*******************************************************************
Outraged Australians have slammed a new 'trigger warning' detector which sounds an alarm when it detects 'offensive' speech.
The Themis, a lamp-sized device intended to 'moderate' debate in classrooms and universities and 'manifest political correctness' into a product, sparked widespread controversy after it was unveiled at Dubai Design Week.
Named after the Greek goddess of justice and order, the gadget uses sound sensors to flag racial slurs and offensive jokes with an 'extremely bothersome' alarm that lasts two minutes before switching off to allow 'open discussion' about the subject.
But the revolutionary technology has been blasted for stifling discussion and opinion-sharing in an era when free speech is declining faster than ever before. Read More
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was found liable Monday for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting over Jones' claims that the massacre was a hoax. Judge Barbara Bellis took the rare step of defaulting Jones in the defamation lawsuits for his and his companies' "failure to produce critical material information that the plaintiffs needed to prove their claims."
Lawyers for the parents claimed Jones and his companies, including Infowars and Free Speech Systems, violated court rules by failing to turn over documents, including internal company documents showing how, and if, Jones and Infowars profited from talking about the school shooting and other mass shootings. Read More
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
With Belarus' longtime strongman ruler Alexander Lukashenko in the international spotlight over this past week as tensions soar with Poland over the migrant border crisis, he's been touting his close relationship with Putin while also threatening to shut off the Yamal natural gas pipeline to Europe - something which Putin warned against in fresh statements this weekend.
The threat to shut off energy supplies to Europe is something the Kremlin has distanced itself from, given especially it puts Russia in an awkward position at a moment the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is in the last hurdles of German regulatory approval. The Belarus matter can now be use by critics of NS2 to further their argument that Russia is being handed too much geopolitical and resource leverage over Europe's energy independence. The fight over the Russia-to-Germany pipeline is not over.
Despite Putin cautioning Minsk as the row with Europe rapidly escalates, Lukashenko is asking for more, as Reuters reports over the weekend: "Pesident of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko wants Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems to deploy in the south and west of the country, he said in an interview with a Russian defense magazine published on Saturday." Read More
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
*******************************************************************
Michael Flynn tonight: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.” pic.twitter.com/ShGVrsQ9hW
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 13, 2021
*******************************************************************