God willing, we'll kill you all...

To start with dry facts:

Russia’s Ministry of Defense plans to build the military’s main church in the Moscow Region, and it’s going to be big. According to blueprints, the church will be 95 meters tall, making it the third tallest Orthodox church on the planet. As it stands, the first and the second tallest are also Russian: Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, and St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St.Petersburg.

“Throughout history, Russians have built monumental churches, chapels, and whole architectural ensembles to commemorate the defenders of the Motherland,” the project’s official webpage says. Thus, the new church follows the traditions and aims at “uniting all the Orthodox servicemen of Russia.”

The Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu stated that both the government and the Russian Orthodox Church approve of the project. The church will be in the Byzantine style and located in Patriot Park in Kubinka, (75 km west of Moscow). It’s earmarked to be completed by 2020.

Few more details from another source:

The idea of building the main temple of the Armed Forces of Russia received the blessing of Patriarch Cyril. The temple will become a spiritual, educational, methodical and educational center for servicemen and other citizens of Russia. An exhibition exposition dedicated to the history of the formation of the Russian state and armed forces will be located on its territory.

To make sure, the planners haven't forgotten anything:

The temple will have several altars, the central one will be named in honor of the main Christian holiday - the Resurrection of Christ, the rest will be dedicated to the heavenly patrons of the different branches of the Armed Forces.

And, for dessert:

The steps of the main church of the Russian Armed Forces,... will be cast from Wehrmacht trophy equipment, said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting of the public council of the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday.

What kind of psychotic mind stands behind this project? Meet Sergei Shoigu:

Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation and and General of the Army that appears in the picture in military uniform and a treasure trove of medals has never served in the military.

No more to be said.

Human rights? Here you go.

This is a seriously mind-boggling bit of news:

Mexico and three Central American countries have filed a protest with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over President Trump’s new asylum policy, arguing their citizens should be allowed to flee their countries to find refuge in the U.S.

Let me see how to translate it to simple Engrish. In effect these four countries are saying: we are shit on human rights, so let somebody else take care of our people... interesting, to say the least.

Cool.

Really, fellow Murcans?

People say lately that the Onion with its biting satire and ad absurdum (invented) situations isn't really catching up with current reality. How true is it, could be seen in this latest story about the Senate judiciary committee hearings of the Judge Kavanaugh possible appointment to the Supreme Court.

A senior Democratic senator has alerted federal investigators to a confidential letter she received regarding Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s conservative nominee for the US supreme court, in an extraordinary move that suggested she had been informed of possible wrongdoing.

And what it the wrongdoing about?

A source who said they were briefed on the contents of the letter said it described an incident involving Kavanaugh and a woman that took place when both were 17 years old and at a party. According to the source, Kavanaugh and a male friend had locked her in a room against her will, making her feel threatened, but she was able to get out of the room. The Guardian has not verified the apparent claims in the letter. It is not yet clear who wrote it.

After reading this, I have decided to make a clean breast of something in my past that might bite me on the backside if and when it suits me the least. I have already published it on FB, but who knows... so here:

When I was about 5 yrs old, my then GF persuaded me to piss from a second floor balcony. Some of the output dropped on a passerby. Hilarity ensued.

So there. Bite me.

The censor - soon in your home too

The censor will call itself "Content Filtering" these days. If you have used something similar in your cable or other TV provider's set top box to prevent your kids from viewing inappropriate context,  you might guess where it is going.

Only now it is done on a completely another level and it is you who are being protected by the omniscient, benevolent and omnipotent eye of your betters. The ones in Brussels this time.

Here it comes, from one of my British friends who will remain unnamed, just in case. The friend is subscribed to Virgin as an Internet provider. This is what appeared on the screen, after the friend tried to get into Breitbart.com:

I am not a great fan of Breitbart, not in its current incarnation, I haste to declare (in case of the above mentioned Big Brother listening in). But this sucks. It sucks in all major ways and should be fought.

So you better fight.

Update: And something similar almost happened here too.

A radically unprecedented and far-reaching proposal that would have given the government the ability to block Israeli web users’ access to parts or the entirety of any website was stopped in its tracks Wednesday morning, hours before it was set to be voted into law by Knesset members who had “no idea” of its far-reaching implications.

People like Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked are a clear and present danger to democracy. That much is clear, unfortunately.

Update 2: OK, more on the internet filters as implemented in UK.

The Guide to ISP web filters is quite a good explainer:

Since 2013 all new customers to the four biggest ISPs - along with many of the smaller providers - were automatically opted in to web filtering. In 2014 this was extended to all existing subscribers too. If you haven't previously chosen to opt out of the filtering, it's likely your connection will be affected.

The Guide talks about 8 categories of verbotten content, one of which at least (Hate Speech) allows the internet provider a great freedom of decision. The article presents porn as the main issue that was resolved thanks to the filters, but in reality it isn't the only one. Virgin, for instance, calls its filtering "Child Safe", which is quite deceptive, obviously, since they use the Hate Speech on political sites as well.

And yes, you can opt out of the filtering, it is an option, not a mandatory one. When you sign up to service, filtering is switched on automatically, so it needs your intervention to remove it.

But make up your own mind.

Lenin and the log: a recent rendition that leaves comedy standing

The oldish post of mine Subbotnik, Lenin and the log is crucial for better understanding of the following. There isn't much verbiage, it is all in the pictures, so go there first.

The article Now I have seen it all... Ballet "Lenin and the log" is faithfully translated here with no additions from yours truly.

It turned out that the video "Lenin with a log", actively discussed in recent days, is not a fake, but a real ballet "Falcons of Revolution" staged by the head of the State Academic Dance Theater of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Bulat Ayukhanov.

The ballet is devoted to the ideas of equality and fraternity on the labor front. The play is divided into three parts. In the first appears the leader of the world proletariat. To the music of Georgy Sviridov "Time, Forward" Ilyich helps his party comrades to carry the log during a proletarian clean-up [Subbotnnik]. The theme of labor enthusiasm continues with a scene in the fields, where ballerinas dance in masks of old women.

In an interview with "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" Bulat Ayukhanov told the details:

"The premiere of the ballet took place in Almaty in 2013 and was a resounding success. Then it was called "Hammer and Sickle". Now we have made some changes and called it "Falcons of the Revolution." The main characters - Abai (Kazakh poet, public figure), Marx, Lenin, Stalin and our Kazakhstani president (Nursultan Nazarbayev) - he appeared on stage at the end of the ballet. "

There is nothing to add, just enjoy.

A virtual portrait of a virtual stranger

People of the Internet... it is a strange transformation that some of us undergo when posting on the interwebs. Every one of us has at least one friend who, while being a perfect, polite and considerate person otherwise, becomes a bloodthirsty and vengeful dragon when he gets behind the wheel of his car. Something similar happens to otherwise nice and well behaved people when they get to the keyboard. Well, I don't know anything about the person described here, aside of his appearances on the net, but I prefer to think of him as if he is that perfect and considerate man (or woman, but since he presents self as a male...).

My acquaintance with Peter (not his "real" Internet moniker, which is also invented, I guess) is relatively fresh, starting with posting an article on a new for me site, where I was invited. The identity of the site will be not disclosed too. It is my first attempt to document that phenomenon, so bear with me - as far as you are able to.

I don't know much about Peter's real persona. Aside from hinting about some kind of education in economics, not much is known about his background, his current occupation and, indeed, his whereabouts (probably somewhere down under, maybe in New Zealand, but not sure about it). Besides publishing seven short and not very intelligible posts on that site, Peter spends most of his time (literally full days, judging by his prodigious output) by issuing unbridled in its toxicity critique of other people's posts. Of course, you might wonder why have I chosen to describe one of the legion? After all, the murky waters of the 'net are full of this kind of fish. But this was exactly the reason - kind of a case study.

Pegging the interlocutor

In most cases, Peter's appearance on a new post starts with him pegging the author to a political/personal position. Why is it so important for him, I am at a loss to explain. After all, people tend to be of mixed beliefs on a variety of subjects, besides, doing so tends to alienate the person being pegged, but here we are*.

... is a classic fascist.
... is a right of centre liberal.
... is a zionist islamophobic nutcase

(names omitted here, of course)

Criticism style

Peter very rarely extends his critique of other people's posts or comments to more than one or two lines. His efforts to provide a detailed response are very few and drown in the sea of one-liners, of a kind you shall observe below. The examples are not sorted in any special order.

• Nutter.
• You haven't made any point worth shit. There is NO PEACE PROCESS you utter clown.
• Actual arguments seem beyond you and your vile ilk.
• I have no clue of what your point is anymore. You're just repeating the same ad hominem shit over and over again. Grow up idiot.
• Well I can't stop you being a knuckle dragging moron.
• No, this is saying that you and your ilk are like a cancer to any leftist movements...
• LOLz at that zionist fraud.
• I was referring to ... gobbledegook response to me. It is unintelligible.
• Right wingnuts that complain that argument against their talking points are 'only insults' are pathetic cry babies.
• Genocidal nut jobs like ... [this one is a fave, being repeated frequently]
• You're an utterly repellent racist scumbag. [another fave]
• Pathetic scum.
• You lack ethics, morality and humanity. You are a racist propagandist for a vile ideology [probably Zionism is meant here] every bit as inhuman as Nazism.
• That makes you a hypocrite. Fascist retard.
• [In one single comment]:
  ...you are too much of a racist
  ...poor confused chap
  ...it's the combination of all your failings and ignorance
  Indeed you are a grade A moron in so many ways.

I assure you that this collection is an infinitesimal part of Peter's comments, collected in a few minutes and not selected to indulge the reader. It is just a part of typical "stream of consciousness".
His use of labels is quite free and doesn't necessarily have any relevance to the subject at hand. I have seen him pegging a person as a "racist" just for asking why petroleum-rich Muslim countries don't accept fugitives from other, war-torn Muslim neighbors. Just like that - go figure...

Complaints about ad hominem

Seeing the style of Peter's dialog, you might be hard put to believe it, but one of his incessant complaints is about people's responses to his, fairly unique, approach to "criticism". I don't know whether the man fully understands the meaning of "ad hominem", but each time someone tries a more muscular approach to Peter's style of attack, he starts whining about their "ad hominem" answers. Mighty strange.

Personal beliefs

Peter's views on the ideal society aren't difficult to guess. Socialism and people's obligation to seize the means of production are his frequent refrain, although he is very economic with details, not offering his recipe on getting there. His other views, though, including his penchant for conspiracy theories, are a doozy, and here come a few examples.

• Every socialist movement has created greater equality.
• Democracy inevitably leads to socialism. That's just a fact.
• Socialism is a result of democracy and freedom.
• Zionism is racism.
• The USA is no better than Nazi Germany.
• Fascism IS capitalism.
• US meddling killed about 5 million Russians in the 1990s under the Harvard Boys of Jeffry Sachs (who largely created the oligarchy that Putin has fought to rein in)
• Russia didn't occupy Crimea.
• Liberals are the petit bourgeoise. The receivers of crumbs from the capitalist class that have traditionally been the circuit breakers that ensured the oligarchs and banksters didn't get hanged from lamp posts.
• Saddam was suckered into invading Kuwait in 1990. Bush Sr instructed the US Ambassador April Glasbie (sp?) to tacitly OK the invasion. That gave cover to putting troops and more bases in the ME and the process of destroying all the ME states that could conceivably run independently of the empire and possibly threaten Israeli dominance.
• 9/11 - of course inside job, with CIA and Mossad leading [no source would be given, the subject is linking to conspiracy videos]
• Anyone who believes the official conspiracy theory of 9/11 is either asleep or stupid.
• I oppose all forms of racism and class war. Zionism is both. It is a cancer on the world of people.
• The US doesn't have allies. It has vassals. Japan is a US occupied vassal state.
• Just living in NZ brings out childish racist abuse from a number of the crazier fascists that post here.
• [On somebody saying something about Soviet bloodbath.] Yes, Russia was nirvana prior to 1917. Not to mention the 1990s under Jeffrey Sachs and the Harvard boys.
• ...CIA believes Israel will collapse and disappear by 2030. One can only hope.
• I stand for a single state. Don't talk to me about humanity you racist filth.
• ISIS didn't throw gays from tall buildings, didn't burn people in cages, didn't drown people... All these are the fake Western productions. Those ISIS videos are fakes.
• ISIS and Al Qaeda were both created and sustained by the USA. They are being protected and transported by US troops in Syria even as the Syrian Arab Army makes gains against them.
• GMOs are entirely about profits for their elite owners. They are attempting to control the world's food supply. This is an evil that we should all be up in arms about. Unfortunately the brain dead will believe the corporate propaganda.
• Your problem is that you cling to the myth that taxpayers fund the government. The reality is that government funds the taxpayers. To believe otherwise is irrational.
• It's because you're a slimy neoconservative who resorts to ad hominem because he can't defend his conspiracy theory about magic muslims in caves. Of course, being an islamophobe, the magic muslim theory is especially double plus good.
• None of you understand the actual nuts and bolts of the system.

This is a brief (believe you me) glance into the activities of Peter, one interesting character, whose name is Legion**...

(*) I haven't used any of the titles Peter used for me, but you can guess that "racist Zionazi" was some of the mildest...
(**) But, hard as it might be to believe, all the quotes are collected from one single character.

An enemy of two states or Move Over, James Bond!

If you are a lover of spy thrillers, you will be astounded reading this article. The slight difference this time is that the article tells a real story of a real spy. A man who, according to the other pro, was

"...the most completely colorless and nondescript person I had ever seen; he could have faded into any crowd and never been noticed." Short, with alert eyes, a receding hairline, a pronounced limp, and a Brooklyn accent...

Different sources describe the man quite differently. Here comes Amazon, where Joseph Katz left a trace, compiling a book of his letters to his brother, poet Menke Katz:

Joseph Katz is the former Chief Executive Officer of Saltzman Enterprises, producers of the James Bond films in London. Living out a kind of nomadic odyssey, Mr. Katz spent time in France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan and Africa, finally settling in the State of Israel. He was instrumental in the formation of the Kibbutz industries in Israel, and he served in the U.S. Merchant Marine.

And here what someone who bothered to put a short blurb in Wiki says:

Joseph Katz (1912—2004) worked for Soviet intelligence from the 1930s to the late 1940s as one of its most active liaison agents. Katz was assigned management of the “First Line,” that part of the NKGB mission aimed at recruiting selected members of the Communist Party USA. He was an agent/group leader (gruppovik) and co-owner of a Soviet front company that manufactured gloves.

Like that parable of the blind men and an elephant... Traced briefly, his life story will look like this (highlights only!): US citizen - Soviet superspy - Merchant Marine seaman - Israeli citizen and founder of kibbutz industries - British resident and inventor - a minor movie industry mogul - one of creators of James Bond character... - etc.

And through all this: Never Done Any Time In The Nick!

Well, read that darn article. Don't drool.

Hat tip: J.Z.

Nike's Pro Hijab as a stepladder to XXI century

The new foray of Nike into the Islamic fashion would have passed unmentioned on these here pages. Whatever I am and whatever I do, fashion of any kind isn't of interest to me. Normally. So, if Nike people want to expand their market to the Islamic world, more power to them. Whatever.

However, this article on this same subject (some well meaning friend sent me) suffers from so many dumb superlatives that I couldn't resist. Starting with this headline:

'Pro Hijab'​ Nike's Latest Stroke of Marketing Genius

But wait, it is just an aperitive, so to say. Here comes a pearl:

No, the hijab and accompanying "What Will They Say About You?" ad campaign is far more about Nike marketing itself to the 1.6 BILLION Muslims across the world and winning their loyalty as the Islamic world rapidly modernizes in the 21st century.

"rapidly modernizes in the 21st century" - believe it or not. Seriously?

And if you want to know what is it Nike stands for and against, here is another good one:

We are seeing a wave of Islamophobia in the United States and across the world that is unprecedented in its scale and explicitness, as Donald Trump continues his attempt to institute a "Muslim ban" and French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen talks about outright banning the hijab and "burkini" swimsuit in public.

Seriously?

Well, Jim Weber is the Founder & CEO at Weber PPC - Marketing and Advertising, so he knows all about selling stuff, I guess. We better listen.

Garrison Keillor and the Trumpists (aka the great unwashed)

As a person who doesn't understand a lot about America, I have been trying to keep away from the events of this unfortunate (for America) year. And I wouldn't even mention the results of that drama/tragicomedy. Some good people told me off and I shall heed their advice, given in a friendly way.

However, many questions remain and even accumulate. This post was triggered (yes, I know) by an innocent enough occasion. Reading a book Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor, which book is, in fact, a collection of his "it's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon" monologues, which I loved - terminally and unconditionally - from the first listening occasion, back then in 199... If somebody requires a list of things/people that make America great, I thought since, Garrison Keillor should definitely be on it.

Reading one of these, I got curious about something in Keillor's biography, so googling for Garrison Keillor was a natural, if not very well considered at these mad times (as I know now), action. Well, I should have considered that action a bit more carefully, because what I got first was this:

Garrison Keillor: Done. Over. He's here. Goodbye.

Part of the article is a somewhat natural (for a liberal* and a Democrat) horror at the elections result. It repeats many other missives I happened to stumble upon (not really seeking all that, believe you me). So I wouldn't expand on this part. What really hit me was the general air of derision, condescension and alienation of/toward these same people whom, as a whole, Keillor used to describe with love and understanding all these years. Now he is designating them "Trumpists", which could have been fine with me, if only it was the only view he enforces on the reader.

But no, it gets worse. The "we" versus "them" melody grows stronger with each line in this piece. And it doesn't take long to understand who are "we", the definition is unequivocal: "we liberal elitists". As to "them", it becomes exceedingly clear too, when you see this at the end of the article: "Let the uneducated have their day".

Wow. So the first question will be: does anyone expect to close the rift(s) in American society, espousing this attitude?

And the second question: how about these liberal elitists (see the clip below)?



(*) No, not a liberal in the "pinko commie" sense many Americans use this word today, rather a classic liberal. Or so I thought. Till now, that is.

P.S. Oh, and I learned a bit from this article. Recommended.

And here is a debunking of Keillor's "uneducated" blip.

Orange revolution? And here is why

The much disturbing and stomach-turning process of American elections is over, but the punditry and histrionics in certain quarters of the public are just starting, like in this sorry example:

“I feel hated,” I tell my husband, sobbing in front of the TV in my yoga pants and Hillary sweatshirt, holding my bare neck. “Hated.”

This is what democracy is about, Ms Harding. Take it or leave it, up to you.

But still, the best summary that many people have to heed is the one I've read on a FB friend's page:

"Have any of you ever heard the sound of a billion beating wings, looked up at the sky, and seen LITERALLY BILLIONS OF CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST?!
Because thats what is happening now. Every act of SJW idiocy, every BLM rally, every safe space, every mobbing, every narcissistic tantrum......these things made people stop caring about the left.
The SJW cliques are the architects of Trump's victory, and watching them shriek in terror and rage is better than sex".

America, teared apart by hate, ideology and fear, has to go through a long healing process now. Is its leadership up to the task? I don't know.

But people on extreme left and extreme right of this great country have to do a lot of soul-searching now, instead of finger-pointing, blaming and teary pronouncements.

As for Hillary and Donald sweatshirts: burn them or use them for house cleaning, be my advice.

And this completes the topic of American elections on this here blog.

Enough.

Speechless...

What message does this send to Oxford's female students, @OUSUCouncil? pic.twitter.com/KYUg4U4BS6

— Oxford Pro-Choice (@OxProChoice) June 15, 2016

Muhammad Ali RIP. And Jews - please, just stop it!

When a celeb dies, the media world usually gets into a frenzy, milking the sad event for all it is worth. Every quality of the dear departed gets highlighted, for better or for worse. Many details, rather insignificant, when compared to the celeb's real achievements, fall under scrutiny and get inflated - thanks to that milking.

Muhammad Ali is no exception. For everyone who (like I for some years) was more or less interested in boxing, Muhammad Ali remains forever a uniquely gifted man, whose talent made him an impossible to reach example for generations of boxers to come. Nothing less - and nothing more.

But of course, this alone wasn't enough for the media. I don't want to go into details, boring or hysterical as they are, save the scrutiny Muhammad Ali's "up-and-down relationship with the Jewish world", borrowing from the headline of this JTA article. And if you doubt that remark about scrutiny, just google for "Muhammad Ali and Jews", you shall see what is going on.

What can I say? It is rather sad, when people, who have so many ongoing problems to solve, many of them to be resolved yesterday, find so much time and energy to discuss whether a professional boxer likes or dislikes them. A man whose chosen profession, I have to add, usually doesn't produce brilliant thinkers. That due to the said profession's tendency to have a rather negative and repeated impact on the brain.

So, to all my Facebook and otherwise Jewish friends: please relax. Yes, the great boxer has said these or other things about Jews. Forget it. Chill.

He was a boxer.

Noam Chomsky is a linguist. Some say he is not as good a linguist as others say, but I wouldn't know.
Norman Finkelstein is a political scientist. Of a dubious quality, but still.
Hassan Nasrallah is a sheikh. Which title is a questionable matter, but let it go.
Etc.

P.S. I am going to watch a movie about another of my (very few) sports icons - Pele. Now should I check first whether Pele was anti-Semitic? Hm...

Don't you just love Putin's version of history?

This coin is part of a new series of Russian memorial coins, carrying a common theme: "Ancient Russian Cities".

This specific one celebrates Kaliningrad:

Kaliningrad (Russian: Калининград), (former German name: Königsberg).

In the Middle Ages, the locality was the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement and fort Twangste. In 1255, during the Northern Crusades, a new fortress was built on the site by the Teutonic Knights and was named Königsberg (König = "king") in honor of King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who led two crusade expeditions against the pagan Old Prussians. The town was successively part of the monastic State of the Teutonic Order, enfeoffed to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, then part of Prussia and Germany (the latter until 1945).

So there.

Gorilla Harambe and white privilege

The story about Harambe, a 17-year-old western lowland 450-pound gorilla, which was shot to save the life of a 4 years old boy that fell into the gorilla's enclosure, was dramatic enough for anyone. Of course, some grumps said something about their preference of saving the gorilla by any means, why tranquilizers weren't used etc. But frankly, I haven't dreamed about the discussion turning in the direction described below by several (out of many) tweets on the subject.

The author, Isa Ibn, is a member of Nation of Islam, by the way...

The author of the tweet above, mgpablo, will appear below again, with a surprise notice...

The next commenter, one DiddyTheGoat, was especially verbose, so I have chosen only two outstanding statements:

Well, the joke went far enough, and it will be fair to discharge the electricity doubtlessly collecting in the air. Here comes the promised surprise from mgpablo:

Oh, America, you do seem to have a problem...

Has the UNHRC turned into Frankenstein’s monster?

UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer in testimony before the U.S. Congress on May 17, 2016.

We meet on the 70th anniversary of the UN Commission on Human Rights, whose creators gathered this week, in May 1946, one year after the Nazi atrocities. Eleanor Roosevelt became the founding Chair, and René Cassin, the eminent legal philosopher, the Vice-Chair. The founders had a dream: to reaffirm the principle of human dignity, and to guarantee fundamental freedoms for all.

Over time, however, dictatorships hijacked the Commission—even electing the murderous regime of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi as Chair; 1946, Eleanor Roosevelt; 2003, Colonel Qaddafi.

Two years later, UN Secretary-General Annan called for scrapping the commission, identifying its politicization, selectivity, and credibility deficit—all of which “cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole.”

By contrast, the UN promised that the new body would elect members committed to human rights, and address the world’s most severe abuses.

Ten years later, we ask: Is the new body living up to the UN’s promise of reform, and to the original dream, from 70 years ago, of Eleanor Roosevelt?

Read the whole powerful testimony here.

Something is rotten in the kingdom of Britain

Nope, I still don't think Corbyn is necessarily antisemitic, I do agree with what Howard Jacobson said:

Jeremy Corbyn it’s a classic case of someone who has been brought up just to assume that that case of Israel as an imperial power in the pay of the Americans and the westerns. An oppressive imperial power. He was just fed on that, he’ll never change that. It’s like milk. To ask him to change his mind on Israel is like asking him to approve of people that go to public school. It can’t be done, it’s part of his genetic makeup.

And of course this easily predicts his behavior patterns, like this one:

Jeremy Corbyn rebuffed calls Sunday to denounce contacts with terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah...

All this doesn't make him exceptional. But to think that in XXI century a good part of British public would support something as unbelievable and sick as this?

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech from the top of a double-decker bus as Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) flags fly at a May Day rally in London on May 1, 2016.

Come on, people, you couldn't be that crazy, could you?

Source.

Google vs Russian spies?

A Russian branch of the Geektimes site published an interesting article:

Google warned Russian journalist about a hacking attempt by intelligence services

Google has been warning the owners of Gmail mailboxes since 2012 about hacking attempts by secret services.

This specific warning was received by a Russian journalist Roman Shleinov, regional editor of the anti-corruption project Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, writes Meduza.io. The report stated that at least 0,1% Gmail users faced such attacks.

Two weeks ago Roman, a member of the Centre for the study of corruption (OCCRP) and member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) turned to VTB for a comment about the wife of the head of VTB Andrey Kostin. The journalist wanted to know whether she is a beneficiary of an offshore company in the Bahamas, as indicated in the "Panamanian archives."

Google did not say how they detect who employs the hacker who "tries to steal the password." Perhaps it is about formal requests by security services (whether satisfied or not).

The punchline comes now, though:

In January 2016 the presidential advisor on the internet, German Klimenko, complained that Google ignores the Russian special services requests. "As a rule, Google is responding to 32 thousand requests per year from FBI or NSA and one request from our law enforcement agencies. We must honestly admit that they do not respond to our requests, they simply ignore them," - he said. According to him, the Russian "criminals" are increasingly using foreign services, while "Russian IT companies cooperate with the authorities". "It is even to their slight competitive advantage"- he added.

Cooperate, fellows, cooperate. See where you get off.

Bedtime-story privilege? Welcome to the brave new world.

Telling or reading to your kid a bedtime story or two was an activity I have considered one of the more rewarding and joyful tasks in my rather too busy daily schedule at the relevant period. Lately, when an opportunity raises its head, I mightily enjoy the same with my grandkids.

But time goes by, things change and science doesn't rest on its laurels, not for long anyway. So, seeing as where the progressive modern science is leading, I wasn't too surprised to see this headline:

Professor: If You Read To Your Kids, You’re ‘Unfairly Disadvantaging’ Others

According to a professor at the University of Warwick in England, parents who read to their kids should be thinking about how they’re “unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children” by doing so. In an interview with ABC Radio last week, philosopher and professor Adam Swift said that since “bedtime stories activities . . . do indeed foster and produce . . . [desired] familial relationship goods,” he wouldn’t want to ban them, but that parents who “engage in bedtime-stories activities” should definitely at least feel kinda bad about it sometimes: “I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally,” he said.

Since the good professor was giving an interview to ABC Radio, saying A wasn't enough, apparently, so he went on to say B - or possibly even Z, going for the jugular of the topic:

At one point, Swift even flirted with the idea of “simply abolishing the family” as a way of “solving the social justice problem” because “there would be a more level playing field” if we did, but ultimately concluded that “it is in the child’s interest to be parented” and that “parenting a child makes for what we call a distinctive and special contribution to the flourishing and well-being of adults.”

Social justice. Yes, professor Swift is an expert in that domain, judging by his biography on the Warwick university site.

While at Oxford I was Founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Justice.

So what are the new things I have learned from all of the above?

• That too much learning doesn't necessarily equal wisdom? Nah, not news.
• That communal incubators with subsequent mechanised schooling equal for all is vastly preferable to the existing system that breeds inequality and, Brother forbid, parental involvement? Somewhat old, too.
• That family is an obsolete patriarchal construct created to enslave women and to raise children in the perverted capitalist environment? Well known and bemoaned.
• "Level playing field"? No, old as pyramids. Or, at least, as Karl Marx.

So, all in all, the only thing of interest, and even that very limited for me, is the fact that there is a university in Warwick, England. Not that I know where Warwick is, anyway...

P.S. Action item: look up Warwick on Google Maps

P.P.S. During the same bout of surfing I've encountered this article:

Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

I am afraid that we can't have it, not if I am to become a disciple of professor Swift. The boy will have to be put down, humanely as possible in the circumstances.

CIA-armed militias are shooting at Pentagon-armed ones in Syria

After reading this:

Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter 5-year-old civil war.

The fighting has intensified over the past two months, as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other as they have maneuvered through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed.

the only thing I was thinking about was the following scene:



Can't figure out why.

SFSU 2016 - Campus employee assaults white student for "cultural appropriation"

Unbelievable.



And uncommentable.