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There are positive developments on the ground in Syria, but for America it's sanctions and suffering as usual

Eva Bartlett
RT
Thu, 30 Sep 2021 17:05 UTC
Jordan checkpoint
© Reuters/Muhammad HamedJordanian policeman at border crossing checkpoint near Mafraq, Jordan
Jordan is reopening its border crossing with Syria and resuming flights to Damascus. In Syria, more armed groups are laying down their weapons. But amid these positive developments, the US is hunkering down to inflict more pain.

On September 29, Jordan's Nassib border crossing to Syria re-opened, meaning a resumption not only of travel but of trade between the two nations. In early October, Royal Jordanian will start flying again to Syria's capital.

In Syria's south, after years of government and allied attempts to restore full peace, the last armed groups have finally laid down their weapons in Daraa, which journalist Vanessa Beeley wrote about after her recent return there.

And while the Biden administration recently changed talking heads in a Syria-related diplomatic position, little else has altered regarding America's position on the country. Sanctions against the Syrian people have continued under Biden, and at least 900 US troops continue to illegally occupy Syria. Same old, same old for Syrians, who have endured 10 years of foreign war and terrorism against their country, as well as ten years of some of the most obnoxious lies and war propaganda.

Comment: After years of devastation, a glimpse of normality:



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Syringe

Gavin Newsom makes vaccines mandatory for ALL school children in California

James Anthony
The Post Millennial
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 02:12 UTC
Newsom
© UnknownCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday that all California school children will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as soon as the FDA approval process is complete.

Newsom announced:

This is the first vaccine mandate for K-12 school children in the US. Newsom notes in his tweet that the measure will be in full effect "following full FDA approval." He announced the news from a classroom.

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Attention

Taliban say they have raided Islamic State hideout north of Kabul


The Times of Israel
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 11:56 UTC
Taliban fighter
© AP/Filipe DanaTaliban fighter on guard in Kabul, Afghanistan
Taliban fighters raided a hideout of the Islamic State group north of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing and arresting an unspecified number of militants, a Taliban spokesman said.

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August, there has been an increase in attacks by IS militants targeting Taliban members. The Taliban and IS are enemies, and the attacks have raised the specter of a wider conflict between the long-time rivals.

Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told The Associated Press that Friday's raid took place in the city of Charikar in Parwan province. He did not provide more details and his statement could not be independently verified.

The raid followed an arrest by the Taliban of two IS members linked to a roadside bombing that targeted their vehicle in the city, wounding four fighters, Karimi said. The two were questioned and the information they provided helped the Taliban identify the hideout, he added.
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X

Curbing China's 'script murder' game craze

Stella Chen
China Media Project
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 18:14 UTC
script murder china
In recent weeks, China has announced a series of measures to further regulate online entertainment, including a crackdown on so-called "fandom culture" and new curbs on online gaming. But a push in the state media last week against a popular role-playing game may suggest that momentum is building for action against offline activities too.

"Script murder," or jubensha (剧本杀), is one of the latest obsessions of China's Gen Z. The murder mystery-like role-playing game requires only a room, a table and a host with a variety of storylines and scripts from which players can choose. The excitement unfolds as each player is assigned a script with a different character, and must act out that character - either to the group or in private one-on-one conversations - until the original plot can be pieced together and the murderer unmasked.

The jubensha craze was driven by the popularity of the Chinese variety program "Who's The Murderer" (明星大侦探), released on Mango TV in 2016, in which groups of famous singers and actors were placed in murder mystery scenarios for the enjoyment of television audiences - with a celebrity culprit exposed in each episode. The game now has a huge market in China. Countless Jubensha shops have opened across the country since 2016, and the game saw a sharp increase in popularity over the Spring Festival holiday earlier this year. A 2021 report by Meituan estimates that there are currently around 9.41 million consumers of script murder products, over 70 percent of them under the age of 30, with total sales of 15.42 billion RMB.

The rocketing growth of the jubensha industry has also come with problems. There have been complaints among various game publishers and shops about another sort of crime - the shameless pilfering of others' plot lines. And there have been some concerns about the use of more violent and explicit content. But negative press coverage of jubensha since September may be the first clue that the industry is facing increased pressure in the midst of the government's broader crackdown on the entertainment industry, and on youthful activities such as "fandom culture." Some jubensha fans have criticized coverage in the state media, saying that it unfairly distorts public perception of the game.
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Bullseye

Detrans woman regrets mastectomy: 'Don't indulge young people who think they're trans - many are mentally ill'

Chris Sweeney
RT
Sat, 02 Oct 2021 17:22 UTC
Laura Becker transgnder detransition
Laura Becker speaks out about detransition
Laura Becker was female until 18, male at 20 and female again at 22. She feels there needs to be more awareness of the mental health issues many young 'trans' people face, before others damage their body needlessly as she did.

In recent times, liberals' desire to embrace the burgeoning trans movement has meant that if someone says they're trans, people have been encouraged to support them unconditionally.

On the surface, this may appear to be 'doing the right thing'. But according to one woman who has detransitioned, there is a danger to this - as transition conceals a hidden mental health crisis. "Transition is a big Band Aid that ironically causes more damage," says Laura Becker, who previously identified as a trans man.
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Newspaper

Australia: Premier of New South Wales resigns as corruption watchdog launches investigation

Saheli Roy Choudhury
CNBC
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
  • The leader of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, announced her resignation on Friday after the state's corruption watchdog said it was investigating her.
  • She said her resignation will take effect as soon as the state's Liberal party can elect a new leader.
  • The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption said it was investigating whether some of Berejiklian's actions between 2012 and 2018 may have breached public trust.
Gladys Berejiklian lifesize cutboard
© James D. Morgan | Getty ImagesA life sized cardboard cutout of the Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian sits on the floor beside some friends having a celebratory picnic in the suburb of Kirribilli on September 13, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.
The leader of New South Wales — Australia's most populous state — announced her resignation Friday after the state's corruption watchdog said it was investigating her.

"It pains me to announce that I have no option but to resign from the office of premier," Gladys Berejiklian said a briefing where she did not take questions from reporters.

She said her resignation will take effect as soon as the state's Liberal party can elect a new leader.

Comment: Timeline of a secret relationship that brought down a Premier

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Binoculars

UK military wants to spy on social media to detect "change in population sentiment"

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Thu, 30 Sep 2021 11:40 UTC
ministry of defence
© PeskyMonkey via Getty Images
Plan inadvertently revealed in MoD strategy document.

The UK Ministry of Defence has inadvertently revealed its plan to spy on social media platforms in order to detect "change(s) in population sentiment."

Despite ostensibly being about "better use of existing silos," the MoD's Data Strategy for Defence document explains how the military should move towards "Automated scanning of social media platforms" to detect "change in population sentiment."
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Info

UK police officer given whole life sentence for 'grotesquely executed' murder of Sarah Everard

Chris Summers
Sputnik
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:01 UTC
wayne couzens
© Metropolitan Police
Former Metropolitan Police Officer PC Wayne Couzens admitted kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard after being confronted with a mountain of evidence. Initially he had denied any knowledge of her and then tried to blame a people trafficking gang from the Balkans.Wayne Couzens has become the first police officer to be given a whole life sentence after admitted abducting, raping and murdering Sarah Everard after carrying out a fake arrest on the grounds of breaching Covid-19 laws.

Sarah vanished on 3 March as she walked home from a friend's house in south London. Her body was later found 80 miles away, burned and dumped in a pond in woods in Kent. Couzens had strangled her with his police belt.

Comment: More from RT:
The UK's Metropolitan Police service has warned the public to challenge plain-clothes officers, demanding they prove they are legitimate, after Couzens used his ID to fake an arrest before murdering Sarah Everard.

Speaking following the sentencing of Couzens, who was handed a rare whole-life prison term, the Met Police accepted a "much bigger and troubling picture" had emerged following the case.

In a warning to individuals who might be approached by a plain-clothes officer, the capital's police force advised people to ask, "where are your colleagues?" and "where have you come from?" if they were stopped. If those answers didn't reassure them, the police suggested demanding the officer verify their identity, allowing them to speak to a police operator or superior who could verify that their actions were genuine. If a person still felt unsafe or in "real and imminent danger" during an interaction with a plain-clothes officer, the Met Police recommended they "seek assistance" by hailing a passer-by or calling 999 to request that uniformed police attend the scene.

This advice was supported by the government's policing minister, Kit Malthouse, who said it was "reasonable" for women to question officers in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder, ensuring that the police were indeed working to "keep us all safe."
See also:

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Eye 1

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard consents to US extradition, faces charges in Toronto

Michele Mandel
Toronto Sun
Fri, 01 Oct 2021 00:26 UTC
Peter Nygard
© Postmedia filesPeter Nygard
Accused of being the Canadian Jeffrey Epstein, the walls are closing in on former playboy Peter Nygard with Toronto Police now adding to his long list of charges.

The jetsetting fashion mogul's Winnipeg jail cell — and his next stop in a New York prison — is a long way from his lifestyle of the rich and famous and his $50 million, 22-bedroom palatial estate in the Bahamas where he's accused of luring some of his alleged victims.


Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

EPA officials exposed whistleblowers three minutes after receiving confidential complaint

Sharon Lerner
The Intercept
Thu, 30 Sep 2021 06:49 UTC
Environmental Protection Agency
In response to a whistleblower complaint alleging corruption within the EPA's New Chemicals Division, agency officials immediately notified those accused of misconduct.

Within minutes of receiving a complaint from four Environmental Protection Agency whistleblowers in late June, an agency official shared the document with six EPA staffers, including at least one who was named in it, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The records — more than 1,000 pages of internal emails — also show that within 24 hours EPA officials sent the whistleblowers' complaint to other staff members who had been named in it. Two days later, the named employees met to discuss it. The releases were not in keeping with the best practices of handling whistleblower complaints, according to several experts contacted by The Intercept, and may have undermined the goals of the staff scientists who filed it.

The scientists' disclosure laid out allegations of corruption within the EPA's New Chemicals Division and provided detailed evidence that managers and high-level agency officials had deliberately tampered with numerous chemical assessments, sometimes deleting hazards from them and altering their conclusions. The environmental group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, which is representing the whistleblowers, submitted the complaint to Michal Freedhoff, the assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, the office that contains the New Chemicals Division, as well as to the EPA inspector general, Rep. Ro Khanna, and The Intercept.

Comment: See also:

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