Society's ChildS


Cloud Grey

Tehran reveals more details of Raisi's helicopter crash


RT
Wed, 22 May 2024 12:54 UTC

Comment: It looks more and more like it was a tragic accident...


rescue
© Azin Haghighi/MOJ News Agency/AFPRescue team members at crash site of helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi • Varzaghan, northwestern Iran • May 20, 2024
The helicopter carrying Iran's Ebrahim Raisi first went missing when his aircraft convoy encountered a cloud bank, the news agency IRNA reported late on Tuesday, citing the deceased president's chief of staff Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, who was travelling in one of the accompanying aircraft.

According to Esmaili, weather conditions early on were normal, but 45 minutes into the flight the pilot of Raisi's aircraft said he would increase altitude to avoid a cloud and ordered the two accompanying helicopters to do the same. Once they started to gain altitude, the two other helicopters suddenly lost sight of Raisi's aircraft, which had been flying in the middle.

"After 30 seconds of flying over the clouds, our pilot noticed that the helicopter in the middle had disappeared," Esmaili stated, adding that his aircraft went back and circled the area several times in search of Raisi's helicopter. However, it was forced to abandon the search attempts due to poor visibility, and landed shortly afterwards at a nearby copper mine.

According to Esmaili, he made several attempts to contact Raisi's aircraft through radio devices, and was able to reach Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, an East Azerbaijan imam who accompanied the president. Ale-Hashem was able to convey that the president's helicopter had crashed into a valley.

Esmaili was cited as saying:
"When we found the location of the accident, the conditions of the bodies indicated that Ayatollah Raisi and other companions had died instantly but Ale-Hashem... after several hours."
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Syringe

Ex-CDC director: It's high time to admit 'significant side effects' of COVID-19 vaccines

Tom Ozimek
ZeroHedge
Wed, 22 May 2024 19:25 UTC
CDC Dr. Robert Redfield covid vax side effects
© Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty ImagesThen director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Robert Redfield, holds up a document while testifying in Washington, DC, on Sept. 16, 2020 in ()
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Thursday that many officials who tried to warn the public about potential problems with COVID-19 vaccines were pressured into silence and that it's high time to admit that there were "significant" side effects that made people sick.

Dr. Redfield made the remarks in a May 16 interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, during which he lamented the loss of public confidence in public health agencies because of a lack of transparency around the vaccines, which he said "saved a lot of lives" but also made some people "quite ill."

"Those of us that tried to suggest there may be significant side effects from vaccines ... we kind of got canceled because no one wanted to talk about the potential that there was a problem from the vaccines, because they were afraid that that would cause people not to want to get vaccinated," Dr. Redfield said.
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Bizarro Earth

How did police miss Brian Lush's body? Human error — or policy gaps — may have played a role

Malone Mullin
CBS News
Sat, 11 May 2024 00:00 UTC
brian lush
© Submitted by Chloe WhiteBrian Lush is seen here with his daughter, Chloe White. Ontario police said Monday that his body had been found but aren't saying why investigators didn't discover it in his trailer, where he was last seen.
It sounds like the start of a true crime documentary: a search for a missing man ends with his body found in the trailer of a truck. The twist, of course, is that the missing man had been driving that truck — and it's precisely where he was last spotted alive.

For Brian Lush's family, it's a bizarre tragedy that they're now forced to cope with, after the remains of the 51-year-old trucker were discovered in his rig's trailer in Port aux Basques, N.L., on the truck's way back home from Ontario.

Lush was last seen around his rig at a gas station in Summerstown, Ont., on April 24. Ontario Provincial Police investigators said at the time that security video showed Lush walking around the side of the truck and out of frame.

Comment: Is this a case of Missing 411 or simply human error and/ or policy gaps?

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Eye 2

Germany decriminalizes possession of child porn

Genevieve Gluck
Reduxx
Tue, 21 May 2024 13:28 UTC
germany decriminalise
Germany's Parliament (Bundestag) has received the votes necessary to remove a section of the Criminal Code which made the possession of child sexual abuse materials a felony crime. Once the bill, passed last Thursday, comes into effect, minimum sentences for the possession of child pornography will be reduced, and the offense will be downgraded to a misdemeanor.

According to the Bundestag, the bill stipulates that "possession and acquisition should be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months' imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months' imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months' imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes."

Comment: Notably, after Reduxx posted this article on X, Community Notes initially attempted to discredit the framing of the story, however, unusually for CN, they later retracted their correction:
The @CommunityNotes is completely incorrect, and appears to have been written by a political operative who has been spamming every related post on the issue with the same misinformation.

While some in the Bundestag claimed their intention was to prevent innocent CSAM reporters from being accidentally prosecuted, the law did not single them out for amnesty. It is a wholesale reduction in the penalties associated with the distribution, possession, or acquisition of child pornography. Not just for those innocently reporting CSAM, but for everyone charged with the distribution, possession, or acquisition of child pornoraphy.

If the Bundestag wanted to provide legal pathways to prevent those innocently reporting CSAM to authorities from being caught up in a legal web -- it could have done that. Instead, it passed a broad-sweeping bill to drop these charges to a petty misdemeanor.

The overwhelming majority of those who will benefit are pedophiles, hence the opposition this bill received from German child safeguarding groups and the German political opposition. As always, ALL of Reduxx's articles are extensively sourced (with hyperlinks made available in the article), and this particular piece was written in collaboration with German safeguarding advocates who provided all of the translations we used.
Whilst the outlook for Western nations generally is rather bleak, Germany in particular seems to be rather typically industrious in its deterioration:

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Stock Down

World's central banks buy record $24 billion in gold in first 3 months of 2024


Daily Hodl
Wed, 22 May 2024 13:14 UTC
gold
© Metals Focus, Refinitiv GFMS, World Gold Council
Central banks are in the midst of a gold buying spree, according to new numbers from the World Gold Council (WGC).

The organization says central banks added $24 billion of gold, weighing 290 tonnes, to their coffers in the first quarter of this year.

That's the strongest level of net demand for any quarter on record, using data that dates back to the year 2000.

The WGC says China, Turkey, India and Kazakhstan are driving much of the demand for the precious metal.

"Many have attributed central banks' ongoing voracious appetite for gold as a key driver of its recent performance in the face of seemingly challenging conditions: namely, higher yields and US dollar strength. And despite the high bar set in the last two years, the voracious buying has continued into 2024 in the face of the renewed gold price rally...

Comment: The price of gold is at record highs, but it's being bought in record quantity, and China is dumping record amounts of US treasuries, meanwhile the West has resorted to stealing assets from Russia (and Afghanistan), it's concocting ever more sanctions against the multipolar alliance, and it's intensifying its warmongering:

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Bad Guys

Royal Marine accused of spying for Hong Kong found dead in park under 'unexplained' circumstances

Rebeca Camber
Daily Mail
Tue, 21 May 2024 12:32 UTC
Matthew Trickett
Matthew Trickett, 37 was found dead in a park near his home just days after being charged with carrying out surveillance and hostile reconnaissance on pro-democracy activists in the UK for the Hong Kong intelligence service
A Former Royal Marine accused of spying for Hong Kong has been found dead in 'unexplained' circumstances last night.

Matthew Trickett, 37 was found dead in a park near his home just days after being charged with carrying out surveillance and hostile reconnaissance on pro-democracy activists in the UK for the Hong Kong intelligence service.

The suspected spy, who worked as an immigration enforcement officer for the Home Office, due to appear at the Old Bailey on Friday charged with betraying his country.

In a statement, his family said: 'We're mourning the loss of a much-loved son, brother and family man.'

Speaking of the Royal Marine's death, a local resident told MailOnline: 'This has been extremely disturbing for residents.

Comment: Considering the numerous suspicious deaths linked with the UK's security services, as well as the often weak links they allege the victims had with other nations - and it's usually nations the UK is hostile towards - it remains to be seen just what happened here.

Notably, it was the West that was found to be fomenting unrest during the unusually violent Hong Kong riots, and both the US and UK have recently complained of how much difficulty their own spies are having in penetrating China:

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Star

Julian Assange wins right to appeal against extradition to US

Benn Quinn
The Guardian
Mon, 20 May 2024 16:34 UTC
stella assange
© ReutersStella Assange, wife of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, outside of the High Court after the ruling
Julian Assange has been granted leave to mount a fresh appeal against his extradition to the US on charges of leaking military secrets and will be able to challenge assurances from American officials on how a trial there would be conducted.

Two judges had deferred a decision in March on whether Assange, who is trying to avoid being prosecuted in the US on espionage charges relating to the publication of thousands of classified and diplomatic documents, could take his case to another appeal hearing.

On that occasion, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson ruled he would be able to bring an appeal against extradition on three grounds, unless "satisfactory" assurances were given by the US.
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Gavel

Victory: Federal Court rules University of Colorado vaccine policies "motivated by religious animus"

Tom Ciesielka
Thomas More Society
Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00 UTC
medicalcampus
© denverjeffrey/flickr
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a lower court decision on May 7, 2024, issuing a 55-page ruling holding that the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine's policies refusing religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccination mandate were "motivated by religious animus" and unconstitutional under the First Amendment's Religion Clauses.

In addition to finding religious animus, the Court found that the vaccine mandates of the University's Anschutz Medical Campus granted "exemptions for some religions, but not others, because of differences in their religious doctrines" and granted "secular exemptions on more favorable terms than religious exemptions," all of which was illegal. The court also reaffirmed the First Amendment principle that government may not test the sincerity of employees' religious beliefs by judging the legitimacy of those doctrines. The Court also held that the University's mandates violated "clearly established" constitutional rights.
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Footprints

Another Connecticut town tramples Constitution with onerous town green rules

Brennen VanderVeen
The Fire
Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00 UTC
Enfield
© UnknownThopsonville Village of Enfield Connecticut
In February, FIRE wrote to the town of Suffield, Connecticut, about its proposed policy regulating activities on its town green. Suffield subsequently abandoned the policy, which would have violated residents' First Amendment rights. But it turned out Suffield's proposal was based on a policy of the nearby town of Enfield. Now, in a new letter, FIRE is calling on Enfield to follow its neighbor's lead by reforming its unconstitutional town green policy.

Next to the town hall in Enfield is an open area with a gazebo called the Town Green. Enfield makes the Town Green available for public use — but only if visitors comply with Enfield's many requirements, several of which violate the First Amendment.

Enfield's rules control more than the manner in which someone can use the Town Green — they control whether someone can use the Town Green at all. Any individual or group wishing to use the Town Green must first submit an application and receive approval from the town manager's office.

Individuals and small groups are not exempted, so the need for a permit seemingly applies to anyone doing anything. As FIRE explained in the Suffield case, a town may require permits for some activities in a town green, such as those involving large groups or requests for exclusive use of the green. But requiring a lone pamphleteer or acoustic guitarist to obtain a permit before engaging in protected expression is excessive.
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Stock Down

China dumps record $53.3 billion of US debt treasuries

Masaki Kondo
Bloomberg
Thu, 16 May 2024 12:57 UTC
china debt us treasuries
China sold a record amount of Treasury and US agency bonds in the first quarter, highlighting the Asian nation's move to diversify away from American assets as trade tensions persist.

Beijing offloaded a total of $53.3 billion of Treasuries and agency bonds combined in the first quarter, according to calculations based on the latest data from the US Department of the Treasury. Belgium, often seen as a custodian of China's holdings, disposed of $22 billion of Treasuries during the period.

China's investments in the US are garnering renewed investor attention amid signs that tensions between the world's largest economies may worsen. President Joe Biden has unveiled sweeping tariff hikes on a range of Chinese imports, while his predecessor Donald Trump said he might impose a levy of more than 60% on Chinese goods if elected.

"As China is selling both despite the fact that we are closer to a Fed rate-cut cycle, there should be a clear intention of diversifying away from US dollar holdings," said Stephen Chiu, chief Asia foreign-exchange and rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. "China's selling of US securities could speed up as US-China trade war resumes" especially if Trump returns as president, he said.

Comment: Evidently, and understandably, the multipolar world is preparing itself for significant changes up ahead. Meanwhile many nations in the West (and elsewhere) are struggling to keep their economies afloat:

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