Society's ChildS


Gold Bar

Sen. Bob Menendez faces decades in prison as he's convicted of sprawling gold bar bribery scheme

Ben Kochman
New York Post
Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:36 UTC
Sen. Robert Menendez
© REUTERS/Brendan McDermidSen. Robert Menendez was found guilty of accepting bribes.
He's a newly minted felon.

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was found guilty Tuesday of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using his powerful post to enrich and protect three businessmen and the Egyptian and Qatari governments.

The three-term Democrat, wearing a blue suit and pink tie, sat with his head bowed and kept a poker face while the jury forewoman read the word "guilty" 16 times, convicting him of each count that he faced.

The bombshell verdict was delivered in Manhattan federal court after about 12½ hours of deliberations spread over three days. It capped a nine-week trial that revealed how the senator leveraged his position to cater to the whims of men who showered him and his wife with 1-kilogram gold bars, cash and gifts including a Mercedes-Benz convertible.

"This wasn't politics as usual," US Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams told reporters outside court Tuesday. "This was politics for profit."

Jurors heard how Menendez's cluttered Englewood Cliffs house was teeming with gold bars and cash when FBI agents raided it in June 2022.

Photos revealed at trial showed 13 gold bars worth $150,000 found inside Menendez's bedroom, and $486,471 in cash spread out all over the house — including wads of bills totaling $14,500 stuffed into a pair of well-worn Timberland work boots.

Comment: Hoarding cash isn't just a Cuban thing. It's also a corrupt politician thing.

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Blue Planet

China surpasses America in per capita protein consumption, a key indicator for health


South China Morning Post
Thu, 18 Jul 2024 12:31 UTC
china restaurant
© EPAThe Chinese diet has become more animal protein-oriented in parallel with the growth of China’s economy, a researcher said. Photo: EPAThe Chinese diet has become more animal protein-oriented in parallel with the growth of China’s economy, a researcher said.
Data from the United Nations shows that China has surpassed the US in the amount of daily dietary protein available to its population - an important indicator of a modern quality of life, and one that some commentators and politicians in the West thought would be impossible to achieve.

According to the latest data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China overtook the US in 2021, reaching a daily supply of 124.61 grams (4.39oz) of protein per capita.

In the same year, Americans had access to 124.33 grams (4.38oz). For comparison, Japan's daily protein supply per capita was 91.99 grams (3.24oz).


Comment: It is interesting that Japan is renowned for the health and longevity of its peoples. So clearly there's more to it than quantity.

Given the many adulterations in the US food supply, from industrial farming to high levels of processing, it would be reasonable to assume that, overall, the quality of the protein Americans are consuming is likely to be inferior to the average Chinese, too: Ground-up chicken waste and excreta fed to cattle may be behind bird flu outbreak in US cows


Comment: By a great many metrics, living standards in the West are deteriorating, and fast. And, with food shortages looming, a clean and robust food supply chain is more important than ever before:

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NPC

Jack Black cancels Australian tour after bandmate wishes Trump dead, social media filled with outrage and calls for deportation


ZeroHege
Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:50 UTC
jack black Kyle Gass
© Kevin Winter/GettyJack Black and Kyle Gass
Weeks after musician and actor Jack Black appeared at Joe Biden's Hollywood fundraiser to tell people "democracy is at stake," he's canceled the rest of his Australian tour after bandmate Kyle Gass said on Sunday that his birthday wish would be "don't miss Trump next time."


Comment: Unfortunately Trump Derangement Syndrome particularly plagues the entertainment industry.

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Dominoes

Elon Musk moving X and SpaceX HQs to Texas after California's Newsom signs student gender identity law: 'Final straw'

Thomas Barrabi
NY Post
Tue, 16 Jul 2024 21:06 UTC
musk spacex
© REUTERS
Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday he will shift the headquarters of privately held SpaceX and social media site X to Texas from California — calling Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to sign a new student gender identity law "the final straw."

The law, signed Monday, blocks school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents about changes in a student's gender identity or sexual orientation without the child's permission. It also requires the state's Department of Education to create resources for families of LGBTQ+ students from seventh grade through high school.

"This is the final straw," Musk wrote on X. "Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas."

Comment: Previously:

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Snakes in Suits

Former White House official Sue Mi Terry accused of acting as South Korea agent in exchange for luxury goods


NY Post
Wed, 17 Jul 2024 21:01 UTC
sue mi terry pelosi
© REUTERS/Sue Mi Terry/X
A foreign policy specialist who once worked for the CIA and on the White House National Security Council (NSC) has been indicted on US charges she worked as an unregistered agent of South Korea's government in exchange for luxury goods and other gifts.

Sue Mi Terry advocated South Korean policy positions, disclosed nonpublic US government information to South Korean intelligence officers, and facilitated access for South Korean government officials to their US counterparts, according to an indictment made public on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

In return, the South Korean intelligence officers allegedly provided Terry with Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton handbags, a Dolce & Gabbana coat, dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants, and more than $37,000 in "covert" funding for a public policy program on Korean affairs that she ran.
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Telephone

AT&T says hackers accessed records of calls and texts for nearly all its cellular customers

Aimee Picchi
CBS News
Fri, 12 Jul 2024 20:57 UTC
at&t
AT&T on Friday disclosed that hackers had accessed records of calls and texts of "nearly all" its cellular customers for a six-month period between May 1, 2022 to Oct. 31, 2022.

In its statement, AT&T said the compromised data doesn't include the content of the calls or texts, or personal information such as Social Security numbers, birth dates or other personally identifiable information. The company said hackers downloaded the data "from our workspace on a third-party cloud platform."

The hack also includes records from Jan. 2, 2023 for a "very small number of customers," AT&T said.

The telecom giant said that it learned about the illegal download in April, and that it is working with law enforcement, noting that "at least one person has been apprehended." While the files don't include call or text content, AT&T said the data identifies telephone numbers that an AT&T number interacted with during the periods.
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Arrow Down

Group of US Democrats oppose virtual Biden nomination - media


RT
Tue, 16 Jul 2024 22:25 UTC
biden
© Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesUS President Joe Biden on camera
The DNC's early roll call scheme is no longer necessary, the dissidents have said.

The US Democratic Party should drop plans to nominate US President Joe Biden by a virtual vote ahead of its convention in August, a group of lawmakers has argued in a letter seen by the New York Times and Politico.

The Democratic National Committee had decided in May to do an early "virtual roll call" for the presidential nomination, ostensibly to comply with an Ohio deadline for ballot access. The law has since been changed, however.

California Congressman Jared Huffman, who has reportedly been circulating the letter, said in an interview:
"It's a really bad move by the DNC. Somebody thinks it's a clever way to lock down debate and I guess by dint of sheer force, achieve unity, but it doesn't work that way."
According to the missive seen by Politico:
"There is no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month."
The signatories call it:
"A 'terrible idea' to stifle debate and prematurely shut down any possible changes to the ticket. The move could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats - from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to ordinary voters - at the worst possible time."
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Cow Skull

Two states defend women in sports: They are all that is standing in between truth and disaster

Rachel Rouleau
Fox News
Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:33 UTC
transgener women sports competition
© AP Photo/Samuel Metz, FileMultiple states have banned transgender student athletes from participating on the teams that align with their gender identity.
Women's sports cases head to the Supreme Court as states stand in the way of woke mandates

History, as the saying goes, is written by the winners — which is why two states and female athletes represented by Alliance Defending Freedom are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to make sure that the history of women's sports is written fairly.

In 2020, Idaho passed HB 500, better known as the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, in response to a disturbing trend of school boards and athletic associations allowing males to compete against women in women's sports. A year later, West Virginia followed suit, passing and enacting HB 3293.

Just when women and girls in those states felt they could breathe a little easier knowing their athletic pursuits wouldn't be marred by lopsided competition, the ACLU stepped in to challenge the laws. Instead of a smooth sprint toward the finish line, the ACLU and the court system have thrown several hurdles at female athletes trying to ensure that their sports remain safe and fair.

Comment: It's a sign of how deranged society has been allow to take hold.

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Explosion

The hidden history of Robert Mueller's right-wing terror factory - Part 2

Ken Silva
Headline USA
Sat, 29 Jun 2024 00:00 UTC
FBI motorcycle group.
© ChatGPTFBI motorcycle group.

Comment: See Part 1 of this series: The hidden history of Robert Mueller's right-wing terror factory — Part 1


In all my 20 years of practice, I've never seen anything like what they did to Deborah Plowman...'

The first article of this series chronicled the FBI's mid-2000s program to stage neo-Nazi rallies around the country as a means to conduct surveillance and recruit potential informants.

Those rallies were just the beginning of a sweeping multi-state investigation, Headline USA can reveal.

Indeed, after an FBI informant was exposed in 2007 for organizing a Nazi rally in Orlando the year before, the bureau launched another operation in the same area. Dubbed "Primitive Affliction," the FBI set up a neo-Nazi motorcycle front group to infiltrate Florida's right-wing underground.

Federal agencies are known to have used motorcycle front groups cases against targets such as the Hells Angels for drug- and gun-trafficking investigations. However, Headline USA is unaware of such a tactic being employed in a politically charged domestic terrorism case until Primitive Affliction.
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Evil Rays

Israel: Mother murders 6-year-old son at home, attacks mall security guard with axe


Times of Israel
Wed, 17 Jul 2024 12:33 UTC
Herzliya
© ZAKAFirst responders at the scene of a suspected murder of a 6-year-old boy in Herzliya on July 16, 2024. Woman arrested on suspicion of murdering son, 6, attacking security guard with axe Police believe that after killing her young boy, mother in Herzliya headed to mall, where she was caught on video dripping with blood and wielding an axe she used to attack a guard.
A woman is suspected of murdering her 6-year-old son in their apartment in Herzliya before heading to a mall in the city armed with an axe and attacking a security guard outside.

The body of the child was discovered in the home in Herzliya by police on Tuesday evening. A large number of officers were called to the site of the presumed murder, police said in a statement.

The discovery of the body appeared to come after the suspect was arrested outside a mall following an altercation with a security guard.

Comment: Lately, it seems that when disturbing incidents such as this occur, they're tending to happen in clusters:

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