Society's Child

US anti-Russia sanctions mean US astronauts can no longer travel to ISS on Russian spacecraft

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 11:44 UTC

NASA has relied on Russia to ferry crews since retirement of U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011

Russia's contract with NASA to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) will expire in April next year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov has said.

Under the current contract, American astronauts avail of seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft in order to reach the ISS and return home. The US lost its capacity for manned space missions after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, and is about to finalize a replacement in the form of a manned SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The cost of the ISS ferry service has varied over the years, with NASA paying about $81 million per seat in 2018, up from the cheapest price of $21.8 million in 2007 and 2008.

Comment: The law of unintended consequences. Oops.

At least 22 cars burned across Sweden during latest crime wave

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 13:15 UTC

© Reuters/ TT News Agency
It is understood that groups of masked youths are responsible for the fires, which broke out mainly in Sweden’s second-largest city of Gothenburg. Cars were also set ablaze in Stockholm, Trollhattan and Falkenberg, as well as Malmo.

Up to 22 cars were burned or damaged in several fires across southern Sweden on Thursday. It will likely stoke claims that the current socialist government has abjectly failed at tackling the surge in crime.

Police in the southern city of Trollhättan are investigating a fire that left up to ten vehicles damaged, according to local news outlet Aftonbladet. Police and rescue teams were called to the area of the Kronegården at around 3:30 am to tackle a "fully-fledged" fire which had engulfed three cars before spreading to more.

Four out of six cars affected were entirely burnt out, police say. While at around 2am a car was set on fire in Trelleborg, which went on to ravage two other vehicles. And just a few miles away in Trelleborg, in Vellinge, a car was set ablaze while one parked behind it was also damaged.

Comment: Despite the government's assurances, things don't appear to be improving in the country:

The nuclear accidents we're aware of are only the tip of the radiation disaster iceberg

CounterPunch
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:04 UTC

The World Nuclear Association says its goal is "to increase global support for nuclear energy" and it repeatedly claims on its website: "There have only been three major accidents across 16,000 cumulative reactor-years of operation in 32 countries." The WNA and other nuclear power supporters acknowledge Three Mile Island in 1979 (US), Chernobyl in 1986 (USSR), and Fukushima in 2011 (Japan) as "major" disasters. But claiming that these radiation gushers were the worst ignores the frightening series of large-scale disasters that have been caused by uranium mining, reactors, nuclear weapons, and radioactive waste. Some of the world's other major accidental radiation releases indicate that the Big Three are just the tip of the iceberg.

CHALK RIVER (Ontario), Dec. 2, 1952: The first major commercial reactor disaster occurred at this Canadian reactor on the Ottawa River when it caused a loss-of-coolant, a hydrogen explosion and a meltdown, releasing 100,000 curies of radioactivity to the air. In comparison, the official government position is that Three Mile Island released about 15 curies, although radiation monitors failed or went off-scale.

Suspected terrorist who sought refugee status in Germany handed over to Russia authorities

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:44 UTC

A man suspected of terrorist activities in Syria has been extradited from Germany to Russia after allegedly attempting to gain the refugee status using forged documents.

On Friday, Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, reported that together with the Russian Investigative Committee, Justice Ministry and the Prosecutor General's Office, and with assistance from Interpol, it had organized the extradition of a terrorist suspect from Germany.

The suspect was born in 1987 in the North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria. He is accused of assisting the banned terrorist group Imarat Kavkaz. Russian investigators think that, at some point, he left Russia for Syria to fight on the side of terrorists.

Venezuelan power station explosion plunges city into darkness

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 11:14 UTC

An explosion at an electrical substation in Maracaibo, Venezuela, has showered streets with sparks and caused further blasts, plunging much of the city into darkness.

The initial blast occurred at approximately 1:36 am local time on Friday at the Las Tarabas electrical substation, reports Caraota Digital. Eyewitness videos show the initial explosions illuminating the entire night sky as awe-struck onlookers cry out in dismay.

Woman secretly recorded cop trying to force her to give him sexual favors to drop charges

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 14:03 UTC

Monroe County sheriff's deputy Bill Miller was recorded earlier this month on a woman's cell phone, epitomizing everything wrong with sickos in uniforms who seek to abuse their authority for personal gain. His victim recorded him trying to force her to give him sexual favors in return for getting her DUI charges dropped and this deputy is still collecting a paycheck.

Ashlie Roberts was arrested last month by Miller for driving under the influence and drug possession. Roberts admitted she had done the crime and she was willing to do the time. However, after she made bail, Miller contacted the 34-year-old woman and told her to meet him in a parking lot on August 14th. So, she did.

As FOX 5 Atlanta reports, she told internal affairs investigators the same story she told us: Miller put her in his personal Dodge Ram pickup, handed her a Coors Light, and drove them to a dirt trail off Freeman Road.

From fake news to fake porn to fake reality - it's clear we're on a dangerous path

Tomasz Pierscionek
RT
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC

Deepfake technology may be sold as a new form of entertainment yet has the potential to be used for darker purposes.

In the West we are warned to steer clear of fake news and be wary of information warfare whilst round the clock media coverage bombards us minute by minute with the latest news and images from around the world. Before we can contemplate, not to mention verify, one story, our attention is caught by the next soundbite. Even when a news report is later shown to be inaccurate, people have already moved on as their attention becomes captivated by the latest scoop. We are given the option of trusting the media or delegating our quest for truth to one of the many so called 'fact-checking' websites. Some may choose to give up and heed the words of President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and declare that "truth isn't truth" or that it "is relative".

The lines between fact and fiction are becoming further blurred by the emergence of so called 'deepfake' technology that makes it easy to create fake videos by superimposing one image onto another. Last year such videos were posted on the internet by a Reddit user named 'deepfakes' that appeared to show various celebrities performing hardcore pornographic acts, including incest. Their faces had been superimposed onto those of porn actors without consent. Although websites such as Reddit and Pornhub have since denounced and banned deepfake pornography, others view deepfake technology as a good business opportunity.

Fake News CNN's ratings plunge double digits in August

John Nolte
Breitbart
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:34 UTC

Far-left CNN took a double-digit ratings dive in August even as Fox News and MSNBC grew parts of their respective audiences.

Nielsen Media Research reports that perennial ratings loser CNN had a terrible August despite a banner news month, reports the Hill.

While Fox News notched its 200th consecutive month at number one in cable news and gained in primetime viewers (when compared to this same month last year), CNN lost -12 percent of its primetime viewers and a whopping -15 percent of total day viewers.

Fox News averaged 1.3 million total day viewers (down -4 percent) and an incredible 2.3 million primetime viewers (up +4 percent).

Comment: CNN is in a race to the bottom:

Why California is on the road to becoming a 'Third World Country'

Dr. Ron Martinelli
America Out Loud
Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC

Fifty percent of all of their murders were gang and drug related, with the predominate gang members being illegal aliens. I can only wonder how Silicon Valley dotcomer's who are paying over half a million bucks for a home and commute over four hours a day to San Jose like living in that violent environment?

I sit in the LAX terminal after concluding business in downtown Los Angeles for the past two days, I cannot help but reflect upon my journey from once a California native to a new resident of the Great State of Texas and why. You see, in my personal and professional opinion, the once great State of California has in essence become a third world country.

Third World Country - "The concept of the "third world" has evolved to describe countries that suffer from low economic development, high levels of poverty and little to no ability to utilize natural or economic resources." French demographer Alfred Sauvey, 1952

While the reasons for California's ever-spiraling downwards status from 1st World economic prominence and prosperity to near 3rd World malaise are many; I will assert that when you combine uber-liberal politicians, with rich elitist Hollywood Celebrities, dotcom CEO's billionaires, disengaged millennials and illegal aliens; you in effect create the circumstances where your city of state becomes a 3rd World environment.

Comment: While the author is clearly on a bit of rant here, he brings up many good points that paint a rather ugly picture of the US state with the largest economy (and, if it were a country would have the 5th largest economy in the world).

See also:

Sting operation leads to arrests of 9 alleged child sex predators, including Banning school dean

KESQ
Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:36 UTC

A sex sting that led to the highly publicized arrest of a Banning school administrator on ''inactive leave'' as a Catholic priest also netted the arrests of eight other men, authorities said today.

During ''Operation Safe Child,'' undercover detectives posing on social media as underage boys convinced the men to meet a decoy at a public place to engage in sexual acts, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The nine-day operation led to the arrest of Charles Patrick Mayer, 55, of Menifee, as well as eight other men who allegedly agreed to meet with who they thought was a 14-year-old boy at ''various parks and public parking lots throughout the city of Rancho Cucamonga.''

"I got the vaccine in February, it was my own choice and I thought it would stop the virus. But it hasn't. And now I have people resigning because...

ReRan

There is evidence all over the internet that people do not believe the man being called Joe Biden is really Joe Biden. Many of the physical...

TJ1776

I can think of a few corporations that could use a good hack about now!

InfoWithJo

"Comment: "even in the years when we don't have pandemics," - it's beginning to sound like, for people like Gates, a planet ravaged by relentless...

ReRan

It's also an indication of underactive Thyroid gland, which is absolutely rampant now.

bentpenny

Society's Child

US anti-Russia sanctions mean US astronauts can no longer travel to ISS on Russian spacecraft

At least 22 cars burned across Sweden during latest crime wave

The nuclear accidents we're aware of are only the tip of the radiation disaster iceberg

Suspected terrorist who sought refugee status in Germany handed over to Russia authorities

Venezuelan power station explosion plunges city into darkness

Woman secretly recorded cop trying to force her to give him sexual favors to drop charges

From fake news to fake porn to fake reality - it's clear we're on a dangerous path

Fake News CNN's ratings plunge double digits in August

Why California is on the road to becoming a 'Third World Country'

Sting operation leads to arrests of 9 alleged child sex predators, including Banning school dean

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