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The Skripal case: A melange of worthless poison, dead pets, deleted tweets and other nonsense


Sputnik
Sat, 07 Apr 2018 18:22 UTC
Boris Johnson Theresa May
© AP Photo/ Thierry Charlier
New details revealed this week in the inquiry into the UK poisoning of a Russian ex-spy haven't clarified the situation, but did undermine London's claims of Russian culpability, while highlighting the folly of the British media's speculation-driven reporting. Sputnik recalls the four most absurd details the world learned about the case this week.

Miracle Healing

Definitely the biggest sensation in the Skripal story this week was the confirmation that both Yulia and her father are no longer in critical condition and making good progress in their recovery.

News of their improving condition must be especially surprising to the UK's chemical weapons experts, and to Prime Minister May and Foreign Secretary Johnson, who claimed following the attack that the Skripals were struck by a powerful Russian military-grade nerve agent which leaves little chance of survival.

British and US media described the nerve agent as "the most deadly ever made." A New York Times piece from March 13 shocked readers with the headline "The Nerve Agent Too Deadly to Use, Until Someone Did," accompanied by an image of a scowling Foreign Minister Lavrov against the backdrop of a Russian flag.

Comment: Another item is the UK's denial of the visa for Viktoria Skripal, their niece. It seems they don't want anyone talking to them. Why would that be? Every move they make simply raises another slew of questions. In any case, the whole narrative is so disjointed and amateurish, even an ostrich with its head buried in the sand would be able to tell you it's nonsense. See also:

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Red Flag

The US military's run of fatal accidents: Coincidence or crisis?

Jamie McIntyr
Washington Examiner
Sun, 08 Apr 2018 19:33 UTC
US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet jet crash
© Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP
On March 14, a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet jet crashed in the waters outside Key West, Fla. There have been four more military aviation incidents this year alone.
It's been a bad few weeks for U.S. military aviation.

Since a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed off the Florida coast March 14, killing both pilots, there have been four more aviation accidents that have claimed a dozen more lives. And that's just this year.

In the last three months of 2017, four major accidents killed 12 more service members. That's 26 deaths in six months.

That can't be normal. Or can it?

Pentagon officials have to tread warily when discussing unusual clusters of deadly accidents that may be a statistical anomaly, but are nevertheless tragic and may have been avoidable.

So even if the safety data indicates that the number and rate of military accidents are on a par with years past, no military official can be seen as callously dismissing deaths as simply a normal cost of doing business.

Comment: If no single factor has been identified, then that means that the problems of the US military are systemic. It appears that the arrogance of decades of US military imperialism has taken its toll in the form of incompetence, and now the whole military structure is beginning to crack under its own weight. And this is how the US warhawks want to have a war with Russia and China and win??

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Cross

Multicultural office's 'Christian Privilege' event at GWU does not go as planned

Micah Rate
Townhall
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 19:12 UTC
Timothy Kane George Washington Univrsity

Timothy Kane, Associate Director of the Multicultural Student Services Center
"Are you with YAF?" a voice behind me asked, as I entered the George Washington University's Multicultural Student Services Center.

"No," I replied, turning to see a student of the university following close behind as we walked up a flight of stairs and down a short hallway to Room 209 for the Christian Privilege diversity training. I asked with a laugh, "Are they not supposed to be here?"

Upon entering the room, students checked in with their student IDs and picked a seat where a sharpie and name tag, complete with a section for students to write in their preferred gender pronouns, awaited. Students filed in and by the time the session was underway, well over 20 people were in attendance. Across the room, a young woman's laptop dawned a Young America's Foundation sticker, showing conservatives were in attendance.

Comment: From the Fox News report:
According to the website, MSSC Associate Director and LGBTQ Resources Director Timothy Kane will discuss how American Christians have "easier" lives and get "built-in advantages over non-Christians" as well as making "room for all religious and secular identities on an equal playing field."

But the Christian privilege seminar doesn't just focus on one religion, it also singles out a race: white people.

Students will learn about "white privilege specifically" and the "role of denial when it comes to white privilege," the event description says, adding they will be able to list examples of Christian privilege and learn three ways to be an ally with non-Christians.


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Sherlock

Polonium-210 that killed Litvinenko was in UK before arrival of Russians accused of murder - Berezovsky most likely suspect


RT
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:53 UTC
Litvinenko
© Toby Melville / Reuters
Polonium-210 was in London before the Russian citizens accused of poisoning Aleksandr Litvinenko arrived there, and evidence pointed to his patron Boris Berezovsky, Moscow has said, citing a German probe.

Russian prosecutors said this was proven by the UK's own data, which it shared with Berlin.

The claim comes from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, which shared documents relating to several high-profile crimes that happened on British soil. Russia says it was unsatisfied by how Britain handled them. Moscow officials pointed to what they see as flaws in relevant probes on the British side, and have accused UK authorities of failing to conduct proper investigations.

One of the cases was the poisoning of Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer and close associate of fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The standing narrative in the case in Britain is that Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium-210, a rare radioactive substance, by two Russian citizens, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrey Lugovoy. Neither stood trial for the crime, but British officials insist that there was no other credible explanation for Litvinenko's killing.

Comment: See: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Dollars

Non-partisan analysis shows GOP's tax reform law is not a 'gift to the rich'

Eileen AJ Connelly
New York Post
Sun, 08 Apr 2018 02:46 UTC
IRS, Tax reform, US tax form
The top 20 percent of wage earners will pay 87 percent of all federal income taxes in 2018, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

That's up from about 84 percent last year.

The increase comes thanks to the tax-reform bill passed in December, which kept the progressive structure of the US tax code.

The new law reduced taxes for all income levels. Doing so increased the percentage of the total paid by workers earning $150,000 or more.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Outrage at US cops road side strip search because he smelled cannabis - none was found

Jan Hefler
Philly.com
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:53 UTC
roadside strip search in N.J
© New Jersey Libertarians Open Government Advocacy Project
New Jersey State Trooper Joseph Drew reached inside a young man’s underwear to conduct a body search after he said he smelled marijuana during a motor vehicle stop in Southampton, N.J. The search, conducted along a highway, was captured by dashcam and body cameras of the trooper and his back-up officer. The footage was obtained by the New Jersey Libertarians Open Government Advocacy Project.
A body-cam video that shows a New Jersey state trooper conducting a roadside strip search has sparked controversy and raised questions about how far law enforcement officers are permitted to go during a traffic stop.

Trooper Joseph Drew had pulled a car over for tailgating and said he smelled marijuana. When a search of the car turned up nothing, he handcuffed the driver and told him to step out of the vehicle.

"You can tell me where it is right now or I can go in and get it," Drew says on the video.

The trooper is then seen pulling on blue latex gloves, reaching into the driver's underwear, and groping his genitals and buttocks while the two stand on Route 206 in Southampton, Burlington County. All the while, trucks and cars pass by on the busy highway.

Comment: Trust in US civil servants is at rock bottom, and for good reason:

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Sherlock

Murder of Russian national Glushkov in UK right after Skripal has "political dimension"


Sputnik
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:56 UTC
Glushkov i
© AP Photo/ Rick Findler/PA
The murder of former top manager of Aeroflot carrier Nikolai Glushkov has not only a criminal but also a political dimension for Moscow, the Russian Embassy in London said Saturday.

Glushkov, sentenced in absentia in Russia to eight years in prison for embezzling from Aeroflot, died in London in mid-March. Scotland Yard reported that at that stage that it considered his death to be "mysterious." At the same time, the police said that Glushkov had been choked, and the incident had been qualified as a murder. Russian investigators opened their own probe into Glushkov's murder.

Comment: See also: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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HRC Blue

Parents plan sex-ed sit-out to fight schools' pornographic sex education curriculum

Kaylee McGhee
Liberty Headlines
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 00:01 UTC
Kids in class
© Photo by DFID – UK Department for International Development


Often sponsored by special interest LGBT groups and disguised as anti-bullying programs...

Parents across the nation plan to remove their children from public schools later this month in protest of a comprehensive, "pornographic" sex education curriculum taught under the guise of "anti-bullying."

The "Sex-Ed Sit-Out" is taking place on April 23.

It was launched by concerned mothers who shared their worries about the explicit nature of the sex-ed curriculum on social media.

They have been able to coordinate their efforts with mothers from other nations, with similar demonstrations planned in Australia and Canada.

Comment: This all reeks of the push to sexualize children and normalize the pedophile agenda. There is absolutely no reason for children to learn graphic sexual material or 'alternative' lifestyles. This is the corruption of the youth and it's taking place in public schools.

See also:

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Laptop

Millennials will learn absolutely nothing from Facebook's privacy crisis

Matthew Hennessey
New York Post
Sat, 07 Apr 2018 10:43 UTC
Zuckerberg creepy
© NY Post photo composite/Mike Guillen
Millennials don't seem to care that Facebook harvests their data for profit, but Zuckerberg should be worried.
Last year it seemed Mark Zuckerberg was looking for a way into politics. Now he could be looking for a way out.

The Facebook founder has been called to testify before Congress starting Tuesday. He'll face tough questions about how a Trump-affiliated data-analytics firm got hold of personal information belonging to nearly 90 million of the social-media site's users. On Wednesday he told reporters he'd made a "huge mistake" in not prioritizing the protection of user data.

That's a bit like a casino apologizing for letting you lose so much money at the craps table. Facebook exists to sell access to user data.

Comment: Generational differences are often leave the older generation baffled at what 'those crazy kids are up to'. But the current generation seems to have its priorities completely backwards; objectively so.

See also:

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People 2

Transgender female weightlifter competes despite 25% advantage - but forced to withdraw after elbow injury

Breck Dumas
The Blaze
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 17:37 UTC
Laurel Hubbard
© Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Laurel Hubbard is taking the women's weightlifting world by storm, but her past as a male competitor has been met with scrutiny.
Four years ago, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard transitioned from being a male to a female. She will now compete in the women's weightlifting competition at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in spite of protest.

The Commonwealth Games is an athletic competition (similar to the Olympics) between countries that include 53 members comprised of the former British Empire. The competition has carried on since 1930.

Cited as one of New Zealand's "brightest medal prospects," the 40-year-old is facing scrutiny over whether or not her competition against naturally-born women is fair. Otago University physiology professor Alison Heather said that "in general males outperform females across most sports, in weightlifting and strength sports...(and) that male to female difference can be as high as 25 percent."

Heather added: "A man transitioning to a female has physiological advantages that they take into their new female life based on their previous male life." She described those advantages such as having naturally larger hearts and lungs, muscle mass and bone structures.

Hubbard qualified under the parameters set for transgender athletes by the International Olympic Committee, which are also followed by the International Weightlifting Federation. The metrics are based on testosterone levels, and after twelve months of hormone therapy, Hubbard is able to compete in the women's category.

Comment: Of course it's unfair. If trans people want to transition and still compete in sports, there should be a trans league. Perhaps it could be called the Gender-special Olympics?

However, in this specific case, Hubbard has been forced to withdraw:
The 40-year old, whose participation grabbed headlines before the Games even began, suffered a suspected ruptured ligament while attempting a Commonwealth record 132kg in the snatch when leading the women's 90kg-plus division.

Hubbard's third lift - an attempt to break her personal best of 131kg - went horribly wrong when Hubbard dropped the bar behind her and the athlete's elbow twisted awkwardly, leading to a withdrawal before the clean and jerk phase.

"At this stage we don't know the exact details of the injury - it seems likely that I have ruptured a ligament or... some fairly significant tissue damage, but until we have further scanning we won't know the details or extent of the injury," Hubbard said, New Zealand news site Stuff reported.

"The one saving grace in all of this is that I'm not in any great pain at the moment - I'm sure that that will come with time."


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