Society's ChildS


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Signs and portents? Rail bridge collapses on US-Canada border


Associated Press
Fri, 16 Aug 2024 20:10 UTC
rainy river bridge collapse canada us border
© Alan Boivin/Rainy Lake Boat Taxi via APThe Rainy River Rail Lift Bridge, also known as the 5 Mile Bridge, collapsed Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, near Fort Frances, Ontario, close to the U.S.-Canada border and Minnesota.
A century-old rail lift bridge that crosses the U.S.-Canada border near the cities of International Falls, Minnesota, and Fort Frances, Ontario, has collapsed, and it's unclear when the area will reopen to water traffic along the Rainy River.

No trains were involved, and no one was injured in Wednesday's collapse, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The cause is under investigation.

Some "biodegradable, non-toxic hydraulic oil" was released, but environmental crews have contained it and are working to recover the fluid, the Canadian National Railway said.

Crews have begun repairs to the structure, which was built in 1908. It's known as the Rainy River Rail Lift Bridge and the 5 Mile Bridge, and swings up to let traffic through on the river that forms the international border as it runs from Lake of the Woods to Rainy Lake.
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Airplane

A woman died after getting trapped in a baggage carousel at Chicago O'Hare Airport

Mikhaila Friel
Business Insider
Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:13 UTC
luggage
© Jeff Greenberg/Getty ImagesAirport conveyer belt
A 57-year-old woman died at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after she was found trapped inside a baggage-carousel conveyor belt, according to multiple reports.

Police told ABC News that surveillance footage of Terminal 5, which serves international flights, showed the unnamed woman entered "an unoccupied restricted area at 2:27 a.m." on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Labor told the outlet that the woman was not an airport employee.

The exact time she became entangled in the machinery is not known. She wasn't discovered until five hours later at 7:30 a.m., police told the outlet.

Emergency responders arrived at around 7:45 a.m. and discovered the woman "pinned in machinery," and "entangled in the conveyer belt system used to move baggage," the Chicago Fire Department told ABC News.
guard
© NurPhoto/Getty ImagesAirport security
Larry Langford, a spokesperson for the Chicago Fire Department, told The Guardian that the woman was found caught in a conveyor belt system in a baggage room that wasn't accessible to passengers.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, the outlets said.
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Syringe

Best of the Web: Thousands in the UK seek compensation after Covid vaccines 'left them disabled'

Sarah Knapton
The Telegraph
Sat, 17 Aug 2024 17:24 UTC
Leona Sanders
Leona Sanders was left hospital-bound after three jabs. Her husband Seb, a champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on her behalf
Nearly 14,000 people in Britain have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by Covid vaccines, new figures show.

Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph show that payments have already been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb and facial paralysis.

Around 97 per cent of claims awarded relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with just a handful of payments made for damage from Pfizer or Moderna.

Since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) was founded in 1979 it has had around 16,000 applications, but the Covid jab has made up the vast majority of claims.

Seb Sanders, the British champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on behalf of his wife, Leona, who was left hospital-bound after three Covid jabs, but their claim was rejected.
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Bizarro Earth

Planned Parenthood offering free abortions, vasectomies at DNC

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten
Fox News
Sat, 17 Aug 2024 17:18 UTC
mobile abortion clinic
© X / @ppgreatriversA mobile abortion clinic operated by Planned Parenthood in Chicago, Illinois
Planned Parenthood is offering more than a free T-shirt or sticker at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) this coming week — the organization will offer free vasectomies, medication abortion, and emergency contraception.

Planned Parenthood Great Rivers of St. Louis announced in a X post that a bus is headed to the DNC in Chicago on Aug. 19-20 to offer free services.

"Here we come, Chicago! Our mobile health clinic will be in the West Loop with @ChiAbortionFund & @TheWienerCircle Aug 19-20, providing FREE vasectomies & medication abortion," the post said. "EC will also be available for free without an appointment."

The Planned Parenthood location noted that there is a waiting list for vasectomies duirng their time at the convention. "We currently have a waitlist for free vasectomies," a follow-up X post said. "Repost to spread the word!"
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Caesar

Russia offers new temporary residence visa for people trying to escape 'destructive Western neo-liberal ideals'


TASS
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 16:21 UTC
The Church of the Savior on Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia
© Vladimir Astapkovich / SputnikThe Church of the Savior on Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia. Under the document, such foreign nationals will have the right to apply for temporary residence in Russia "outside the quota approved by the Russian government and without providing documents confirming their knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and basic laws"
Moscow will provide assistance to any foreigners who want to escape the neoliberal ideals being put forward in their countries and move to Russia, where traditional values reign supreme, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin.

Under the document, such foreign nationals will have the right to apply for temporary residence in Russia "outside the quota approved by the Russian government and without providing documents confirming their knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and basic laws."

Applications may be based on the rejection of their countries' policies "aimed at imposing destructive neoliberal ideals on people, which run counter to traditional Russian spiritual and moral values."

Comment: As always, it's perhaps not so simple; however, given the rapidly deteriorating state of Western societies in particular, it may still be the best option for some. It's also abundantly clear that there are a substantial number of Westerners who have been hoping for an opportunity such as this to arise:

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Binoculars

Majority of social media users unable to identify AI - report


RT
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:24 UTC
fake videos, AI
© Lane Turner / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Media literacy among adults is not keeping pace with the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to research published in Australia on Monday. The trend is leaving internet users increasingly vulnerable to misinformation, the authors of the research said.

The AI industry exploded in 2022 after the launch of chatbot and virtual assistant ChatGPT by US AI research organization OpenAI. The sector has since attracted billions of dollars in investment, with tech giants such as Google and Microsoft offering tools such as image and text generators.

However, users' confidence in their own digital media abilities remains low, according to the 'Adult Media Literacy in 2024' paper by Western Sydney University.

In a sample of 4,442 adult Australians, respondents were asked how confident they were to perform a series of 11 media-related tasks that required critical and technical abilities and/or knowledge. On average, respondents said they could complete just four out of the 11 tasks with confidence.
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Arrow Down

Most Ukrainians 'hate' Zelensky - Lukashenko


RT
Sun, 18 Aug 2024 15:19 UTC
Vladimir Zelensky
© Global Look Press / Zhao DingzheFILE PHOTO: Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky
The Ukrainian government is out of touch with its own people, who do not want to die in the conflict with Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said, adding that Vladimir Zelensky has lost the support of the majority of the people.

In an interview with Russia 1 TV released on Sunday, Lukashenko claimed that Kiev's neo-Nazi ideology does not resonate with the population of the country.

"There are no longer any Nazis," he said, arguing that the few "rabid" nationalists remaining in Ukraine "no longer set the trend," therefore, the country has been "de-nazified" - one of the stated goals of Moscow's military operation in the neighboring state

Comment: They hate him and rightfully so!

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Explosion

Deadly explosion rocks Tel Aviv


RT
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:12 UTC
Tel Aviv, Israel
© Stringer/Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe scene of an explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 18, 2024.
Israeli police are investigating an explosion in Tel Aviv that killed one man and injured another, local media reported on Sunday. The authorities suspect that the victim may have been killed in a botched suicide bombing.

The blast occurred in the city center around 8pm, causing significant damage to a nearby truck. Central District Commander Perez Amer told reporters that "dozens of calls were received by the emergency center, reporting a loud explosion and body parts scattered on Lehi Street."

When police and paramedics arrived, they noticed a "mutilated body and signs of an explosion on the wall," Amer added. The man, later identified as Gideon Peri, 50, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another man who was passing through the area on a scooter sustained moderate injuries from shrapnel and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

The authorities believe the explosive device was carried by the deceased victim. Initially, police had "difficulty identifying the body," but determined that "it's not an innocent civilian, but rather the person who was carrying the explosive device."

Comment: Question is, was this someone the Israelis strapped a bomb to and sent him on his way so they could blow him up as they pleased and claim it was a suicide bomber?

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Water

'No food or water for days': Ukrainian soldier explains why he surrendered to Russia


RT
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 15:08 UTC
Aleksandr Makievsky
© Russian Defense Ministry
Some Ukrainian soldiers are being left by their commanders without food and water for days at a time while being forbidden to retreat under the threat of death, according to a Ukrainian soldier who surrendered and was interviewed by the Russian Defense Ministry.

On Sunday, the ministry released a three-minute clip featuring Ukrainian soldier and former police officer Aleksandr Makievsky, who said he voluntarily surrendered to Russian forces after experiencing firsthand the hardships on the front line caused by the military leadership's callous and ruthless attitude toward its own troops.

Makievsky said he was dismissed from the police force after refusing to join a Ukrainian assault brigade. Three months later, he ran out of money and received a draft notice and had little choice but to sign a contract with the military.

He claims he was told that he would be deployed to Donbass on the second line of defense, which was not supposed to directly engage with Russian forces.

"We were immediately taken and dumped there and told to dig in... The spades were blunt, work was impossible," he recalled. "We had no food or water. By the sixth day, I thought I was going to die."

He also recounted how one day he heard extremely chaotic and tense radio chatter when one Ukrainian group decided to retreat. "[The group] was told: 'If you retreat, we will fire a volley of Grad rockets at your position. The war will write everything off."
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Bad Guys

Zelensky reveals goals of Kursk Region incursion


RT
Mon, 19 Aug 2024 14:57 UTC
Vladimir Zelensky
© Anna Rose Layden / Getty ImagesFILE PHOTO: Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during a visit to the US.
Ukraine is aiming to establish a "buffer zone" on Russian soil and inflict military and economic damage through its incursion into Kursk Region, Vladimir Zelensky has said.

In a video statement on Sunday, Zelensky hailed the Ukrainian units directly engaged with Russian forces. The operation in Kursk Region has allowed Kiev to bolster its "exchange fund," he argued, referring to Russian prisoners of war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last month that the number of POWs held by both sides is five to one in Russia's favor. Ukraine claims to have taken dozens of Russian border guards prisoner during the first phase of its Kursk offensive.

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov said last Friday that Kiev will continue to prioritize the return of those "who defended Azovstal" in future prisoner exchanges. He was referring to members of the infamous neo-Nazi Azov regiment embedded in the Ukrainian army. Dozens were captured in May 2022 in the city of Mariupol, where they used a Soviet steel mill as a fortified base.
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