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Family

Some of nearly 300 abducted schoolchildren in Nigeria's north are freed after weeks in captivity

parents kidnapped children nigeria
© AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, FileParents wait for news about the kidnapped LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga students in Kuriga, Kaduna, Nigeria, on March 9, 2024.
At least 137 of nearly 300 Nigerian children abducted more than two weeks ago from their school in the northwestern state of Kaduna were released on Sunday, the West African nation's military said.

An earlier statement from the government suggested that all the students were freed.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen invaded the Kuriga school on March 7 and marched the children into the forests before security forces could arrive, as terrified families watched helplessly. School authorities said a total of 287 students were kidnapped during the attack, at least 100 of them are aged 12 or younger.

At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014, when Boko Haram militants seized hundreds of schoolgirls from Borno state's Chibok village. In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the country's northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and travelers for ransom.

Comment:


Cloud Precipitation

KINSELLA: Toronto's overlords pondering implementation of a rain tax

The City of Toronto plans to consult with 'water users' in April about taxing based on the amount of hard surfaces on a property

Olivia Chow
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow arrives to West Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 27, 2023. (The Canadian Press)
A rain tax.
Toronto Sun



Comment: Click on this link for video.


Seriously, they want to tax the rain.

Before we get started on the latest insanity to, um, seep out of Toronto's municipal government, let's give credit where credit is due, shall we?

For sheer gall, for its bottomless brazen brassiness, you can't beat this one: a tax on rain. You almost have to admire the Bolsheviks who presently run Canada's largest city, for their inventiveness and their total indifference to the taxpayer.

Almost.

And, let's make one thing clear: we are not making this up, Virginia. Toronto-stan's commissars have even issued a call for people to participate in what they call, benignly, a "Stormwater Charge & Water Service Charge Consultation."


Comment: It would seem that this is not a Don't Panic! Lighten Up! article.


Target

Swathes of Ukraine go dark after Russia pummels energy infrastructure

Kiev blackout
© AP Photo/Andrew KravchenkoFILE PHOTO: Windows of an apartment building are illuminated during a blackout in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022.
We reported earlier on the clear escalation in Ukraine's cross-border strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, during which time Moscow has in turn ramped up its own major airstrikes on Ukraine's facilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) in a press briefing detailed its retaliatory attacks which it described as a direct response to the shelling of Russian territory. The MoD confirmed that it has hit "energy and military industry facilities, railway junctions and arsenals."

Significantly the country's largest hydroelectric plant at Dnieper has been shut down after what appears a major missile strike impacting its vital operations. Various regions impacted have been left without power, and there are widespread reports of new internet outages in Ukraine.

Comment: Note Russia's escalation happened prior to the terror attack.




NPC

Make it stop: UK museum touts claim that dinosaurs have "LGBTQ history" and birds are "queer"

museum dinosaurs gay queer lgbtq flag
© Modernity
Says animal queerness has been "hidden from the public"

A museum in Britain has claimed that some birds are "queer" and that the history of animal queerness has been "hidden from the public".

The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery is running an LGBTQ history exhibition funded by Arts Council England which claims that some birds are "queer" because they "change their sex from female to male."

The Telegraph notes that the claims about birds such as pheasants are completely unfounded and have no scientific basis.

X

Farce: Candace Owens fired from Daily Wire for allegedly promoting 'antisemitism'

Candace Owens
© The Daily WireCandace Owens
Candace Owens was fired from her hosting job at the Daily Wire because her bosses were fed up with what they viewed as her repeated promotion of antisemitism ... TMZ has learned.=

The conservative media company announced Friday morning that it was parting ways with Candace, and while no official reason was mentioned ... sources with direct knowledge tell us it was squarely over what the Daily Wire honchos saw as antisemitism, and the firing went down early this week.

Candace and fellow Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro have had a very public feud recently on social media over their opposing views on the Israel-Gaza conflict -- and we're told the last straw for the DW was her March 8 appearance on the Fresh and Fit podcast.

Comment: X comments:






SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: MindMatters: Arthur Versluis: The Neo-Gnostics vs. Pathocracy

arthur versluis
Neo-gnosticism without Gnosis. Gnosis without neo-gnosticism. These are just a couple of the frameworks, dichotomies, and strains of gnosticism making their way into the religious, social, and political consciousness and conversation of today's world through literature, film, and other media. In this follow-up discussion with author and scholar Arthur Versluis, we continue our discussion on his Oxford University Press-published book 'American Gnosis: Political Religion And Transcendence.' We further delve into the profound influence and divergences of an ancient set of spiritual beliefs - made all the more relevant for their lasting power and pervasiveness in so much of what we're observing on the world stage. (Part I of this discussion is here.)

This week on MindMatters we further examine the spectrum of gnosis, contemporary misconceptions about its tenets, as well as how the political dissidents of today could become the inquisitional forces of tomorrow. If pathocracy, extreme materialism, radical leftism and communism are the 'enemies' of gnosticism, then what, if anything, can gnosticism tell us about a way forward in an increasingly complicated world?


Running Time: 01:33:45

Download: MP3 — 129 MB



Whistle

Poland mulls early-release of 20,000 prisoners, cites overcrowded prisons

Lukyanivska prison in Kiev, Ukraine.
© Sergei SUPINSKY / AFPFILE PHOTO:
Maria Ejchart, Deputy Minister of Justice, announced in an interview with the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita on Monday that the ministry aims to release approximately 20,000 prisoners due to overcrowding in the country's prisons. She also mentioned that the first early releases have already occurred.

She stated that, consistent with her previous declaration, all 580 cells in Poland holding more than ten inmates were closed by the end of January. "Usually, there were 14 or 16 people in them... In such a situation, there is no possibility of resocialization," the official emphasized.

"In fact, the prisons are overcrowded. The main reason for this is the severity of the law and the policy of the previous government... A codification committee for criminal law, appointed in recent days, will work on changing these provisions," Ejchart said, emphasizing that this committee is independent of the Ministry of Justice.

Comment: One wonders whether this potentially disastrous policy - which many debt-ridden European countries are facing - has anything to do with Poland's recently elected, questionable, government?

Note that this is also being considered at a time when poverty, crime, and societal unrest, is increasing:


Clock

US aviation & telecoms warn traffic volumes during solar eclipse could cause disruption to services

eclipse us 2024
Up to one million are set for Texas, 500,000 in Indiana and Ohio and nearly 400,000 people could travel to New York - and US network providers fear the increased demand could trigger connection delays or dropped calls
An air travel warning has been issued for April's highly anticipated solar eclipse due to 'a higher traffic volume than normal anticipated at airports.'

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made the announcement Thursday, saying airports along and near the 'path of totality' will likely experience delays and rerouting from April 7 through April 10.

Hundreds of airports from Maine to Texas are under the warning, including America's busiest facility Dallas-Fort Worth International which sees more than 200,000 travelers each day.

The announcement comes as state officials fear cellular service could be disrupted also due to the influx of visitors - up to 3.7 million people are set to flock to regions set for the 'Great North America Eclipse.'

Comment: There's a few other notable events scheduled for this year:


Megaphone

The Language Of Force: How The Police State Muzzles Our Right To Speak Truth To Power

"If the state could use [criminal] laws not for their intended purposes but to silence those who voice unpopular ideas, little would be left of our First Amendment liberties, and little would separate us from the tyrannies of the past or the malignant fiefdoms of our own age. The freedom to speak without risking arrest is 'one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.'"

- Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissenting, Nieves v. Bartlett (2019)
Tyrants don't like people who speak truth to power.

Cue the rise of protest laws, which take the government's intolerance for free speech to a whole new level and send the resounding message that resistance is futile.

In fact, ever since the Capitol protests on Jan. 6, 2021, state legislatures have introduced a broad array of these laws aimed at criminalizing protest activities.

There have been at least 205 proposed laws in 45 states aimed at curtailing the right to peacefully assemble and protest by expanding the definition of rioting, heightening penalties for existing offenses, or creating new crimes associated with assembly.

Comment: See also:


Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Israel's red heifers and the looming sacrifice at Al-Aqsa mosque to bring about the 'messiah and end times' - CBS

red heifer israel
© CBS NewsYitshak Mamo, of Uvne Jerusalem, a group committed to seeing a new Jewish temple built in Jerusalem's Old City, speaks with CBS News at his home in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.

The cows he was talking about are red heifers, which now graze at a secure, undisclosed location in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Some Jews and Christians believe they're key to rebuilding the Jewish temple that once stood in Jerusalem, and to beckoning the Messiah.

To understand, you have to look back almost 2,000 years in the tumultuous history of the Middle East, when the ancient Romans destroyed the last temple in Jerusalem.

To rebuild it, fervent believers point to the Bible's Book of Numbers, which commands the Israelites to offer "a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke."

Comment: The CBS news report:


For insight into the fanatics driving this event, see: Judaism and Christianity - Two Thousand Years of Lies - 60 Years of State Terrorism

And for critical, fascinating insight into the Jesus story, check out: From Paul to Mark: PaleoChristianity Also check out SOTT radio's: