

Are Facebook friends really your friends?

Legally, Facebook friends aren't necessarily your friends.

That was the opinion from a Florida appeals court Wednesday. In a 10-page opinion, the court ruled that Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko doesn't need to recuse herself because an attorney involved in a case in her courtroom is a Facebook "friend." The case involved a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills.

The Miami Herald reports the ruling notes that Facebook data mining and algorithms lead to people accepting friend requests from people they hardly know or who they are only acquainted with in professional circles.

But the fight over Facebook friendship continues. An appeals court in Palm Beach has ruled to the contrary. That means the question over the true meaning of social media friendship could eventually be decided by the Florida Supreme Court. Source...

Related posts:
  1. Can I be your friend? He goes on a real-life Facebook quest!!!
  2. 80% of people in China lack real friends...
  3. Unborn baby has a Facebook profile!!!
  4. Garrison Keillor has been "Unfriended." Hilarious Facebook woes...
  5. Kate Miller-Heidke: Be your Facebook friend? Are you fucking kidding me?

Samuel L Jackson and Magic Johnson mistaken for 'lazy migrants' by Italians after shopping in Tuscany



Samuel L Jackson and Magic Johnson might be most people’s idea of household names but the two high-profile individuals have been mistaken for immigrants on holiday in Tuscany.

The acclaimed Hollywood actor and retired basketball player were pictured sitting on a bench surrounded by luxury shopping bags, including Louis Vuitton and Prada, in Forte dei Marmi.

Johnson shared a photo of himself and Jackson in the popular tourist seaside town on Twitter, saying: “Sam and I chilling out on a bench yesterday in Forte dei Marmi, Italy. The fans started lining up to take pictures with us.”

The image was then widely shared on social media, with Italians assuming the pair were “migrants” and becoming outraged they had chosen to embark on an extravagant shopping spree with money from the state. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Totally failed at life?
  2. German newspaper apologises for publishing false...
  3. "One word says it all. Asian"
  4. Did you hear the one about the Iranian-American? 

Chinese soldiers failed fitness tests because ‘they are too unfit and masturbate too much’

The Chinese army has revealed why it believes so many people have failed its fitness testing – and it makes for pretty bizarre reading.

While some of the complaints make sense, with the military saying 20% failed because they were overweight, others are slightly less conventional.

They include military advice to young people to cut down on video games, using their smartphones, and even masturbating.

It has been forced to publish a list of principles for candidates to follow, which has been published in its mouthpiece the People’s Liberation Army Daily.

In one city, 57% of recruits failed the test. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Is masturbation good for you?
  2. The little known benefits of masturbation...
  3. The world's masturbating champion???
  4. Japan’s first masturbation bar for women opens in Shibuya...
  5. Can one masturbate oneself to death? Apparently, this Brazlian boy did...
  6. Brazilian woman wins the right to watch porn and masturbate at work...
  7. Ernest Borgnine: The secret of long life? I masturbate a lot!!! 

Controversy mounts over Spain police cooperation after attacks...

Catalan officials have denied accusations that the police there ignored warnings about members of the terror cell behind last week's deadly attacks and refused to cooperate with the national force.

Politicians and the police force in the Catalonia region have had to answer accusations that they froze out the national force for political reasons.

The vehicle rampages in Barcelona's busy Las Ramblas boulevard last Thursday and in the seaside resort of Cambrils several hours later left 15 people dead and more than 120 injured.

 Both took place in the northeastern region of Catalonia, whose separatist government is deeply at odds with Madrid over its independence drive -- in particular the plan to hold an October 1st referendum on the issue despite a ban issued by the government in Madrid. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. European cities add barriers to thwart vehicle attacks...
  2. Parents catch FBI in plot to force mentally ill son to be a right...
  3. Most terrorist plots in the US aren't invented by Al Qaeda...
  4. FBI organizes almost all terror plots in the US...
  5. Decoding the Paris attacks: ISIS blowback or French-Israeli false flag?
  6. Questions remain over Champs-Élysées attacker’s links to IS group...
  7. 'Evidence proves 9/11 story is a lie'
  8. The FBI came to my house because I participated in anti-Israel protest...
  9. The Osama bin Laden cock and bull story, creating evidence where is none...

Hero Andrew Wakefield...

(...)

Galileo and Semmelweis were treated the same way that Dr Andrew Wakefield was treated a generation ago when he proved that the same strain of live measles virus that was in GlaxoSmithKline’s MMR vaccine was found in the infected bowels of a series of severely regressed autism patients, all of whom had been suffering with severe abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea soon after they each one had been injected with GSK’s live virus MMR shot (findings which, by the way, have been replicated a number of times by other independent researchers).

Dr Wakefield and his 11 co-authors in the research group weren’t really trying to make the point that the new syndrome they were researching was an iatrogenic disorder, but that is how many of the perpetrators understood it. The series of victims of the MMR shot all had severe, chronic, measles virus enterocolitis and they were all also severely regressed autism patients that had been normal children prior to the MMR inoculations. And because Wakefield defended the study’s findings after it was peer-reviewed and then published in The Lancet (and was then celebrated by the thousands of British parents whose autistic spectrum-afflicted children had suffered similar vaccine-induced disorders), he was hounded mercilessly by the pharmaceutical giant GSK, Rupert Murdoch yellow journalism media empire (Murdoch’s son sat on the board of GSK) and ultimately the Big Pharma-complicit medical establishment that combined to hound him out of his home country of England.

Similarly, Semmelweis was driven out of Austria to his Hungarian homeland, where he was met with similar hostility when he continued to promulgate his findings. Some of his forward-thinking students published journal articles that supported his thesis. And open-minded physicians elsewhere on the European continent were convinced of the truth he had uncovered, so that they too began instituting good hygiene in the delivery rooms. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Dr. Andrew Wakefield discusses his "discredited" study...
  2. Pharma hacks tells HPV vaccine-damaged teen they ‘don’t feel guilty’
  3. Former science chief: 'MMR vaccine fears coming true'
  4. The vaccinated girls: Denmark's HPV victims...
  5. Dr. Wakefield was right: The MMR vaccine-autism connection...
  6. Europe turning against vaccines...
  7. Dr. Andrew Wakefield blasts measles- and autism-causing MMR vaccine...
  8. Autism is "absolutely vaccine induced."

Indian officials are humiliating people who defecate outdoors...

CRAMMED into Meena Choudhary’s mud-brick house in Yeoor, on the outskirts of Mumbai, are a television, fridge and washing machine. Yet until recently her family of six relieved themselves in nearby fields. The morning ritual involved arming herself with a jug, stick and torch, negotiating squelching bogs and tall grass, glancing around for onlookers and thumping the ground a few times to scare off snakes. “It was stressful,” says Mrs Choudhary, who managed to persuade her husband to build a toilet at home two years ago.

Stories like Mrs Choudhary’s are music to the ears of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister. He has pledged to eliminate “open defecation” by 2019. His government says it will spend almost $29bn to that end, providing a subsidy of 12,000 rupees ($187) for every toilet built. It claims the “Clean India Mission” has already led to the construction of 46m latrines, with another 64m to come.

But the scheme is beset by inefficiencies and graft. In December an investigation by the Indian Express revealed that in Dhamtari, a village in the state of Chhattisgarh declared to be “open defecation free”, a third of the households still had no toilet. “Millions of latrines reported built by the government are missing,” write Dean Spears and Diane Coffey in a new book on the subject. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Indian court grants woman divorce over lack of home toilet...
  2. ‘Sell your wife if you can’t afford toilet’
  3. No brides for houses without toilets say 110 villages from ...
  4. 200 girls in India leave boarding school for lack of toilets...
  5. Indian girl kills herself over lack of toilet at home...
  6. Toilet or divorce: Maharashtra woman's ultimatum to husband...
  7. Photo pose with toilet to get married in India!!!
  8. Indian government launches 'no lavatory, no bride' campaign...
  9. Woman in India leaves husband because house had no toilet...

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Life inside the Hermit Kingdom...

European cities add barriers to thwart vehicle attacks...

Even before the attacks last week in Spain, European cities were installing barriers to protect pedestrians after a series of attacks using cars, vans and trucks.

A key inspiration for the current wave of attacks is the Islamic State propagandist Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who is believed to have been killed last year in Syria. “Smash his head with a rock,” he urged the group’s adherents in a 2014 speech, “or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car.”

Several terrorists have done just that. Here’s how countries across Europe are taking steps to increase safety. More + photos...

A sinister war on our right to hold cash...

An operation that began as a seemingly obscure academic discussion three years ago is now becoming a full-blown propaganda campaign by some of the most powerful institutions in the industrialized world. This is what rightly should be termed the War on Cash. Like the War on Terror, the War on Cancer or the War on Drugs, its true agenda is sinister and opaque. If we are foolish enough to swallow the propaganda for complete elimination of cash in favor of pure digital bank money, we can pretty much kiss our remaining autonomy and privacy goodbye. George Orwell’s 1984 will be here on steroids.

Let me be clear. Here we discuss not various block-chain digital technologies, so-called crypto-currencies. We are not addressing private payment systems such as China’s WeChat. Nor do we discuss e-banking or use of bank credit cards such as Visa or Master Card or others. These are of an entirely different quality from the goal of the ongoing sinister war on cash. They are all private services not state.

What we are discussing is a plot, and it is a plot, by leading central banks, select governments, the International Monetary Fund in collusion with major international banks to force citizens—in other words, us!—to give up holding cash or using it to pay for purchases. Instead we would be forced to use digital bank credits. The difference, subtle though it may at first seem, is huge. As in India following the mad Modi US-inspired war on cash late in 2016, citizens would forever lose their personal freedom to decide how to pay or their privacy in terms of money. If I want to buy a car and pay cash to avoid bank interest charges, I cannot. My bank will limit the amount of digital money I can withdraw on any given day. If I want to stay in a nice hotel to celebrate a special day and pay cash for reasons of privacy, not possible. But this is just the surface. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Cashless society alert: Visa will be giving up to $500,000 to...
  2. Cashless transactions a thing of past in Andra Pradesh...
  3. Australia seeks to remove $100 note from circulation...
  4. The countries where cash is on the verge of extinction...
  5. They are after your cash (and if this happens they will get it)
  6. More people keeping cash outside banks...
  7. Why we should fear a cashless world...
  8. But who is the governments’ strongest ally in their War on Cash?

Malaysia’s Najib gets a White House pass...

In asking Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to the White House, US President Donald Trump has extended an invitation to arguably Southeast Asia’s biggest crook among the region’s current leaders and one who has jailed or threatened the country’s opposition into near irrelevance.

The White House didn’t answer a request for comment. But in a prepared statement quoted in the New York Times, the administration said the visit is intended to “strengthen and broaden our bilateral relationship and expand regional cooperation with one of America’s closest partners in Southeast Asia.”

After initially embracing Najib as a moderate Muslim leader of a prosperous democracy, even inviting him on a golf date in Hawaii, former President Barack Obama distanced himself from the Malaysian premier as the revelations of his corruption grew.

(...)

Najib’ s visit is scheduled for Sept. 12, according to the New York Times. It has been met with incredulity by critics, who point out that Najib has been under fire even before he became prime minister. He was the focus of a huge scandal in the previous decade for steer a €114.96 million bribe (US$135.7 million at current exchange rates) to the United Malays National Organization, the country’s biggest political party, on the purchase of Scorpene submarines from the French munitions maker DCN. Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian beauty who had figured in the case was murdered by two of Najib’s bodyguards after demanding US$500,000 from Abdul Razak Baginda, the prime minister’s close friend and confederate in the affair. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Najib’s spectacular carnival of thievery...
  2. Malaysian opposition figure calls PM Najib a Crook, faces suit...
  3. New round of repression in Malaysia...
  4. Thousands march in Malaysian capital calling for PM Najib to...
  5. 1MDB: The inside story of the world’s biggest financial scandal...

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Trump has been subject to a military coup behind the scenes – this is the beginning of the end for his presidency...

Savour it with every fibre of your being, because such events come seldom and are usually over in minutes. And don’t stare directly at it: the flash of hope could cauterise the retina. But for the moment at least, the madness of the Trump presidency has been partially eclipsed.

This is not to suggest that Monday’s speech about increasing troop deployment to Afghanistan and US policy in South Asia was dazzlingly impressive in itself. Despite being one of those rare autocue-obedient recitals that tempt the willfully gullible to imagine he is becoming “presidential”, it had its absurdist flourishes. You had to smile at “I studied Afghanistan in great detail, and from every conceivable angle.” An hour earlier, he almost certainly thought Afghanistan was Jennifer Aniston’s younger sister, Afgh.

Among other proofs of his copious studies, he said that America’s longest war has been going on for 17 years (rather than not quite 16), and that the failed state is led by a prime minister (rather than a president). But beyond the default bombast and ignoramus howlers, the speech offered encouragement in what would, until a few months ago, have been the unlikeliest way.

With Afghanistan, Trump has had two opposing voices screaming at him. In one ear, the America First far right, as represented by his own instincts and the lovable likes of Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon, demanded the complete withdrawal of US troops. In the other, the Generals insisted this would leave Afghanistan to the tender mercies of the Taliban and even less gentlemanly Islamist outfits; that more troops, rather than less or none, was the way to go. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Trump has nearly bankrupted secret service with his constant travel...
  2. Trump, emulate Gorbachev and get out of Afghanistan...
  3. British bookies say gamblers are betting Trump won't ...
  4. Trump accused of 'shocking ignorance' as he repeats Chinese...

Here’s how much of your life the United States has been at war...

President Trump’s youngest son, Barron, was born in 2006, more than four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and four years after American troops first entered Afghanistan with the goal of driving out the Taliban. Barron, in other words, has never lived in a United States where there weren’t troops fighting in Afghanistan; on Monday night, his father announced that this fight would continue.

It isn’t just Barron whose life has overlapped with a nation in conflict. In 2015, we looked at the extent to which all Americans have lived through any number of years in which the country has been at war. In light of Trump’s decision to keep that fight going, we decided to revisit the graphic at the heart of that analysis, showing how the nation’s armed conflicts have defined Americans’ lives.

At left, below, the U.S. population by birth year. (The most recent available data is from 2016.) Each bar is color-coded by the percentage of time that people born in that year have lived in a United States that has been fighting a war. At right, the breakdown of those conflicts over the span of an American’s life. The definitions here can be a little squishy, admittedly, but the general markers for when conflicts began and ended give a sense of how much of our lives the country has been at war. (For the sake of clarity, any period of conflict in a year is counted as a year at war.) Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Trump, emulate Gorbachev and get out of Afghanistan...
  2. The 16 years' war and its cost...
  3. Obama the war criminal butcherer of women and children...
  4. The real John McCain..
  5. Fifteen years into the Afghan war, do Americans know the truth?
  6. Who got us into these endless wars?
  7. Taxpayer Burden: Cost of war in Afghanistan hits $4million an hour...

If student loans were honest...

The Real Cause of Natural Disasters Might Surprise You...

What really causes natural disasters? At first glance that may sound like a silly question. We all know that natural disasters are acts of God/random occurrences that we have no control over. They don’t really have a unifying cause. They just happen.

That’s one way to look at it. But after hearing about the flooding that New Orleans experienced earlier this month, I realized that there’s another way to look at what causes natural disasters. Read the following account of what happened to New Orleans recently, and see if you can spot the real cause of the flooding.

(...)

So after enduring the worst natural disaster in American history, New Orleans was given billions of dollars to fix their flood control infrastructure, yet the city government has utterly failed to follow through. And let’s not forget what happened after Katrina. Multiple investigations found that the levees failed due to things like poor design, improper materials, and a lack of maintenance. And everyone knew for decades that one day those levees would fail, yet they kept kicking the can down the road. They’re still kicking the can.

So what really causes a natural disaster? Is it really an act of God, or are people to blame? Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Italy never learns from its earthquakes...
  2. Nepal earthquake 'a disaster experts knew was coming'
  3. HAARP, a weapon that creates earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones?
  4. Scientists on trial in Italy for failing to predict L'Aquila earthquake...

Everyone is wrong about North Korea...

 Imagine a world where one country – country X – is bombing at least seven countries at any one time and is seeking to bomb an eighth, all the while threatening an adversarial ninth state – country Y – that they will bomb that country into oblivion, as well. Imagine that in this world, country X already bombed country Y back into the Stone Age several decades ago, which directly led to the current adversarial nature of the relationship between the two countries.

Now imagine that country Y, which is currently bombing no one and is concerned mostly with well-founded threats against its own security, threatens to retaliate in the face of this mounting aggression if country X attacks them first. On top of all this, imagine that only country Y is portrayed in the media as a problem and that country X is constantly given a free pass to do whatever it pleases.
Now replace country X with the United States of America and country Y with North Korea to realize there is no need to imagine such a world. It is the world we already live in.

As true as all of this is, the problem is constantly framed as one caused by North Korea alone, not the United States. “How to Deal With North Korea,” the Atlantic explains. “What Can Trump Do About North Korea?” the New York Times asks. “What Can Possibly Be Done About North Korea,” the Huffington Post queries. Time provides 6 experts discussing “How We Can Solve the Problem” (of North Korea). “North Korea – what can the outside world do?” asks the BBC. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Chances of imminent war with North Korea ‘wildly overblown,’
  2. It’s time to stop pretending North Korea is a threat to...
  3. Enter Pyongyang...
  4. 'Executed' Kim Jong-Un girlfriend reappears on North Korea television alive...
  5. North Korea's invisible phone, killer dogs and other such stories - why the...
  6. The secret item found in every North Korean home...
  7. Choco pies: The smuggled treats of North Korea...
  8. And Hollywood's latest bad guys are... the North Koreans!

How Google is secretly recording YOU through your mobile, monitoring millions of conversations every day and storing the creepy audio files...

DID you know that Google has been recording you without your knowledge?

The technology giant has effectively turned millions of its users' smartphones into listening devices that can capture intimate conversations - even when they aren't in the room.

If you own an Android phone, it's likely that you've used Google's Assistant, which is similar to Apple's Siri.

Google says it only turns on and begins recording when you utter the words "OK Google".

But a Sun investigation has found that the virtual assistant is a little hard of hearing.

In some cases, just saying "OK" in conversation prompted it to switch on your phone and record around 20 seconds of audio. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Facebook wants to SPY on you through your webcam or phone...
  2. Digital spies in your home (not mine)
  3. All Apple devices, including iPhones and Macs, are CIA ...
  4. How spy tech firms let governments see everything on a smartphone...

Duterte faces nationwide revolt over drugs war after killing of schoolboy sparks outrage...

A horrifying image of a schoolboy being dragged to a violent death in a dirty alleyway has galvanised the Philippines against a brutal state-led war on drugs that has killed over 12,500 people in the last year.

For a nation now largely immune to the bloodied corpses of alleged small time drugs users and dealers dumped on the streets, the graphic reports of the final moments of Kian Delos Santos, 17, who was allegedly shot three times by undercover police officers, have been too much to bear.

His killing last week has united the public, senior politicians and the Catholic Church into the most significant sweep of mass protests since President Rodrigo Duterte pushed for a savage crackdown on drugs after his election last June.

In the case of Delos Santos, the police initially claimed he had fired first.

But their story was contradicted by witnesses and CCTV footage that showed the teenager being dragged down alleyways into a dead-end corner where he was asked to run with a gun, and shot when he did.

He was heard screaming “Please can I go home, I have school tomorrow.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Duterte, the Philippines and a psychopathic reign of terror...
  2. Anger simmers in Philippines over Duterte's drug war...
  3. Nationwide outrage after Duterte's drug war results in murder of...
  4. Bloodiest week yet: At least 80 dead in Duterte's war on drugs...
  5. Philippine police 'dumping bodies' of drug war victims...
  6. Bodies every night: documenting the brutal Philippine drug war...
  7. More than 1000 suspects killed per month in Philippines drug crackdown...

Woman quits expensive rents to live in a van...

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Barclays Installs Desk Sensors To Monitor Employees...

As we reported last month, a Wisconsin company called Three Square Market has become the first company in the US to offer microchip implants to its employees. The firm, which designs software for breakroom markets, wants employees to use microchips to help facilitate vending-machine payments. The firm wanted to use its employees as test subjects for their product. And though the program was strictly voluntary, it marks an uncomfortable beginning of a trend that could someday result in all humans being involuntarily microchipped.

Now, across the pond, companies are escalating efforts to monitor their employees.

Barclays Plc has installed devices at its London headquarters that track how much time bankers spend at their desks. While a spokesperson for the bank says the devices aren’t meant to evaluate employees’ performance, their introduction has clearly spooked members of the rank-and-file, who leaked the story to Bloomberg.

The devices are manufactured by OccupEye and use heat and motion sensors to record how long employees are spending at their posts. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. US firm plans to fit employees with microchip implants...
  2. Australia is to be the first country int he world that will begin to...
  3. The emerging "mark of the beast" system...
  4. Australians embracing super-human microchip technology...
  5. Swede becomes first person to board a plane with just a wave of his hand...
  6. Swedes replace credit cards with hand swipe...
  7. Biometric tattoos used to monitor health provoke privacy concerns...
  8. 10,000 people already have digital chip implants...
  9. Office puts chips under staff's skin...

Think tank proves mass censorship of internet worldwide...

(...)

Faithful to the sub-title of the report, “Solutions to Continue Independent Research of Factual Truth”, it reveals many hard-hitting practical tools to uphold free speech:

For anti-censorship search engine alternatives to replace Google, Bing and Yahoo, it recommends DuckDuckGo, Qwant, UnBubble, and GoodGopher; For anti-censorship video service alternatives to replace YouTube, it recommends Minds, Vidme, DailyMotion, and Vimeo, combined with Patreon for monetization; For anti-censorship social media platform alternatives to replace Facebook and Twitter, it recommends Minds, Seen, Gab, and Diaspora. It also recommends a list of uncensored reliable and credible news outlets which give fair coverage to independent or alternative news reports.

The inter-governmental Council on Alternative Policy Studies (CAPS) proved that

“the propaganda narrative of mainstream ‘news’ media, that” censorship “is only prohibited… if done by an official government agency, or by a near-monopoly as a quasi-public utility, is false… it completely ignores the very existence of human rights… at the higher level of international law.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Ghost Banning on Social Media – the start of systematic censorship...
  2. Fake News: The latest effort to destroy alternative media...
  3. How the UK passed the most invasive surveillance law in democratic...
  4. Two-thirds of the world's internet users live under government...
  5. Free expression under worldwide assault...

Reporter who exposed BBC pedophilia cover up found dead...

Liz MacKean, the former British investigative reporter who exposed Jimmy Savile and the culture of pedophile protection at the BBC, has been found dead. She was 52.

[ynw] MacKean worked at the BBC until she quit in 2013 after executives decided to ban her groundbreaking and brave investigation into predatory pedophile Jimmy Savile in order to protect him and other pedophiles.

Dismissed by the establishment as mad and dangerous, MacKean was finally vindicated when the truth about Savile’s pedophilia eventually came out in 2012, a full year after MacKean first tried to bring his notorious crimes to light.

The BBC, who blocked her groundbreaking investigation from airing and spent the next few years attempting to destroy her reputation, are reporting that she died of “complications from a stroke.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Jimmy Savile and BBC crimes...
  2. How Jimmy Savile, master manipulator, evaded exposure...
  3. Was there a sex ring inside the BBC? The Jimmy Savile affair...
  4. How does the State get away with grooming 13-year-old girls for...
  5. Hollie Greig, Scotland's massive paedophile cover-up...
  6. French pedophile leadership...
  7. Diplomat pedophilia is widespread...

Triple talaq: How Indian Muslim women fought, and won, the divorce battle...

Over the years, Muslim women in India have complained of living in perpetual fear of being thrown out of their matrimonial homes in a matter of seconds because a Muslim man, if he chooses, can end years of marriage just by saying the word "talaq" (divorce) three times.

A campaign to end the practice of unilateral instant "triple talaq" began in India several decades ago.

But it picked up steam last year when a 35-year-old mother-of-two approached the Supreme Court seeking justice.

Shayara Bano's petition, filed in February 2016, said she was visiting her parents' home in the northern state of Uttarakhand for medical treatment when she received her so-called talaqnama - a letter from her husband telling her that he was divorcing her.

Her attempts to reach her husband of 15 years, who lives in the city of Allahabad, were unsuccessful. She was also denied access to her children. Full story...

Duterte, the Philippines and a psychopathic reign of terror...

It is time for the Philippines to face up to the fact that its president, Rodrigo Duterte, is a psychopath drunk on killing. The reign of terror he has initiated and promoted has in just one year claimed more victims than the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other Islamist terror groups have in the whole of Southeast Asia and the western world in 20 years – including the 3,000 dead in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

The latest rash of killings – 81 in the past few days – includes a terrified 17-year-old boy named Kian delos Santos who was filmed on CCTV, given a gun and told by police to run while screaming that he had to go to school the next day. His body was found curled into a fetal position with the gun next to him. The killing has ignited protests across Manila by a few hundred people – and international condemnation. But, sadly, previous local protests have been muted in relation to the outrageous scale of deaths, more than 7,000 and climbing, most of them poor and powerless.

Although he noted the arrest of the three policemen who killed the youth, the president remains unrepentant. “There is no due process in my mouth,” Duterte once told reporters prior to the latest outrage. “You can’t stop me and I’m not afraid even if you say that I can end up in jail.” Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Anger simmers in Philippines over Duterte's drug war...
  2. Nationwide outrage after Duterte's drug war results in murder of...
  3. Bloodiest week yet: At least 80 dead in Duterte's war on drugs...
  4. Philippine police 'dumping bodies' of drug war victims...
  5. Bodies every night: documenting the brutal Philippine drug war...
  6. More than 1000 suspects killed per month in Philippines drug crackdown...
  7. Duterte threatens to kill rights activists if drug problem worsens...
  8. Duterte death squads...
  9. Philippines war on drugs: the unheard stories...
  10. Filipino photographer puts Duterte death squads into focus...(graphic)

French nightclub gives women free drinks for wearing short skirts!!!

A French nightclub has prompted outrage over an unusual pricing policy, which rewarded girls in short skirts with cheaper drinks.

“The shorter it is, the more you get in return!” promised the L'Annexe club in Saint-Laurent-du-Var on the French Riviera.

All women attending the club on Friday night in a skirt measuring less than 25cm were allowed in for free, according to a publicity video.

Skirts between 18cm and 23cm long would entitle the wearer to one free drink, while those wearing a skirt less than 18cm long would be ‘rewarded’ with a bottle of Rosé wine.

 The nightclub included some conditions on the deal: it was only valid before 2:30am, and “skirts worn over leggings, opaque tights, trousers, etc.” were excluded from the offer. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Chinese restaurant offers bra size discounts...
  2. Nightclub in Singapore offers free drinks ... based on bra size!!!
  3. Mini-skirts an eyesore in Korean offices!!!
  4. Thailand's sexy school uniforms...
  5. Outrage as 9 Sudanese women face 40 lashes for wearing trousers...

Trump has nearly bankrupted secret service with his constant travel...

Mosques speak out in Indian city of Hyderabad to stop sale of brides to Arab men...

Mosques in the Indian technology hub of Hyderabad are joining a growing campaign to stop schoolgirls being sold as brides to elderly Arab men, authorities said on Monday, amid an outcry about a new spate of cases.

India launched an investigation last week into the marriage of a 16-year-old girl with a 65-year-old Oman national in exchange for 500,000 Indian rupees ($7,800) after she contacted her mother from Muscat crying for help.

Hyderabad police said the girl's father had given fake documents regarding her age - as girls in India cannot legally marry until age 18 - and has been taken into custody for questioning. The police are looking for the qazi who performed the wedding in a Hyderabad hotel.

Campaigners said scores of such marriages are performed every year and in most cases the girls are abused physically and sexually, or pushed into domestic servitude. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Under-age Indian girls flown to Dubai for sex feast...
  2. “The Saudis usually ask for 12-year-olds.”
  3. 60-year-old Saudi man "wins" 10-year-old child in...
  4. Afghan father sells 6-year-old daughter into marriage for a...
  5. 65 year old man marries 12 year old girl! 
  6. Child marriages make up one third in Turkey...
  7. ‘Some girls have been married 60 times by the time they turn 18′

Monday, August 21, 2017

Businessman who paid £1,200 to fly to South Africa with British Airways is given a seat that a passenger urinated on...

A businessman who paid more than £1,200 to fly to South Africa with British Airways was given a seat that a previous passenger had urinated over.

And to add insult to injury, he claims that when he protested, a British Airways stewardess handed him wet wipes to clear up the mess himself.

IT consultant Andrew Wilkinson, 39, says it happened when he boarded a flight at the end of July to jet out from Heathrow to see his parents.

After finding his seat in economy, he noticed it was damp. Mr Wilkinson, from South-West London, said: 'I called the stewardess who agreed the dampness was urine. She went to the toilet and came back with some wipes and expected me to clean up the mess myself.

'I told her, "I can't sit here" but she just laughed. Her response was, "I can see you are going to work me really hard on this flight, aren't you?"' Full story...

Related posts:
  1. United Airlines faces more problems after injured wheelchair...
  2. Flying the bloody skies...
  3. Jimmy Kimmel on passenger dragged off United flight...
  4. United Airlines just tried to forcibly remove another Passenger from its...
  5. United Airlines is a disaster...
  6. Man filmed being dragged off United flight causes outrage in China...
  7. United Airlines Forcibly Drags Doctor Off Plane After Overbooking
  8. Delta passenger kicked off flight after using restroom...

State authorities warn that letter ordering silence on refugee crimes is a fake...

The interior ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has warned that a letter being shared on social media which appears to show them ordering police to cover up refugee crimes is in fact fake.

A copy of the letter first appeared on social media on Tuesday evening under the title “police should silence crimes committed by migrants,” Spiegel reports. But the NRW interior ministry said on Wednesday that it was a “brazen fake.”

The letter, which was even shared on Twitter by a member of the federal parliament, appeared to be sent by NRW interior minister Herbert Reul to the police headquarters of Cologne and Leverkusen announcing “a regulation for how police officers are to deal with migrant crime.”

 The fake letter detailed how officers should fill out crime reports in pencil so that they could later be corrected. It also appeared to tell officers not to even register crimes committed by “refugees, asylum seekers or people with a migrant background.” It further warned officers who did not comply that they faced being fired from the force. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. German newspaper apologises for publishing false allegations of...
  2. Refugees to Germany commit tiny proportion of sex crimes...
  3. Hoax Map counters absurd rumours about refugees in Germany...
  4. Calling bullshit on the anti-refugee video taking the internet by storm...
  5. The European refugee crisis and Syria explained...
  6. Press publishing 'consistent stream' of inaccurate stories about Muslims...

Inspired by the move to digital economy in India, Monopoly goes on a cashless drive...

Want your children to know about cashless transactions and how the digital economy works?

Mr. Monopoly simplifies this for you by introducing Monopoly Electronic Banking, a modern twist on the classic Monopoly game loved by one and all.

Inspired by the cashless drive and the move towards a digital economy in India, Mr. Monopoly made a historic addition to the classic board game by introducing a cashless version, encouraging players to upgrade to "Monopoly Electronic Banking" with a series of incentives. Check out the announcement here.

 Monopoly Electronic Banking, comes with 4 color coded debit cards and an easy play electronic banking unit. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. India's Modi calls for move towards cashless society...
  2. Cashless transactions a thing of past in Andra Pradesh...
  3. The real Indian currency crisis: things you don't hear in the news...
  4. What do the cash queues tell us about India?
  5. India: What’s really driving big push for Aadhaar?

Indian court grants woman divorce over lack of home toilet...

An Indian woman has been granted permission to divorce her husband because he would not build a toilet in their home.

The woman in her 20s had been married for five years, but had been forced to relieve herself in nearby fields.

Indian law only allows divorce in limited circumstances such as domestic violence or proven cruelty.

The woman's lawyer told the AFP news agency that the judge said forced open defecation was a form of torture.

The court, in the state of Rajasthan, said that women are often forced to wait until dark to travel to the open fields used instead of toilets. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. ‘Sell your wife if you can’t afford toilet’
  2. No brides for houses without toilets say 110 villages from ...
  3. 200 girls in India leave boarding school for lack of toilets...
  4. Indian girl kills herself over lack of toilet at home...
  5. Toilet or divorce: Maharashtra woman's ultimatum to husband...
  6. Photo pose with toilet to get married in India!!!
  7. Indian government launches 'no lavatory, no bride' campaign...
  8. Woman in India leaves husband because house had no toilet...

Don't be a sucker (1947)

Anger simmers in Philippines over Duterte's drug war...

Mourners at the funeral of a Philippine man who police shot dead protested his innocence on Sunday, the latest sign of rising anger over President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody campaign to stamp out drugs.

More than 12,500 people, many small-time drug users and dealers, have been killed since Duterte took office in June 2016. Police say about 3,500 of those killed were shot by officers in self-defense.

Human rights monitors believe many of the remaining two thirds were killed by assassins operating with police backing or by police disguised as vigilantes - a charge the police deny.

On Sunday, dozens of mourners wearing with white T-shirts with the slogan "Kill drugs, not people", bore the coffin of Leover Miranda to his grave in a Manila cemetery. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Nationwide outrage after Duterte's drug war results in murder of...
  2. Bloodiest week yet: At least 80 dead in Duterte's war on drugs...
  3. Philippine police 'dumping bodies' of drug war victims...
  4. Bodies every night: documenting the brutal Philippine drug war...
  5. More than 1000 suspects killed per month in Philippines drug crackdown...
  6. Duterte threatens to kill rights activists if drug problem worsens...
  7. Duterte death squads...
  8. Philippines war on drugs: the unheard stories...
  9. Filipino photographer puts Duterte death squads into focus...(graphic)