Society's ChildS


Pistol

New York a city under siege, as staggering crime wave roils politics, challenges Left

Frank Abrokwa new york city assault
© Jesse Ward/Daily MailFrank Abrokwa, 37, whose record includes more than 44 arrests, was arraigned on charges stemming from the feces attack on March 1 (pictured), but a judge released him
The NYPD's new anti-gun units hit the streets last week and not a moment too soon. New York City is in the midst of a staggering crime wave. Over the past weekend, 29 people were shot in 24 separate incidents, the Daily News reported. According to the latest NYPD statistics, major felonies in the city increased 58% in February 2022, in year over year comparisons to February 2021. Murders rose 10%. Felony assaults rose 22%. Rapes increased 35%. Robberies increased 56%. Hate crimes — largely against Jews and Asian-Americans — surged 189%. Crimes in the transit systems — mainly the subways — were up 73%.

New York is a city under siege. Every day brings a new horror story. A child is assaulted in Times Square. A young woman is stabbed to death in her Chinatown apartment. A senior citizen is hacked to death by a wheelchair-bound transgender two-time convicted murderer. A madman smears feces on a woman's face in a subway station, is released on bail, and arrested again after hurling a dumbbell through a window. A woman is shoved in front of a subway train and killed. Another woman is attacked with a hammer. A teen is shot to death in front of a Brooklyn high school. A baby is shot in the face in the Bronx. A teenage cashier at a Burger King in Manhattan is shot and killed during a robbery. Two police officers are killed by gunfire in Harlem.

Comment:


Airplane

CEOs of major US airlines urge Biden to drop masks on planes

masks on plane
© Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The CEOs of major US airlines are urging President Biden to drop his "outdated" federal mask requirements for planes and airports.

The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and several other passenger and cargo carriers made the request in an open letter on Wednesday.

They have called on Biden to let his federal mask mandate expire next month and get rid of COVID-19 testing requirements for incoming international travelers.

"Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions," the letter read.

Oil Well

Jittery market: Austrian energy giant OMV limits diesel spot sales until further notice

oil prices wars kuwait ukraine
Earlier this week, we quoted the heads of some of the world's biggest independent energy trades, who spoke at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland and unveiled a dire forecast for the diesel market: "The thing that everybody's concerned about will be diesel supplies. Europe imports about half of its diesel from Russia and about half of its diesel from the Middle East," said Russell Hardy, chief of Switzerland-based oil trader Vitol. "That systemic shortfall of diesel is there."

As a reminder, Russian supplies account for about 15% of Europe's diesel consumption, according to the FT which carried their comments.

Hardy said the shift to more diesel consumption over gasoline in Europe had helped to create shortages of the fuel. He added that refineries could boost their diesel output in response to higher prices at the expense of other oil-derived products to shore up supply, but warned that rationing was a possibility.

Burka

Taliban leaves shocked students in tears by unexpectedly extending ban on girls in school

girls afghanistan school closed
The Taliban government in Afghanistan announced the closure of girls’ secondary schools, hours after they reopened for the first time in nearly seven month
The Taliban's de-facto government in Afghanistan announced Wednesday that schools would remain closed to high school-aged girls across the country until a plan is drawn up that will allow for their education to resume in accordance with Islamic Sharia law and Afghan culture. The news came as a surprise after an earlier indication from the country's education ministry that all Afghan children would be able to return to classrooms, and it left many students in tears.

Aziz Ahmad Rayan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said Wednesday at a news conference that the directive had come down from Taliban leadership that "all girl's school and high school above grade 6 should be informed to suspend their lessons until further notice and a plan is drawn in accordance with Afghan culture and Islamic law."

The decision to keep older girls out of school was made in the southern province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, in a high-level leadership meeting in the presence of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, according to a Taliban minister who attended the discussion.

Comment: Perhaps this move is a bargaining chip in the tussle over Afghanistan's assets that were stolen frozen by the U.S.?


NPC

Home Depot's 'privilege' memo leaked online

home depot
© Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Home Depot in Canada has come under fire after a Twitter user leaked what appears to be an in-house worksheet educating workers on the concept of privilege as it pertains to race, religion, sexuality, and social status.

The document titled 'Unpacking privilege' attempts to define the different types of privilege and how it manifests in everyday life and encourages Home Depot workers to confront their own privilege and discuss it with "uninformed" family members, colleagues, and friends, even if it's "not an easy conversation" and the other person is being "defensive."

Some of the definitions presented in the worksheet include: Social Privilege - "special, unearned advantage or entitlement, used to one's own benefit or to the detriment of others" and White Privilege - "societal privileges that benefit white people beyond what is commonly experienced by people of color under the same social, political, and economic circumstances."

Light Sabers

Israeli lawmakers tear into Zelensky for Holocaust comparisons in Knesset speech

Zelensky
© Screen capture: YouTubeUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, to Knesset lawmakers on March 20, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to the Knesset on Sunday evening was received with mixed responses from Israeli lawmakers, with some calling it "outrageous" and others supporting the "distressed" president.

Several MKs harshly criticized Zelensky for drawing comparisons between the Holocaust and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and seemingly ignoring some Ukrainians' complicity in the Nazi-led genocide.

"I admire the Ukraine president and support the Ukrainian people in heart and deed, but the terrible history of the Holocaust cannot be rewritten," Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel tweeted.

Hendel noted that part of Nazi Germany's genocide of Jews "was also carried out on Ukrainian land." He added that while "the war is terrible, the comparison to the horrors of the Holocaust and the Final Solution is outrageous."

Hebrew media outlets quote unnamed senior ministers railing at Zelensky's "outrageous comparison."

"Zelensky also distorted the part his country played in the murder of Jews," they said, according to the Ynet news site.

Footprints

Head of National Institutes of Health caught off-guard by first questions on email urging 'takedown' of the Great Barrington Declaration

Dr. Francis Collins
© Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty ImagesDr. Francis Collins speaks in Washington on Sept. 9, 2020.
Dr. Francis Collins, a top U.S. health official, was caught off-guard when he was asked for the first time about a report issued by members of Congress that revealed new information, including the email Collins sent urging a "takedown" of the Great Barrington Declaration, according to an email obtained by The Epoch Times.

Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) until Dec. 19, 2021, called for a "quick and devastating published takedown" of the declaration, which called for a more balanced approach to combating the COVID-19 pandemic, in an email in October 2020.

The email, sent just days after the document was authored by three epidemiologists, was made public by a congressional panel near the end of 2021.

Arrow Down

Army drops 'leg tuck' from fitness test after women struggled with it

army leg tuck exercise
© U.S. ArmyRecruits demonstrate leg tucks which develop core stability
The Army announced Wednesday it was scrapping the "leg tuck" from its Army Combat Fitness Test for good, and replacing it with a plank, after data showed women were failing at even doing one.

"The Army's decision to remove the leg tuck comes after a study from RAND concluded that the exercise did not correctly measure core strength in all Soldiers, as it relied on Soldiers' upper body strength as well. Instead, the plank exercise provides all Soldiers a similar testing experience and allows the Army to accurately assess all Soldiers' core strength," an Army press release explained.

The leg tuck was one of a six-event test, aimed at testing a soldier's core strength. It required soldiers to hang from a bar and raise their knees to their elbows. The minimum to pass was one leg tuck.

Comment: There may be some validity to amending the test to take sex-based anatomical differences (gasp!) into account, but it still comes off as sketchy, and pandering to the woke wing of military brass.


Cross

Mother Superior reported to the Vatican for Covid vaccine stance & prayers for jab deaths, rejects recent UK news article as 'misinformation'

Marilla
Twitter screenshot of Mother Marilla
Mother Superior responds to Sunday Times article on complaints against her submitted to Vatican Mother General Marilla clarified 'misinformation' and provided a backstory to shed light on statements shared in a recent article.

The Mother Superior of London's Tyburn convent issued a statement in response to an article saying she was reported to the Vatican after sisters complained they felt "under pressure not to have the vaccine."

Mother General Marilla, whose revelation that she had received 50 prayer requests for people who died after COVID jabs went viral last year, responded yesterday to the Sunday Times article "Antivax Mother General reported to the Vatican," to correct misinformation about her and her convent, and provide missing information about her approach to COVID "vaccination" for her sisters.

Comment: Perhaps despite the best efforts of some in the Vatican, reflected in some of Pope Francis' more recent comments, it would appear that darker forces hold a greater sway over the Holy See:


Chess

Russian chess star banned by International Chess Federation for political statements

Sergey Karjakin
© Soeren Stache / picture alliance via Getty ImagesFIDE has suspended Sergey Karjakin.
Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has been hit with a six-month ban by the chess authorities after the 32-year-old issued support for Russia's military operation in Ukraine.

Karjakin, who was born in Crimea and changed his nationality from Ukrainian to Russian in 2009, will miss the forthcoming Candidates Tournament between June 16 and July 7 barring a successful appeal, after the International Chess Federation (FIDE) imposed sanctions.

Karjakin had already found himself blacklisted from several chess events due to his political stance, with chess organizations in both the UK and Norway telling him that he is no longer welcome.

He has also been the subject of bans by the Grand Chess Tour and from Chess.com.