Society's ChildS


R2-D2

Interviewing Biden 'the saddest thing' as he 'couldn't finish his sentences,' ex-ESPN host Sage Steele says

Melissa Koenig
NY Post
Thu, 05 Oct 2023 18:18 UTC
sage steele biden
© ESPNSteele interviewed the president in a pre-recorded segment ahead of MLB’s Opening Day in 2021
Former ESPN host Sage Steele said that interviewing President Biden was "the saddest thing" because he seemed confused and "couldn't finish his sentences."

"He struggled," Steele said of the oldest president in US history, who "trailed off" on topics even then, more than two years ago.

"So forget about politics. I don't care, I didn't vote for him," Steele told Bill Maher on his "Club Ransom" podcast Sunday, admitting she thinks Biden is "a terrible president."

"However, that made me sad," she said of his apparent confusion.

"The human aspect of what we're witnessing right now, to me, is heartbreaking," she said of the now-80-year-old president facing escalating pressure over his age and a series of gaffes as he runs to stay in office.
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Pills

Biden admin sanctions multimillion-dollar China-based network involved in trafficking of fentanyl, drugs

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 02:15 UTC
fentanyl
© Multnomah County Sheriff's OfficeFentanyl bust
The Biden administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a multimillion-dollar China-based network and more than two dozen individuals and entities involved in the manufacture, distribution and international trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

The sanctions target a major Chinese precursor chemicals syndicate with touchpoints in the United States and Canada that supplies dozens of U.S.-based drug traffickers, as well as cartels in Mexico and dark web dealers.

The sanctions, effective immediately, bar the individuals from using the U.S. financial system and stops all U.S. citizens from transacting with them.

The Treasury Department designated 28 individuals and entities involved in the international proliferation of fentanyl, as well as other illicit drugs such as methamphetamine and MDMA precursors.

Cartels take advantage of open border to smuggle fentanyl.
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Key

Acting Speaker orders Pelosi to vacate her office: 'The room will be re-keyed'

Michael Luciano
Mediaite
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 08:32 UTC
escorted
© Graeme Sloan/Siipa USA/APFormer Speaker Nancy Pelosi escorted
Mere hours after taking over as speaker pro tempore with the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to vacate her office by Wednesday.

"Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed," an email sent to Pelosi's office viewed by Politico stated. The email added that the room will be used "for speaker office use."

Pelosi is currently using a hideaway office, which only a handful of members receive. Given that she is speaker emerita, McCarthy allowed Pelosi to occupy the space. McHenry, who is a McCarthy ally, is clearly less keen on it.

She slammed the move, calling it "a sharp departure from tradition."

Comment: See also: Kevin McCarthy floats concession on allowing conservatives to remove House speaker

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Info

Disinformation is a weapon regularly deployed in Russia's war in Ukraine

Andrew E. Kramer
The New York Times
Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:01 UTC
ukrainian soldiers kharkiv
© Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesUkrainian soldiers operating in the Kharkiv region in July 2022, after officials indicated a major operation elsewhere, near Kherson.
It is often hard to know when battlefield reports are false or why they may have been disseminated.

Six weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine sank the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, dealing a serious blow to the enemy navy, and, a Ukrainian official said, killing the ship's captain.

"We do not mourn," an adviser to the interior minister at the time, Anton Gerashchenko, said.

Comment: See also:

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Health

Ontario regulatory body drops inquest into COVID-critical doctor

Michael Higgins
National Post
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 23:00 UTC
Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill
© MICHAEL PEAKE/POSTMEDIA/FILEDr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill will not face a disciplinary hearing by her professional regulator after it decided to halt the proceeding last month.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has ended its quest to silence anti-lockdown pediatrician Kulvinder Kaur Gill.

If the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) was to be believed, the tweets of Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill were positively dangerous.

They were unprofessional, irresponsible, critical of official messaging and potentially destructive to public health, alleged the CPSO. The college was unhappy that Gill believed government and public health responses to COVID were based more on politics than science.
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Bug

France appeals for end to bedbugs 'panic'


RT
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 14:25 UTC
bed bug
© Getty Images
The country has not been "invaded" by the blood-sucking insects, Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau has insisted.

French Health Minister Aurelien Rousseau has urged the public to remain calm amid an apparent infestation of bedbugs in Paris. Meanwhile, French lawmakers are preparing legislation to tackle the scourge.

"There is no reason for general panic, we are not being invaded by bedbugs," Rousseau told France Inter radio on Tuesday.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

UK: Laurence Fox arrested over remarks on Ulez cameras as GB News sacks him

Alexandra Topping
The Guardian
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 21:07 UTC
Damaged inflicted on Ulez enforcement cameras across London
Damaged inflicted on Ulez enforcement cameras across London
Police have arrested the rightwing commentator Laurence Fox at his home after comments appearing to encouraging people to vandalise Ulez cameras.

On Wednesday morning Fox's Reclaim party posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, which showed him sitting on the sofa in his living room, as several people dressed in police uniforms and wearing protective plastic gloves milled around him.

In the video Fox says: "Look how many coppers there are in my house, look at them coming to steal everything, take everything out of my house. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the country that we live in." He then gives the camera a thumbs up.

Comment: Firebrand Neil Oliver weighs in:

People power!

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Eye 1

Reporter detained over French intelligence scandal in Egypt released from police custody


Euro News
Thu, 21 Sep 2023 13:08 UTC
protesters france egypt
© AFPProtesters hold placards reading 'information behind bars' and 'journalist in jail here' as they demonstrate in front of the police headquarters in Marseille.
Ariane Lavrilleux helped uncover grim details of an apparent intelligence breach involving France and Egypt.

A journalist who was detained after revealing a connection between French state intelligence and air strikes in Egypt has been released from police custody amid a furore over her treatment - a rare coercive measure that has sparked outrage in France.

Ariane Lavrilleux was released Wednesday evening after 48 hours' detention. The authorities say they are investigating her articles on a possible Egyptian hijacking of a French intelligence operation.
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Pirates

Canada apologizes for honoring deceased Nazi veteran - media


RT
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:54 UTC
order of canada
© MCpl Anis Assari, Rideau Hall / www.gg.caThe Order of Canada
Canadian Governor General Mary Simon has reportedly apologized and expressed "regret" that her office awarded the second-highest merit in the country in 1987 to a Ukrainian-Canadian who formerly served in a Nazi unit.

The statement was reported on Tuesday by Forward, a Jewish news outlet that previously helped expose the dark past of Yaroslav Hunka. The Ukrainian-Canadian Waffen-SS veteran received a standing ovation at the Canadian parliament last month, sparking international outrage. Peter Savaryn, whose decoration more than three decades ago has now been deemed inappropriate, served in the same 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS as Hunka.

Savaryn was already mentioned in connection in the Hunka scandal due to his tenure as the 12th chancellor of the University of Alberta from 1982 to 1986. Last month, the university announced it was shutting down an endowment named after Hunka. The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC), a Jewish advocacy group, urged the university to acknowledge Savaryn's past as well.

Comment: Yeah, never mind Canada is celebrating Nazis, it's Russia's fault!

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Cell Phone

Mobile phone ban in English schools 'smokescreen' to mask real issues, say critics

Sally Weale
The Guardian
Mon, 02 Oct 2023 18:42 UTC
cellphones
© Getty ImagesSome schools ban mobile phones from school grounds, while others require them to be handed in, or restrict their use.
Glyn Potts, head teacher at Newman Roman Catholic College in Oldham, could not hide his irritation at the morning headlines announcing a government ban on mobile phones in state schools in England.

His school, like the vast majority, already has a mobile phone policy. "All banned and have been for 10 years," he said, dismissing the announcement by the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, as a "smokescreen" to distract from the real challenges facing schools, such as underfunding, teacher recruitment and providing for pupils with special educational needs.

At Newman RC College, there's a zero tolerance approach towards mobiles. Pupils can have their phones with them for the journey to and from school, but as soon as they cross the threshold into the school grounds phones must be switched off and kept out of sight for the duration of the school day.

Pupils are banned from even holding them in their hands, whether it's lesson or break time. If mobiles are seen they are confiscated and not returned until the end of the day. It is a measure of the effectiveness of the policy that although the vast majority of the 1,502 pupils carry mobiles, staff will only see two or three a week at most.
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