News Miscellany

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Kansas Police Set Up Cameras to Spot a Cougar, Instead Found People in Gorilla Suits | Nerdist

[JoeP]

No clowns?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Trump's call with Taiwan president risks diplomatic dispute - POLITICO

Oh neat, a bull in a nuclear china shop.

[Watser?]

Fake news and shit:

The so called "journalist" Roy Gutman is marketing an old fairy tale in three acts. It was the Syrian President Assad who created ISIS. Assad also faked Al-Qaeda bombings in Syria to get sympathy in the "west". The Daily Beast even paid Gutman to publish this nonsense.

But where did Gutman get such extraordinary information? On would think that some very credible witnesses were needed and on-the-ground research necessary to verify these claims.

...

In the second act of the farce Gutman meets another witness:

the actual numbers were smaller, according to Abdullah Hakawati, an activist who helped organize anti-government protests in Aleppo ... Hakawati provided the name of the officer, but he could not be reached to verify the account.
Elijah Magnier urged Gutman (who does not speak Arabic) to find out what that activist's alleged surname means.

From the description of a book titled The Hakawati we learn:

As the family gathers, stories begin to unfold: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle East.

Ha! Some Syrian activist made a joke over duping a gullible journalist over coffee in Istanbul by giving his name as Mr. Storyteller! Dumb as bricks the journalist and his editors at the Daily Beast fall for it.

M of A - Roy Gutman's Hakawatis

[Ari]

Fuck you 2016!
Oakland UG party fire, 9 confirmed dead, more to come.
Oakland: Nine bodies removed from burned warehouse

No friends died but friends of friends certainly have.
The place was a firetrap due in part to a shitty owner who seems to prize his collection of art pieces over people, assumption that it would never happen, and the bay area renters market which has forced queer artists into illegal warehouse spaces so they can afford the rent. Zoned as a warehouse the place housed around 50 people but lacked smoke detectors or a sprinkler system and had a makeshift staircase of tinder (wood pallets) to their second floor.

The extremely devastating thing is that many of the dead are likely queer, trans or PoC who lacked safe spaces (yes even in the bay area) and have found a home in the UG (underground) scene for its love and open acceptance.

This is a libertarian dream, 'take your own risk' flaunting of regulations combined with the shrinking of government so that inspectors were overwhelmed, being denied entry when they finally got around to it, and then rescheduling for a much later date.

Given the current climate, the aftermath may make physical spaces safer but will certainly gut the safe spaces of trans and queer folk.

And of course, just to prove how shitty they are, plenty of white libertarian/conservative minded people have come out to troll comments in threads of people searching for loved ones (a google doc of those still missing had to be taken offline due to trolls) and give their armchair advice of how to deal in such a crisis.

Dear universe, please stop killing my community.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Iceland election: Pirate Party asked to try to form government - BBC News

[Ari]

Now 30 confirmed dead.
I expect the asshole who ran the collective and the random out of town guy who owned it will be facing serious jail time.

Poor guy lost his collection of art made by poor artists, feel sad for him.
"Confirmed. Everything I worked so hard for is gone. Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel safe and sound... it's as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope.... to be standing now in poverty of self worth."

ETA: If people in the know are to be believed, his children were at a hotel because CPS was called over his meth use and violence and they were bared from returning to the warehouse.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Finland shooting: Three women killed in Imatra

[Watser?]

Free Speech in the US now has an Israel exception...

Senate approves bill seen as threat to campus criticism of Israel | The Electronic Intifada

Moar: Free Speech Advocates Warn that Anti-Semitism Bill Could Make Activism a Civil Rights Violation

[Watser?]

Moon of Alabama has a (very biased against takfiris) round up on Aleppo:
M of A - Syria Roundup: East-Aleppo Siege Nears Its End

Also an awesome map:


Map doesn't mention the Kurds expanding their territory too in some kind of understanding with the pro-government forces.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Nigel Farage shortlisted for Time magazine's person of the year award | Politics | The Guardian

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Texas sinkhole swallows two cars, killing a sheriff's deputy

[slimshady2357]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Nigel Farage shortlisted for Time magazine's person of the year award | Politics | The Guardian

Oh boy I see Trump is shortlisted too...

World imitates art again as it seems the writers of this world ran out of ideas and are just re-hashing old plot lines.

Adolf Hilter: 1938 - Person of the Year: A Photo History - TIME

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

This was ten years ago. Plus ca change.

[Watser?]

Washington Post posts fake news article on fake news:

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group

Washington Post gets exposed, and all major U.S. ‘News’ media refuse to report it

[Watser?]

Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and confidant of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is a director and board member at the Kushner Foundation which has given money to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as extremist Jewish groups connected to violent attacks against Palestinians, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Monday.

Did Trump's Son-In-Law Finance Israeli Extremists and Illegal Settlements?

[SR71]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Texas sinkhole swallows two cars, killing a sheriff's deputy

OPERATION JESSE HELM OPSEC COMPROMISED

[erimir]

On Kushner: Yes, but I was assured that Trump would be neutral in his dealings with Israel and Palestine so it was possible he would be good on those issues.

On WaPo: For a take on the Intercept article you linked to, there's this: Information Warfare and the Progressive's Dilemma - Lawyers, Guns & Money

My impression is that Greenwald would like to pretend Russia isn't engaged in disinformation campaigns for various reasons, and that sites he mostly agrees with can't be duped or purposely spreading misleading news. But his site liked to report on hacked emails that contained banal campaign activities* as if there was something scandalous, so he's a bit of a purveyor of bullshit himself sometimes.

Not to mention he's complaining that it's all guilt-by-association, which happens to be one of Greenwald's favorite attacks. (ETA: one of Greenwald's favorite attacks to employ, not just to complain about.)

Not that there aren't reasons to be careful in dealing with blacklists, or to be skeptical of mostly anonymous groups that compile them.

*OMG, the Clinton team reached out to journalists/writers that were writing stories relevant to their campaign! This is the same thing as corruption in the media! Bernie Sanders would never talk to a journalist in an attempt to get favorable coverage! NEVAR!

[slimshady2357]

Originally Posted by slimshady2357

Oh boy I see Trump is shortlisted too...

World imitates art again as it seems the writers of this world ran out of ideas and are just re-hashing old plot lines.

Adolf Hilter: 1938 - Person of the Year: A Photo History - TIME

And Trump wins it of course. Seriously writers, can we have a new ending this time? Like maybe the wannabe dictator chokes on a chicken bone and dies or something?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Sofia Vergara: US actress faces lawsuit 'from own embryos' - BBC News

wut

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Police warn P.E.I. drivers to stop being so nice after series of accidents | paNOW

#canadianproblems

[Ari]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

Sofia Vergara: US actress faces lawsuit 'from own embryos' - BBC News

Don't breed with assholes.
Given recent cases, it seems like embryo lives matter more than black lives.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Black rights activist Viola Desmond to be 1st Canadian woman on $10 bill - Politics - CBC News

Hey Harriet! Wait up!

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

GOP House approves big fines for 'mass picketing'

At last, the tool to throw the picketers outside Planned Parenthood in jail.