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Mon, 08 Nov 2021
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Airplane

Rhodes airport is evacuated with passengers 'suffering from burning eyes and fume inhalation' forced to gather outside

Rhodes airport pepper spray passengers
© Twitter/ellyjellybaby
Rhodes Airport in Greece has been evacuated amid reports passengers are suffering from 'burning eyes' and fume inhalation.

Passengers are being told to wait outside the building with large crowds building up.

Some have taken to social media talking about a possible pepper spray attack.

Eye 1

More security theater: New bill wants TSA at bus and train stations

TSA security
A new bill hopes to put the Transportation Security Administration to work, policing passengers who are hoping to escape the hectic scene at the airport and enjoy a bus or a train ride. Although the TSA has had a miserable track record at airports around the United States, the Department of Homeland Security won't be happy until everyone who walks, rides a bike or pogo-sticks down the street, is subject to heavy and intrusive security screenings. The new bill was prompted by the recent "terror attacks" in New York, according to law makers.

The bill was introduced by Senator John Thune of South Dakota. The bill entails the implementation of a "risk-based security model" for trains and buses. It also allots money for the expansion of the TSA to work in nearly every bus and train station in America. While this appears to be a government takeover of private transportation, officials claim otherwise. "This is very much not creating for bus or rail transportation the [security] model that exists for aviation," stated Frederick Hill, a spokesman for the Senate committee governing the proposal.

Comment: The growing surveillance state is the whole point. Monitoring the populations every move, restricting freedom of travel and otherwise keeping the herd fearful and in line is the purpose of the TSA. Protecting Americans from terrorists has nothing to do with it.


Dollar

Your money or your life: The war on cash

no cash symbol
What is this war on cash? In this episode of On Target, John W. Whitehead discusses the government's concerted campaign to do away with large bills such as $20s, $50s, $100s and shift consumers towards a digital mode of commerce—one that can easily be monitored, tracked, tabulated, mined for data, hacked, hijacked and confiscated when convenient.

Comment: More on the war on cash:


Pumpkin 2

Creepy clowns cross the pond: Now terrorizing kids in Newcastle

clown
© Mike Blake / Reuters
British schoolchildren are being terrorized by pranksters dressed as 'creepy clowns' leaping out from behind bushes and chasing people down the street. The spate of spookings is thought to have been inspired by similar clown attacks across the US.

Newcastle police are trying to identify those responsible for the stunts. They have arrested one teenage 'creepy clown' allegedly carrying a "bladed article" in connection with one of the incidents.

"This arrest should act as a clear warning to others who are actively seeking to cause distress and potentially harm others," a spokesperson said.

Police say the pranks have left school children "incredibly distressed" and are investigating six different reports of creepy clowns menacing youngsters.

Comment: We have acquired an exclusive photo of one of the creepy clowns terrifying young children in the UK:
theresa may
© Darren Staples / Reuters
Clown: British PM May wearing an $800 dress while calling Tories "the party of the workers"
See also: Creepy clown sightings spike; sightings in more than 10 states since August


Network

Moscow city computers ditching Microsoft for Russian-made software

putin
Moscow's city government is ditching Microsoft Outlook for Russian-made software, answering President Vladimir Putin's calls for more digital sovereignty.

The city will initially install locally developed MyOffice software on the computers of 6,000 workers, replacing the Microsoft e-mail service they currently use. MyOffice is made by Russian company New Cloud Technology.

The program will eventually be expanded to all of Moscow's 600,000 municipal employees, according to a statement published by the country's ministry of communications on Tuesday.

"Russia-developed software is not inferior to foreign software, but it's much cheaper and, most importantly, provides reliable data protection," said Sergey Kalugin, the head of Moscow's information technology department.

Calendar

Explosion hits car of Georgian opposition lawmaker ahead of elections

Givi Targamadze
© Radio Free Europe
Georgian lawmaker Givi Targamadze
A Georgian opposition lawmaker's car has been hit by an explosion in a suspected bombing in Tbilisi that injured five passersby.

The incident came just three days before Georgia's parliamentary elections.

Reports from the Georgian capital say lawmaker Givi Targamadze from the United National Movement (ENM) was not hurt by the October 4 blast.

Targamadze was seated in the front seat next to his driver when the blast occurred. His driver also escaped injury.

But two people on the street nearby were hospitalized and three other were slightly injured.

The United National Movement is Georgia's largest opposition party.

On October 2, two men were shot and wounded during an open-air campaign speech given by independent candidate and former Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili in the town of Gori.

Comment: See also: New Great Game Round-up: Afghanistan truce with "butcher" Hekmatyar, another Saakarshvili coup plot, Azerbaijan's Iskander problem


Camcorder

Charlotte police release bodycam footage of Keith Scott shooting

keith scott shooting
© WCMH / YouTube
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina have released extended body camera footage showing the aftermath of an officer shooting Keith Scott. The actual moment of the shooting cannot be seen clearly.

Scott was shot and killed on Tuesday, September 20, outside a Charlotte apartment building. Protests over his death turned violent, with multiple stores looted and vehicles set on fire on Interstate 85. One protester was shot and killed, though not by police as initial reports speculated.

After Scott's wife, Rakeyia, made public a video of the confrontation she recorded on her cell phone, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) released partial body camera video and dashboard camera footage. The 16-minute body camera video was released Tuesday evening, after it was shown to Scott's family and its attorneys.

"It's very difficult to watch," Justin Bamberg, an attorney for Scott's family, told WCNC afterward. "There are real life consequences to the decision that an officer makes to pull the trigger."


Comment: See also:


Robot

Bye-bye humanity: Futurologist predicts that by 2050 more humans will have sex with robots than with each other

 Dr Ian Pearson

Dr Ian Pearson
The human race has evolved from a long process. Today, some secular philosophers consider this current human race to be the most advanced. However, many mystic philosophers dispute this assertion.

Of course, we all agree that for what we can see from the natural world, this current human race has made a rapid progress in technology, at least since the start of the third millennia.

We have seen a significant surge in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Soon, humans will be able to sit in cars and other vehicles without even controlling them manually. This is a rapid technological progress. However, it comes with a cost.

Newspaper

Two police officers stabbed in suspected terror attack in Brussels

Brussels knife attack
© Times of India
Two Belgian police officers were attacked by a knife-wielding man in Brussels's Schaerbeek neighborhood in an incident reportedly classified as a suspected terrorist act, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office.

"We have reason to believe that it is terror-related," a prosecutor's spokesman, Eric Van Der Sypt said, though he failed to provide any further details, French media reported.

The suspect carried out the attack as the police officers were trying to check his ID in the Schaarbeek municipality located in the northern part of Brussels, local media reported.

One of the policemen was stabbed in the neck at around noon local time, while the other one was hit in the abdominal area. Their injures were described as non-life-threatening.

The assailant, identified as 43-year-old Hicham D., fled the scene and was later stopped by a second unit of police officers. He broke the nose of a third policeman, who shot the man in the leg. A judge specializing in terror cases will decide whether Hicham D., a Belgian citizen, is to remain in detention or be released, AP reported.


Bad Guys

Bizarre Daesh fatwas that should shock the world

Islamic State militant
© Flickr/ quapan
Daesh's Central Fatwa Committee issued a fatwa [Islamic legal decree] prohibiting the breeding of cats inside houses in Mosul, Iraq. This is a recent addition to the long list of bizarre fatwas issued by Daesh. Sputnik takes a look at some of the most shocking decrees issued earlier.

The terrorist organization has issued dozens of fatwas in Mosul based on its vision, ideology and twisted beliefs. The group relies on a central committee to issue fatwas which is comprised of influential clerics and figures from the terrorist group.

A few months back, Daesh released "fatwa on female sex slaves" telling militants how and when they can rape captured women and girls. The document was revealed to the media after it was found among a large trove of documents seized by US Special Forces in Syria.