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NXIVM members dancing for Raniere outside federal prison

Keith Raniere courtroom artist sketch
© Elizabeth Williams/AP
In this courtroom artist's sketch, defendant Keith Raniere, center, sits with attorneys Paul DerOhannesian, left, and Marc Agnifilo during closing arguments at Brooklyn federal court, Tuesday, June 18, 2019 in New York. A federal prosecutor said Raniere used his NXIVM organization to "tap into a never-ending flow of women and money." Attorneys for the defendant say he had no criminal intent and that his sexual encounters with followers were consensual.
Former members of group say "Kay Rose" rallies are meant for cult-like group's leader.

Outside Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, a group of people dance every night to support federal inmates, including one in particular: Kay Rose.

There is, however, no inmate by that name in the Brooklyn facility — or anywhere else in the federal prison population, for that matter. But "Kay Rose" shares the initials of someone who has spent the past two years in the downstate lockup: Keith Raniere, the leader of the formerly influential and now shattered organization known as NXIVM.

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Blue Planet

Moscow's reaction to restoration of Hagia Sophia as mosque reminds us Russia is ultimately part of Western world

Sophia Cathedral
© Reuters / Murad Sezer; AFP / Natalia Kolesnikova
Hagia Sophia (L); Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow
For all the talk about 'Eurasianism' and Russia's 'unique civilization' the reality is the country is fundamentally European and Christian. The response to Turkey making the Hagia Sophia a mosque again reinforces the point.

In recent years an old buzzword has gained new popularity among what Russians call 'politologists' - that class of pundits and academics who engage in public discussion on political issues. The word in question is 'civilizations', and its use reflects a growing desire to distinguish Russia from the West by claiming some essential difference between the two.

The concept of civilizations has proven particularly attractive among those of a conservative bent and allows them to make a couple of important claims. The first is that the world comprises not different countries all moving toward some common goal founded upon universally valid values and institutions, but rather unique civilizations each of which is progressing along its own separate path. The second is that Russia itself is such a civilization.

Comment: See also: Turkey's Hagia Sophia: 'like turning Saint Peter's into a mosque'


Attention

Ellen DeGeneres questioned for Wayfair partnership amid conspiracy theory

Ellen DeGeneres Wayfair
© Wayfair/Getty Images
Ellen Degeneres
Ellen DeGeneres has been roped into a conspiracy theory that accuses Wayfair of acting as a front for human trafficking by selling pricey cabinets named after people.

The talk show celebrity was questioned on Twitter for her Wayfair collection that allegedly included a five-figure pillow but really sells for far less. Social media users questioned the talk show host and if she had any involvement with the alleged child trafficking conspiracy theory.

"@TheEllenShow please explain why you're selling pillows on Wayfair for over 10k with missing children's names on them? Are you part of #wayfairtrafficking???" one user asked on social media.

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Attention

Florida Department of Health says some labs have not reported negative COVID-19 results

Orlando Health
After FOX 35 News noticed errors in the state's report on positivity rates, the Florida Department of Health said that some laboratories have not been reporting negative test result data to the state.

Countless labs have reported a 100 percent positivity rate, which means every single person tested was positive. Other labs had very high positivity rates. FOX 35 News found that testing sites like one local Centra Care reported that 83 people were tested and all tested positive. Then, NCF Diagnostics in Alachua reported 88 percent of tests were positive.

How could that be? FOX 35 News investigated these astronomical numbers, contacting every local location mentioned in the report.

The report showed that Orlando Health had a 98 percent positivity rate. However, when FOX 35 News contacted the hospital, they confirmed errors in the report. Orlando Health's positivity rate is only 9.4 percent, not 98 percent as in the report.

The report also showed that the Orlando Veteran's Medical Center had a positivity rate of 76 percent. A spokesperson for the VA told FOX 35 News on Tuesday that this does not reflect their numbers and that the positivity rate for the center is actually 6 percent.

Comment: More fudging of the numbers to give the impression that things are 'out of control' and that the '2nd wave' is coming any minute now...






Cell Phone

BBC journalists are becoming addicted to 'toxic' Twitter, bosses say

bbc building

Some BBC journalists have been warned over their use of social media, with some even disciplined for breaking social media guidelines .
BBC journalists are becoming addicted to Twitter amid fears their desire to 'go viral' is undermining impartiality rules, the corporations head of standards said yesterday.

David Jordan said journalists have sometimes failed to uphold BBC guidelines on social media which has become 'toxic'.

Some journalists have been disciplined by senior staff over their use of social media amid complaints they have 'overstepped the mark'.

Comment: This seems to be a change of tone from the BBC. Many of their recent policy decisions seem to have been taken directly from woke Twitter. The fact that they're pulling back, saying enough is enough, may actually be a good sign. We won't be holding our breath, however.

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Corona

Forget face masks and fear - let's relax and accept the risk

Boris Johnson

Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Every day I still see unhappy, frightened people cringing from human contact. They have been terrified almost out of their minds by foolish government propaganda, and the most basic trust, the very heart of civilisation, has been destroyed.

This is another side of savage, unforgivably cruel rules which have prevented grandparents from touching their grandchildren, or forbidden people to visit close relatives, even spouses, in their dying weeks.

Millions of us know this is all the most appalling rubbish, based on wild, wrong guesses and twisted figures, and one day soon I hope an icy public inquiry will condemn those responsible for the grave, incompetents they are.

But in the meantime what are those of us who have not been cowed into submission to do?

I suggest that we are allowed to register as 'relaxed'. We will sign declarations that we will not sue anyone or claim on anyone's insurance if we catch Covid-19. We regard it as a minor risk of life, to be coped with.

Dollars

Asheville, North Carolina approves 'reparations,' apologizes for role in slavery

asheville north carolina
North Carolina's Asheville City Council apologized for its role in slavery and racial discrimination, voting unanimously to provide reparations in the form of community investments to help Black residents.

The council voted 7-0 on Tuesday night on the measure to mitigate racial disparities. The reparations will not provide direct cash payments, as some have suggested, but will provide investments in housing, health care and career growth in Black neighborhoods.

Councilwoman Shaneika Smith, who is Black, said the council had gotten emails from those "asking, 'Why should we pay for what happened during slavery?'"

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Eye 1

Ghislaine Maxwell breaks down in tears as she is denied bail and must stay locked up until her July 2021 trial

ghislaine maxwell cries bail hearing

Ghislaine Maxwell at her bail hearing
Ghislaine Maxwell cried as she was ordered held without bail Tuesday — with a Manhattan judge ruling the accused sex abuser "poses substantial actual risk of flight" after she purposely hid from authorities.

The 58-year-old British socialite and pal of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein wiped tears from her left eye several times, using the back of her left index finger, as federal Judge Alison Nathan refused to free her from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until her trial next year.

"No combination of conditions" could ensure that Maxwell wouldn't try to flee prosecution, Nathan said during a video conference in Manhattan federal court — where Maxwell appeared on the feed remotely from a closet-size room at the jail.

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Family

Researchers say Earth is headed for "jaw-dropping" population decline

action figure population crowd models
People around the globe are having way fewer babies. By the year 2100, that might turn into a pretty big problem for humanity — rather than the relief one might expect.

If they aren't already, dozens of countries' populations will be going into decline in this century, according to a new study published in the Lancet this week. 23 countries are expected to feel this effect intensify, with their populations dropping to half of what they are now by the year 2100.

The global population will peak at 9.7 billion around 2064, according to the new projection, and then drop off to 8.8 billion towards the end of the century.

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NPC

Ultra-Woke Madness in Education: 2+2=oppression and 'achievement' is a white supremacist construct

Math on Chalk Board
© Getty Images / stellalevi
Injecting 'social justice' into every aspect of education is having a disastrous effect on kids' ability to learn. But what would you expect from a system that considers academic achievement itself a construct of white supremacy?

The ultra-woke educators of Seattle have pioneered the 'decolonialization' of education, in the process managing to defeat the purpose of teaching itself. It would be easy to simply mock the logical pretzels these theorists tie themselves into, but they're imposing their behavioral experiments in competitive navel-gazing on American children, inflicting deep alienation and harming kids' ability to learn anything at all. Indeed, the latest trend in culturally-aware pedagogy seems to be denouncing the desire to impart knowledge as a colonialist impulse that must be squashed.

The so-called 'achievement gap' - the academic divide between poor and minority children and their better-off, whiter counterparts - has long been the subject of hand-wringing among educators. With each failed strategy, progressive teachers return to the drawing board, determined to further plumb the depths of social theory in the hope that the next solution - ethnomathematics? decolonizing science? - will be the magic bullet that puts all students on an equal footing.

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