Society's ChildS


Snakes in Suits

Russia can replace all their expelled diplomats, says US official

Russian embassy
© AFP Photo/JIM WATSONThe US says that Moscow can apply to replace personnel at the Russian Embassy in Washington -- shown here -- who have been expelled from the country
Russia is free to apply to accredit more diplomats to replace the alleged spies that have been expelled from the United States, a State Department official said Friday.

This week, in response to an apparent attempt to assassinate a Russian double agent in Britain with a nerve agent, Washington joined a score of Western allies in expelling more than 150 suspected intelligence officers attached to Russian missions.

In all, 48 alleged Russian operatives working under diplomatic cover for its US mission were on the list -- along with 12 attached to the Russian mission to the United Nations in New York.

Russia's consulate in Seattle will also be closed, but the total size of its diplomatic footprint in the United States might not shrink for long, because the expelled staff could be replaced.

Attention

ISIS suggests it's planning terror attacks at World Cup in Russia

ISIS
© Reuters
ISIS terrorists are preparing for attacks at the World Cup in Russia using drones, it has been claimed.

Sick propaganda has been shared a number of times implying the terror group will target the tournament due to take place in June.

Now chilling images have been shared on the messaging app Telegram which reportedly show preparations for attacks.

They show drones being armed with grenades, missiles and mortars that can be dropped on targets.

Weaponised drones are already being used by ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

They are the cheap kind normally used by filmmakers and hobbyists, but with deadly bombs attached.

No Entry

136 undocumented immigrants attempting to cross border discovered in trailer by Mexican police

Mexican police  immigrants
© EFEPolice discovered 136 undocumented Central American immigrants, including 49 minors, crammed inside the vehicle.
Nearly 140 undocumented immigrants have been apprehended by police in Veracruz while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexican border, the National Institute of Migration (INM) said Friday.

When officers pulled a large trailer over to the side of the Coatzacoalcos-Acayucan highway, they discovered 136 Central Americans, including 49 minors, from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua crammed inside the vehicle.

According to officers, the sound of voices and crying spurred an investigation of the truck. Inside, they found the stowaways packed tightly in the vehicle, with many displaying symptoms of suffocation due to poor ventilation.

Light Saber

A night with Putin's angels

Putin's Angels
We stared up at the enormous steel gates as our Uber headed back into the chilly Moscow night. I'd never seen anything like it. A huge metal eagle with the head of a wolf hung from the arch, wings outstretched, talons grasping for prey. An entire MiG fighter jet was welded to the compound wall, and a Red Army tank perched atop it. An artillery gun sat nearby, and on an enormous stone near the road was an ornate Russian Orthodox cross with a snarling wolf crouched in front of it, with strategically-placed lights making it appear almost alive. A large unsmiling fellow stood at the gate dressed entirely in black, a bullet-proof vest making him appear even bulkier than he was. He took our bags from us and rummaged carefully through each pocket. After checking them thoroughly, he looked up sharply. "Guns?" We shook our heads, but he checked the bags again anyway. He handed them back, grunted, and jerked his head towards the courtyard and the compound within. Welcome to the lair of the Night Wolves.

Rocket

Implausible deniability: How could Skripal's poisoning happen right under Britain's nose unless they were involved?

skripal novichok
As more and more outlandish and implausible details of the alleged poisoning of the Skripals by an alleged Russian nerve agent emerge, and the already miniscule possibility that the Kremlin was somehow responsible is reduced to a vanishing point, our focus needs to turn to examining the details of what really happened here. It is all too easy to be drawn into this circus show, which almost seems to be playing with our imaginations.

How for instance could "they" tell that Sergey Skripal had touched his front door with his right hand, while Yulia had touched it with her left, when they were allegedly contaminated with the alleged nerve agent? Is this just to distract us from the inexplicable idea that the Skripals were hit with the most deadly nerve poison known to man, but remained unaffected for two hours?

All these details help us to establish is that the whole story is false - but we already knew that within hours of hearing about it; rather this helps us to consolidate our presumption of Russian innocence into certainty.

In fact, while the realisation that agents or states allied to the US/UK, acting with or without their governments' consent or knowledge confected this scheme to further their interests is shocking enough, it is only the first step in analysing the conspiracy. The important questions that must now be answered are these:

Who was responsible? How long were they planning this? What is their prime motive? In addition we should consider how they intend to manage the contingencies, particularly if the targeted countries do not behave as they predict, or if other unforeseen events force an alteration to their plans.

Most importantly, we should appreciate that those responsible for launching this exceptionally provocative and dangerous conspiracy quite clearly intend to prevail, by whatever means necessary. This may well include further false flag attacks, or "provocations" as Russians call them, so being forewarned is to be forearmed.

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Pistol

School teacher caught assigning students to write to Congress for stricter gun control

gun constitution second amendment
A Hampton Middle School teacher in Georgia told his students to write letters to Congress asking lawmakers to enact stricter gun control laws.

"You are trying to persuade lawmakers to have stricter gun laws to help prevent another school shooting from taking place," the assignment read, according to Fox News. "For this assignment, you are writing a letter to the lawmakers of the United States. The purpose of this letter is to pressure lawmakers to have stricter gun laws in the United States."

Blue Lives Matter secured a copy of the assignment from a police officer whose son was one of the students, Fox News reported.

Handcuffs

New York finally makes it illegal for police to have sex with people they arrest

woman police
It has been over five months since then 18-year-old Anna Chambers accused two on-duty NYPD officers of raping her in the back of a police van on the night of September 15th, 2017. As emphatically as she claims she was raped and did not consent to having sex with two police officers, she asserts not only have the police continued to attempt to intimidate her but the very justice system she looked to for help was set up to help the alleged rapists - until now.

On Thursday, New York lawmakers passed a bill banning cops from having sex with people they arrest. No, this is not an April Fools joke. Up until this week, cops in New York could have sex with people in custody, so long as they claimed it was consensual.

Stock Down

DOW tanks nearly 460 points after China imposes new tariffs and Trump rails against Amazon

Brokers at the New York Stock Exchange
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersBrokers at the New York Stock Exchange
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 458 points down, as Beijing slapped tariffs on US imports in retaliation for US steel and aluminum tariffs and President Donald Trump blasted online retail giant Amazon.

On Monday, Beijing imposed a 15 percent duty on 127 US products, as well as a 25 percent tariff on pork, in retaliation for Trump's recent tariffs on Chinese exports.

"China and the United States are the world's two biggest economies, and cooperation is the only correct choice," the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said announcing the tariffs, adding that it hoped the US would rescind its tariff decision "as quickly as possible."

Airplane

At least 2 killed after 2 planes collide on runway at Marion airport, Indiana

Airport
© Nathan Sweeny / YouTube
At least two people have been killed in an incident at the Marion Municipal Airport in Indiana, after two planes collided on the runway, according to local authorities.

The deadly incident unfolded when a smaller plane that was taking off to the southeast clipped a larger plane that was landing from the north, the coroner, who was dispatched to the scene following the collision, told local WTHR 13 news.

People

Ridiculous! University of Rochester now requiring gender-specific groups to justify their status every year

stressed basketball players
The University of Rochester student government is now requiring all "gender-specific" student groups, such as fraternities, to justify their status annually in writing.

Starting in Fall 2019, the "Gender Exclusivity Waiver" process stipulates that all fraternities and sports teams must annually apply for permission from the Students' Association (SA) to continue excluding the opposite sex, according to a copy of the policy obtained by Campus Reform.

"Through this waiver, these groups must demonstrate that their membership policy and selection processes are integral to the mission of the organization, are openly advertised, and are non-discriminatory on all other grounds," the policy states.

Anthony Pericolo, vice president of the Kappa Delta Chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity, explained that the policy appears to be a compromise between student efforts to ban fraternities and the efforts to make fraternities more inclusive to LGBTQ students.

Under the new rule, fraternities must apply to "waive" themselves from the school's gender non-discrimination policy annually, or else risk the loss of funding and institutional privileges.