Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Italian police arrest 181 people in bid to prevent mafia revival in Sicily

italy crackdown mafia
© Igor Petyx / EPA / EFE via ShutterstockPolice officers of the Italian Antimafia Division of Palermo taking part in an operation Tuesday.
The arrests in Palermo indicate that "Cosa Nostra" has remained a significant criminal force despite setbacks in recent decades.

More than 1200 police officers took part in the major operation, and the Carabinieri military police said the action was aimed at the development of the mafia in the area. In the raids, the largest in recent years, Italian authorities have sought to prevent the resurgence of the mafia and its governing body known as the Cupola.

Several mafia bosses have been released from prison in recent months after appeals, but investigators allege that those still behind bars have been using encrypted mobile phones to continue their activities.

It has been proven that the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra has changed the practices of its founders and that it no longer needs personal meetings.

Comment: Reuters adds:
Despite being weakened by law enforcement activities, Cosa Nostra continues to attract young people, the Carabinieri said, noting they documented one instance of a new recruit given "mafia lessons" by an older associate.

The would-be mentor gave the young man "specific instructions, inviting him to take as an example his conduct towards people to be subjected to extortion, and advising him on how to relate with mafia leaders," the police statement said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, writing on X, hailed Tuesday's arrests as inflicting "a very hard blow to Cosa Nostra", and giving a clear signal that "the fight against the mafia has not stopped and will not stop".



TV

Legacy MSM sent their top executives to Pentagon to protest losing onsite workspaces

pentagon media workspace
© Kristina Wong/Breitbart NewsLegacy news outlets are being vacated from their workspaces in the Pentagon to give to other news outlets. The middle office, currently occupied by NPR News, will now go to Breitbart News.
The Trump Pentagon's decision to remove legacy media outlets from their long-held workspaces and replace them with other news outlets has generated outrage that was notably missing when the Biden White House canceled press passes for more than 400 journalists.

In fact, legacy media outlets were so concerned about losing their Pentagon workspaces that they sent top company executives and editors to a private meeting with a senior Trump Pentagon press official earlier this week, according to a source at the meeting.

One outlet's president even flew down from New York to attend the meeting, which was requested by the Pentagon Press Association to push back against the Pentagon's order, according to the source, and was attended by about five dozen members of the press.

Comment: Another Biden wrong set to right:




Clipboard

Facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind

abondoned buildings
The United States is rapidly becoming a "post-industrial" nation. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers left them, but the pace at which America is doing this is absolutely breathtaking. Nobody can deny that our economy is a complete and utter mess right now, and we only have ourselves to blame. It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II. In fact, the primary reason why we won World War II is because we simply outproduced our enemies. But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America. Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States over the past several decades. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost during that same time period.

Brain

Elon Musk put a chip in this paralysed man's brain. Now he can move things with his mind. Should we be amazed - or terrified?

Arbaugh
© Steve Craft/The Guardian/adevarul.roNoland Arbaugh, the first human recipient of Neuralink's brain chip
An accident left Noland Arbaugh paralysed, but Musk's Neuralink brain implant allows him to control computers with his thoughts. Is it a life-changing innovation that could help millions - or the start of a dystopia where a billionaire can access our thoughts?

Noland Arbaugh's life changed in a fraction of a second in June 2016. He was a 22-year-old student, working at a kids' summer camp in upstate New York, when he went swimming in a lake. He can't tell me exactly what happened, but thinks one of his friends must have accidentally struck him very hard in the side of his head as they ran into the water and plunged beneath the surface.

When he woke up face down in the water, unable to move or breathe, Noland immediately knew he was paralysed. But he didn't panic. He felt no fear at all, he says.
"You never know what you're going to do in those high-stress situations. I found out that day that it's hard to shake me. I am very, very calm under pressure."
Elon Musk would ultimately turn this quality to his advantage when, after nearly eight years of being quadriplegic, Noland agreed to allow the world's richest man to implant an electronic chip into his brain. In January 2024, Noland became the first human recipient of a brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by Musk's company, Neuralink. If it worked, it would allow him to control a computer using only the power of his mind.

NPC

The DEI agenda exists throughout the video game industry

The Lord Of The Rings Game
Calliope Ryder, the Lead Producer on Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, claims that the DEI agenda that has taken over numerous video game developers is a conspiracy.

Uncovered by YouTuber Vara Dark, Ryder posted back in September 2024 to X, "I promise I've never received a message from a higher up that said NEEDS MORE DIVERSITY so we can get GOVT FUNDING."

She added, "it's just that games are made by and for a wide range of people with varying experiences. there's no scary cabal forcing devs to add women and POC to games."

more diversity

Comment: YouTube influencer Gothix was quite well known and popular in the gamer community - until she started speaking up about the DEI/Liberal groupthink she began to see, and disagreed with. And then did the rancor and cancelling begin.


Dollar

US tax dollars fueling Ukrainian elites' lavish lifestyles - Tucker Carlson

Carlson
© Chip Somodevilla /Getty ImagesUS talk show host Tucker Carlson
Ukrainians are "the richest people" in Europe, spending fortunes in expensive resort towns, the American journalist has claimed.

Ukrainian elites have enriched themselves from embezzling US taxpayer money sent to fund the conflict with Russia, American journalist Tucker Carlson has claimed. He recounted his observations of affluent visitors at an elite ski resort, during an interview with retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis on Monday.

Carlson, a former Fox News host and a vocal opponent of US support for Ukraine, described his visit to a pricey resort in the Alps, where he discovered:
"The whole town is Ukrainian. All the visitors are Ukrainian, and they're rolling into Hermes, and dropping a million dollars in an afternoon. It's all through Europe you see this. The richest people are the Ukrainians. The money they're throwing around "belongs to me and you and every other American taxpayer."
Carlson went on to say that Ukrainian corruption not only squanders American resources but also endangers US citizens. He cited allegations of Ukrainian military personnel selling weapons on the black market, which have reportedly reached the Mexican drug cartels. He claimed to know this for a fact, but did not provide evidence. He also criticized US funding for the Ukrainian special services, saying they have orchestrated "terrorist attacks" within Russia.

Display

Microsoft ditches USAID-funded NewsGuard after Ted Cruz starts digging

newsguard microsoft cancels
Microsoft has dropped NewsGuard, a left-wing fact checking organization they partnered with that has helped the advertising industry justify blacklists for independent conservative media sites such as ZeroHedge.

The move came after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) began investigating Microsoft for funding the online "media literacy" censorship tool created by NewsGuard to help guide "learners of all ages through the overwhelming landscape of online news and information."

Comment: "Newsguard" has been a blot on free speech in the media space. Even SOTT.net has had its own run-ins with Newsguard:

Warning: Do NOT Read This! NewsGuard 'News Rating Agency' Gives SOTT.net Red 'Fake News' Label


Hiliter

22 blue states signed secret pact to defy Trump immigration efforts, coordinate legal strategies

Cal Gov Newsom
© UnknownCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom
Attorneys general from 22 blue states along with Washington DC and San Francisco signed a secret agreement just 3 days after President Trump won the 2024 election for a coordinated response to resist Trump's anticipated actions to end birthright citizenship.

According to an investigation by the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, the 22 AGs agreed to legal collaboration and communication to defy Trump's immigration enforcement initiatives, including any deemed confidential or privileged.

All shared information would be used to coordinate various legal schemes, as well as pre-lawsuit investigations, litigation strategies, complaints, dispositive motions, merits briefs, and amicus briefs. The agreement also bars third parties from accessing any of this shared information, which is defined as all documents, materials, information, and communications exchanged between the attorneys generals' offices prior to the agreement.

No Entry

'Reverse flow': Illegal immigrants streaming back home after being blocked by Trump's border

Family walks
© Gregory Bull/APFamily walks back to Mexico • deportation at Tijuana, Mexico after 1 week detention • January 20, 2025
President Trump's border buildup has been so successful that America's southern neighbors are now dealing with a startling new problem: migrants streaming south, trying to return back home after realizing they wouldn't make it to the U.S.

Officials from Panama and Costa Rica met this week to work out details for how to handle the flow, which is already a steady stream and could become a flood as people who'd been waiting in Mexico for a shot at the U.S. give up.

In Nicaragua, authorities this month have had to figure out what to do with migrants crossing south from Honduras. After initially resisting them, Nicaraguan immigration officials ended up allowing them to cross, as long as they promised to keep heading further south.

It's a startling reversal, though one the U.S. is trying to help with by orchestrating flights to get the migrants out of Central America and back to their home countries.

Truck

Data indicates there could be hundreds of truck-driving serial killers at large

long haul trucks semi truckers
© Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
As data indicates that hundreds of truck-driving serial killers could be at large, a best-selling book is highlighting the most gruesome cases as law enforcement officials try to warn potential victims.

It's a familiar plot for TV shows and movies: murderous truck drivers prowling US highways for victims. Federal Bureau of Investigation data indicate that there are likely hundreds of homicidal truck drivers who have never been captured. Although the percentage overall of long-haul truckers who become killers is small, many of those who did have driven across Nevada.

Patrick Carnes, 86, of Reno, may have become a victim in 2011. He disappeared while driving in tandem with a long-haul trucker along the so-called 'The Big Lonely,' Interstate 80. Judith Casida, 62, disappeared five years earlier. Both victims' vehicles were found in the same field a half-decade apart.