Society's ChildS


Colosseum

26 coal barges break loose on flooded Ohio River, destroy Pittsburgh marina

Hillary Andrews
Fox
Sun, 14 Apr 2024 15:53 UTC
coal barge
© U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh DistrictThe force of the water slammed one of the barges against the cement pier so hard that it bent.
Heavy rain triggered flooding across the Ohio River again. Pittsburgh is on track to see record rainfall for the month of April, according to the National Weather Service.

Flooding rains allowed 26 barges on the Ohio River to break loose and flow downstream threatening Pittsburgh bridges. Authorities closed the bridges, which have since reopened.

Officials closed several bridges across Pittsburgh late Friday and Saturday morning as more than two dozen cargo barges broke loose and careened down the flooded Ohio River.

"The McKees Rocks Bridge was closed in both directions, and rail traffic was shut down on the rail bridge to Brunot Island," public safety officials in Pittsburgh said in a statement. "Both will be reopened when it is determined that it is safe to do so."

Comment: Whilst this is related to an extreme weather event, one might suppose this is also connected to the over failing of US infrastructure and general management; and this is in addition to the more suspect incidents occurring across the nation: Container ship 'loses power' in NYC harbor near bridge; passenger planes clip wings at UK airport

Meanwhile in China:



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Evil Rays

Bishop and 3 worshipers attacked with knife on livestream in Sydney Orthodox church, comes just 48 hours after mall attack

Max Aitchison
Daily Mail
Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:52 UTC
sydney stab knife church bishop
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney's west on Monday evening when a man dressed in black walked up to the altar and stabbed him multiple times (pictured)
A bishop and three worshippers have been attacked in another stabbing rampage to rock Sydney, as riot police were called in to quell mounting tensions in the city's west.

Assyrian religious leader Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was preaching at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney's west on Monday just after 7pm when a man dressed in a dark hoodie walked up to the altar and allegedly stabbed him multiple times.

Horrifying footage of the incident, which was being broadcast live on the church's YouTube page, shows Bishop Emmanuel look up in astonishment as the attacker suddenly rains down blows on his face and head.

Comment: Interestingly, early reports of the mall attack claimed it might be terror-related, however, relatively quickly, police assured people that there was no reason to believe that it was. What was acknowledged is that the criminal was known to the authorities.

Overall, it seems possible that this attack may be more along the lines of some kind of copycat attack. One is reminded of the two shootings in Serbia in May 2023.

It is, however, notable that the victim was known to have been outspoken against the establishment agenda, and one wonders whether this criminal, like the mall attacker, was also 'known to the authorities': Sydney mall knife attack: 6 dead, several wounded, incl. baby, perpetrator was known to authorities

UPDATE: Footage of the bishop's other talks are emerging online:



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Passport

WHO official admits vaccine passports may have been a scam

Paul D. Thacker
The DisInformation Chronicle
Fri, 12 Apr 2024 07:06 UTC
vaccine passport cartoon
The World Health Organization's Dr. Hanna Nohynek testified in court that she advised her government that vaccine passports were not needed but was ignored, despite explaining that the COVID vaccines did not stop virus transmission and the passports gave a false sense of security. The stunning revelations came to light in a Helsinki courtroom where Finnish citizen Mika Vauhkala is suing after he was denied entry to a café for not having a vaccine passport.

Dr. Nohynek is chief physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and serves as the WHO's chair of Strategic Group of Experts on immunization. Testifying yesterday, she stated that the Finnish Institute for Health knew by the summer of 2021 that the COVID-19 vaccines did not stop virus transmission

During that same 2021 time period, the WHO said it was working to "create an international trusted framework" for safe travel while EU members states began rolling out COVID passports. The EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation passed in July 2021 and more than 2.3 billion certificates were later issued. Visitors to France were banned if they did not have a valid vaccine passport which citizens had to carry to buy food at stores or to use public transport.
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Big Bomb

Israel's defence against Iran attack overnight 'likely cost over $1bn'


Middle East Eye
Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:01 UTC
The cost for one night of defence seen as significantly higher than the price Iran paid to mount its attack.
Remains of an Iranian rocket booster
© ReutersA police officer and residents inspect the remains of an Iranian rocket booster that landed in Israel, near Arad, 14 April 2024.
It cost Israel more than $1bn to activate its defence systems that intercepted Iran's massive drone and missile attack overnight, according to a former financial adviser to Israel's military.

"The defence tonight was on the order of 4-5bn shekels [$1-1.3bn] per night," estimated Brigadier General Reem Aminoach in an interview with Ynet news.

Aminoach highlighted that the staggering price tag stands in contrast to the relatively low amount that Iran had spent to launch its assault, which some estimates have put at less than 10 percent of what it cost Israel to stop the attack.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel on Saturday, in response to an Israeli attack on its consulate in Syria that killed two senior Revolutionary Guard commanders earlier this month.

Israel said its military forces and its allies had intercepted 99 percent of the missiles, but some ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli defences and hit the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel.
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Light Saber

Iowa GOP governor signs bill allowing local authorities to arrest certain migrants, 'enforce immigration laws'

Kyle Morris and Adam Shaw
Fox News
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:39 UTC
Gov. Kim Reynolds
Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Wednesday a bill that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants in the Hawkeye State who had previously been deported.
'The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our nation's immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk,' says Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law Wednesday evening a measure that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants in the Hawkeye State who have previously been deported or denied admission.

Senate File 2340, which makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to enter or re-enter the state if he or she has previously been deported or denied admission to the United States, is similar to a Texas law that has become the target of a high-profile legal challenge from the Biden administration.

In a statement announcing her signing of the measure, Reynolds said, "The Biden Administration has failed to enforce our nation's immigration laws, putting the protection and safety of Iowans at risk."
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Star of David

Palestinian murdered by Israeli settlers rampaging in his village and troops fire on stone-throwers

Jack Jeffrey and Julia Frankel
Associated Press
Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:07 UTC
idf attack west bank april 2024
© AP Photo/Nasser NasserPalestinians inspect the shattered vehicle of Mohammad Daraghmeh, 26, a local Hamas commander who was killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers early morning during an army raid, in the West Bank village of Tamoun, Friday, April 12, 2024.
Dozens of Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, shooting and setting houses and cars on fire. The rampage killed a Palestinian man and wounded 25 others, Palestinian health officials said.

The violence was the latest in an escalation in the West Bank that has accompanied Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli rights group said the settlers were searching for a missing 14-year-old boy from their settlement. After the rampage, Israeli troops said they were still searching for the teen.

The killing came after an Israeli raid overnight killed two Palestinians, including a Hamas militant, in confrontation with Israeli forces.

Palestinian health officials say over 460 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire since the war erupted in October.
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Health

The end of merit in med schools will be deadly

Roger B. Cohen
tomklingenstein.com
Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00 UTC
medical personnel
© Shutterstock
Editor's Note: America is at war. This is not a traditional war, fought on a battlefield against an external enemy. It is a civilizational conflict against an internal enemy: the group quota regime, a revolutionary threat that seeks to reorganize American society around the principle of outcome equality — what the regime's partisans call "equity."

This cold civil war may go unnoticed by many day-to-day, but its stakes are often as high as life and death. Here, Roger B. Cohen, a celebrated oncologist and professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, explains how the group quota regime has taken hold of the American medical education system and asks urgent questions about the consequences for medicine, for the sick, and for the country.

The United States enjoys a reputation as a bastion of excellence and scientific rigor in medical education. Our country also leads the world in medical progress and innovation. That has not always been the case. It is hard to imagine the backwardness of American medical schools before a man named Abraham Flexner set out to transform them into institutions built on rigorous science.

Comment: A fair assessment of the influence of social justice to alter proven medical standards for certification and patient care.

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Handcuffs

Truong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud

Jonathan Head, Thu Bui
BBC
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00 UTC

Comment: That's certainly one way to do it...


Truong
© EPATruong My Lan is accused of looting one of Vietnam's largest banks over a period of 11 years
It was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen.

Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country's largest banks over a period of 11 years.

It's a rare verdict - she is one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.

The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions.

The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.

The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five others were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges and can appeal.
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Bizarro Earth

A tale of two fates: Gonzalo Lira and Rafi Jabar

Russell Bentley
Sputnik
Sun, 14 Apr 2024 17:29 UTC
donbass ukraine shelling road damage
© Sergey Baturin/SputnikA hole is seen in the bridge's roadway after a recent shelling by Ukrainian Armed Forces in the course of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Donetsk People's Republic, Russia.
I have a friend here named Rafi Jabbar, who I served with in 2015 in Vostok Battalion. Rafi earned his DPR and Russian citizenship in combat, where he was known as a brave and expert soldier until he got wounded by a boobytrap in early 2019.

And by "wounded", I mean both his legs were blown off. In 2023, he, like Gonzalo Lira, was arrested in a foreign country on bogus charges, but he was not tortured and he did not die, and in fact, was released in less than a month, on the orders of the very highest levels of the Russian government. Here's Rafi's story - compare and contrast with the horrific fate of Gonzalo Lira, who the latest reports from reliable sources (not yet, but I think soon to be 100% confirmed) was actually extorted for over $250,000 by agents of the SBU, with the the knowledge and connivance of the vice consul of the US embassy, and when Lira tried to contact a lawyer, was beaten and tortured to death in his jail cell.)

Comment:

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Chart Bar

Majority of Germans do not believe Ukraine can win - poll


RT
Fri, 12 Apr 2024 15:48 UTC
FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Berlin, Germany, on February 16, 2024.
© Global Look Press / dpa / Michael KappelerFILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Berlin, Germany, on February 16, 2024.
Less than a half of those asked in the NATO country want an increase in military aid to Kiev, a new survey has shown

The vast majority of Germans do not believe that Ukraine can prevail against Russia, even with Western arms at its disposal, a new poll conducted on behalf of the broadcaster ZDF has suggested. Only one in ten Germans thinks that Kiev can win, the survey, published on Friday, found.

The number of skeptics in Germany continues to grow, according to the survey results from Politbarometer. While in August, 70% of respondents said they did not see Kiev winning, currently as many as 82% of those surveyed do not believe it can prevail.

Less than half of Germans want their government to send more military aid to Ukraine, the poll showed. According to the data, 42% of respondents are in favor of stronger support, while 31% want it to remain at the same level and 22% believe that it should be reduced.

Comment: Wars are not decided by public polls, but the polls do show that most people in Germany and the EU think that their politicians are trying to
beat the odds.

However, despite the poor odds as perceived by the public, if one takes the following statement: "42% of respondents are in favour of stronger support, while 31% want it to remain at the same level and 22% believe that it should be reduced" then on the balance of opinions, the more war party is twice the size of the less war party. From this perspective the leading German politicians by pushing for more aid/war to Ukraine are, it would seem, doing what their voters want, come hell or high water (link to dictionary explanation).

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