Society's ChildS


Vader

Watch police descend on massive party over Covid-19 rules


RT
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 07:45 UTC
Police, Netherlands
© Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesPolice stand guard following Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's announcement of new measures to fight COVID-19, Netherlands.
Several people have been arrested at an international rave in an abandoned Dutch factory with police playing party poopers

Police raided and shut down an illegal rave in the Netherlands on New Year's Day, with the local mayor calling it inappropriate to hold the event as the rest of the country follows strict Covid-19 restrictions.

Officers dressed in riot gear broke up the rave at an abandoned factory in the small town of Rijswijk on Saturday, ordering attendees to leave and seizing equipment and vehicles. At least three people were reportedly arrested for disobeying police orders and driving under the influence.

The event drew a crowd of hundreds - despite the fact that Dutch coronavirus restrictions currently prohibit large events such as concerts and festivals - and attendees allegedly came from as far as France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

Comment: See also:

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Biohazard

8.5 million gallons of sewage spill into flood waterway in Los Angeles County, at least 5 beaches closed

Eduardo Medina
New York Times
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 16:32 UTC
sewage spill
© Dean Musgrove/The Orange County Register, via Associated PressFILE: The release of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Dominguez Channel in Carson, Calif., forced the closure of some beaches on Friday.
About eight and a half million gallons of untreated sewage have spilled into a flood-control waterway in Los Angeles County since Thursday afternoon, prompting at least five beaches to close, an official with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts said.

"It is a lot," said Bryan Langpap, a spokesman for the agency. "That's the biggest spill we've ever had."

The spill began after a concrete pipe 48 inches in diameter in Carson, Calif., collapsed. The sewage leaked out of a manhole on 212th Street on Thursday evening and much of Friday, Mr. Langpap said.

Comment: Infrastructure in the US - in many countries in the West, in fact - is aging and has been neglected to the point that any unusual stresses could cause them to fail. Which is even more alarming as extreme weather events are on the rise:

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Video

Soldier arrested over ominous Covid ultimatum video to government


RT
Fri, 31 Dec 2021 21:20 UTC
guy w backpack
© Global Look Press/dpa/Marijan Murat
German prosecutors have opened a probe against a Bundeswehr soldier who delivered a video ultimatum to the government demanding it abandon its Covid-19 policies. The man was released after being briefly detained.

A series of video appeals surfaced on social media on Thursday, where a man dressed in military uniform and calling himself "Sergeant Major Oberauer" demanded the government give up on its "crazy anti-constitutional projects." The self-described sergeant was referring to the German government's Covid-19 restrictions, as well as compulsory vaccination for medical workers and Bundeswehr soldiers.

The man then delivered an ultimatum, saying that officials had until Friday to change their ways. "This is a warning," he said in a minute-long clip, adding that "soldiers would be ready for dialogue until 4pm tomorrow." He also accused politicians of betraying Germany's Basic Law and demanded "the constitutional order" be restored.

Authorities swiftly launched a manhunt for the man and, on Thursday evening, police in the southern state of Bavaria said in a statement they arrested a "Bundeswehr soldier" in downtown Munich, who "had publicly called for criminal offenses." His rank or identity have not been made public.
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People 2

Segregation returns to American schools

David Haggith
RT
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 12:00 UTC
Classroom
© Getty Images/Klaus Vedfelt
Alpha News reported on December 21 that a Minnesota school board unanimously voted to pay black teachers and Native-American teachers more than their white colleagues on no basis other than color - not for merit or seniority or for taking on extra duties. They also voted to segregate staff into separate parts of the school based solely on color.

The story continued:
"The board is chaired by Jodi Sapp, who previously came under fire for requiring concerned parents to dox themselves in order to comment on school matters. Under her leadership, the board voted to amend district policy so that non-white teachers only may receive 'additional stipends' to become mentors to other non-white colleagues. The new policy will also have the district 'placing American Indian educators at sites with other American Indian educators and educators of color at sites with other educators of color.'"
The new meeting rules put in place by Sapp stated that parents or others speaking at board meetings may not identify board members by name or district staff members while speakers must identify themselves with their name and address, and must limit themselves to commenting only on agenda items.
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Stop

BlackBerry phones to lose all functionality


RT
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:53 UTC
BlackBerry phones
© InTech/BlackBerryThe once-pioneering devices will no longer be guaranteed dependable.
BlackBerry, whose smartphones attracted a devoted following for features like built-in keyboards and high security even as Apple and Google gradually poached its customers, is finally giving up the ghost, the company has revealed.

Any phones or tablets running BlackBerry operating systems "will no longer reliably function" starting January 4, the company declared in a recent press release. That rules out phone calls, texts, data use, SMS connections, or emergency 911 calls.

Specifically, while more recent BlackBerry devices running Android operating systems will continue to function, smartphones and other devices running BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10, or the company's tablet operating system, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, will cease to operate with any degree of reliability.

Perhaps fittingly given that BlackBerry's initial attractions included its comparatively beefy security profile, parent company BlackBerry Limited has switched to selling cybersecurity software and internet of things systems.
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People 2

Massachusetts denies teacher union's request to keep schools closed for COVID-19 testing

Olafimihan Oshin
The Hill
Fri, 31 Dec 2021 06:13 UTC
MTAssoc announcement
© CBSBoston.com
Massachusetts officials have denied a teacher union's request to keep schools closed for COVID-19 testing.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association made the request to close schools for COVID testing with the input from their environmental health and safety committee and public health experts, according to a report by the Associated Press.

But Massachusetts' Executive Office of Education spokesperson Colleen Quinn told the AP that the department will not close schools on Monday. Quinn said in a statement:
"The commissioner is not going to close schools Monday, and asks teachers to be patient as we work to get tests in their hands this weekend. It is disappointing that once again the MTA is trying to find a way to close schools, which we know is to the extreme detriment of our children."
Schools set to resume classes after a holiday break next week are doing so as the highly-contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus hits the United States hard.

Comment: Teachers Unions do not have the final say:
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has consistently said keeping children in school is of paramount importance.

"There are a lot of tools and capabilities available to keep kids and adults safe in school, and we should do everything in our power to make sure that kids stay in school."


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Fire

Fire devastates South African Parliament, cause not yet known


Deutsche Welle
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 15:42 UTC
south africa parliament fire
Firefighters were on hand to battle the blaze in the heart of Cape Town
Firefighters are battling a blaze in the national Parliament buildings that caused the roof of the old National Assembly to collapse. The cause is not yet known, although a person has been detained for questioning.

A fire broke out at the South African Parliament building in Cape Town in the early hours of Sunday morning, and spread to the wing housing the current National Assembly, where parliament sits, causing widespread damage.

In a statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, "This is devastating, coming as it does a day after our send-off for Archbishop Desmond Tutu."

He praised the firefighters who "worked to stop Parliament from being razed to ashes," but said "it is very clear that this fire has devastated the parliamentary precinct and its contents and assets, including Parliament's historical treasures of heritage."

Comment: This comes just a few days after a small fire at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia.

See also:

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Arrow Down

US population grew at record-setting slow rate in 2021

Hannah Nightingale
The Post Millennial
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:43 UTC
baby ward
In 2021, the American population saw its slowest population growth since the founding of the nation.

The US Census Bureau Vintage 2021 Population Estimates state that the United States population grew by just 0.1 percent in 2021, with the slow pace being exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and following the downward trend seen in the 21st century.

For the first time since 1937, the US population grew by under 1 million people, "featuring the lowest numeric growth since at least 1900, when the Census Bureau began annual population estimates."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Four killed after gas explosion tears through apartment block in Belgium


RTE
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00 UTC
gas explosion belgium
Four people died in a gas explosion that shattered two apartment blocks in northern Belgium on New Year's Eve, a local official has said.

Two women survived the blast - one of whom spent 14 hours under the rubble - and are in hospital "doing OK", said Paul Van Miert, mayor of the town of Turnhout, east of Antwerp and close to the border with the Netherlands.

He said he was unable to give identities, genders or ages of the fatalities as police were still contacting next-of-kin, but added that all were adults.

The explosion occurred early yesterday, blowing a hole in one four-storey block containing 16 apartments and shattering windows in another one nearby.

Comment: Other explosions in the news recently:

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Newspaper

Hundreds clash with police on New Year's Eve in Leipzig, Germany, France detains hundreds after 847 cars torched


RT
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 15:52 UTC
leipzig nye protest
© Global Look Press / Sebastian Willnow
The German city of Leipzig saw its streets turn into an arena for intense clashes between police and rioters on New Year's Eve as hundreds gathered in the city's east.

Soon after the clock struck midnight, the Leipzig police began receiving the first reports about violence and property damage. Officers had to respond to almost 170 calls in Leipzig and its surrounding areas in just over two hours on Saturday night, police said in a statement. They called it a "sharp increase" in comparison to an "ordinary Friday night."

A crowd comprising "hundreds" of people gathered at Eisenbahnstrasse Street in the city's east, with the area quickly becoming an arena for clashes between rioting revelers and law enforcement. Police vehicles were pelted with various objects, including firecrackers. The rioters also set up barricades from shopping carts and set them on fire.

Comment: Reports from both Italy and the Netherlands allege that a ban on fireworks resulted in the following reply from citizens:



In Scotland reports are coming in that the authorities banned dancing on NYE because 'coronavirus', which led to the police breaking up an otherwise civilized and harmless gathering:




The restrictions in Scotland caused a mass exodus of partygoers to England:


Peaceful protests against lockdown continued in Munich, and Paris:





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