Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Society's Child
Map

Red Flag

Peak 'Florida Man'? Ex-Tallahassee mayor denies using crystal meth after he was found in hotel room with overdosed male escort


RT
Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:50 UTC
Andrew Gillum
© Reuters / Colin Hackley
Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum
Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum is taking a break from public life after police walked in on what has been described as a crystal meth-fueled orgy - but which he insists was just a wedding celebration where he drank too much.

Gillum was "unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state" when police chanced upon him in a hotel room at Miami's South Beach Mondrian on Thursday night, responding to another man's "possible drug overdose," revealed the police report, leaked via Twitter on Friday.

The police were concerned enough to request a second "welfare check" on Gillum, while they took his stricken companion to the hospital.
      Read More...
Microscope 1

'Basically impossible to find a test': AP reporter trying to get Covid-19 test sent from pillar to post by health authorities


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:17 UTC
testing coronavirus
© AFP / Danny Lawson
AP reporter Steve Peoples had no luck trying to get tested for the Covid-19 virus after he presented to a primary care center and was subsequently bounced around to various other health facilities with no tests available anywhere.

Peoples tweeted on Friday that he had been experiencing "mild symptoms" — a headache, mild fever and cough — but that when he arrived at his primary care center in north Jersey, they told him to go to the emergency room instead.


Off he went, only to find no more clarity from the ER, as staff there told him to call the city health department. The wild goose chase continued, as Peoples was instructed by the health department to go to an urgent care center — which then advised him to go back to the ER.

Comment:

      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Turkey's migrant busses, tear gas attacks and fake news stunts at the Greek border

Paul Antonopoulos
InfoBrics
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 12:00 UTC
greece turkey migrant
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's attempt to intimidate the Syrian Army and force them to withdraw to the Sochi Agreement lines in Idlib utterly failed, resulting in the Turkish leader having to embarrassingly accept large swathes of liberated territory will remain under Syrian sovereignty despite his attempts to occupy it. This was especially embarrassing as Erdoğan's end of February ultimatum came and went with no grand Turkish military offensive to push back the Syrian Army as he had promised. This embarrassment comes as Erdoğan's approval has reached as low as 41.1% according to data published by the Ankara-based pollster MetroPoll last Friday. As Erdoğan's foreign policy is largely driven by a desire for a neo-Ottoman ambitions and to serve as a distraction from Turkey's currency nosedive, he was quick to create issues against the "Old Enemy," Greece.

Comment: Some more reporting from Adam Larson for Fort Russ:
Turkish Brute Force: Migrants Forced to Cross Greek Border at Gunpoint

Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu later explained a million would soon pass the Greek border and then "it will cause European governments to fall, crash their stock markets, and destabilize their economies. And there is nothing they can do about it," he claimed to believe.

[...]

This was early on 29 February, just one day in, these photos show thousands piled near the gate, with a few men in the front barely deterred by tear gas just as close to the police guarding the gate. Later we learn their side is also lobbing tear gas at the police, and Turkish police have come to do the same. Some videos show a whole team firing round after round as people follow with buckets full of tear gas refills, and others try and tear down the fences or sneak off to try and cross at an unguarded area along the river. A Turkish army vehicle tried to pull down a section of fence the night of March 6.

greece turkey migrant
tear gas turkey


So that tear gas on innocents thing is not a visually obvious crime, and just how do these people get "piled" there so numerously and so quickly?

Facilitating the Migration

Turkish television TRT (Arabic) shows the routes people can now take by land (yellow) and by sea (blue), with no indication of where anyone might try and halt them. There seems no concern about documentation, or any valid obstacles. Erdogan says it's open, and if people find othewise, he can become furious with Greece's inhuman treachery. Also consider this proposed mass-movement at the height of the global coronavirus outbreak, where Iran and now Iraq are badly hit, and one route they were to take is up through Italy, suffering the worst outbreak in Europe.


The blue lines carry their own stories, but this post focuses on that yellow line to the last town, Erdine, at the borders with Bulgaria (no news there that I've noted) and Greece. There were numerous reports and accusations the Turkish state had facilitated driving "refugees" to the border, aside from many who took their own routes, like public transit to the last town and walking the final stretch. Greek state broadcaster SKAI filed a news report on the 28th featuring many interviews with arriving "refugees" who revealed many were from Afghanistan, and among other things that they had been provided free bus rides provided by Erdogan (as they saw it - officials anyway).

Many, especially able-bodied and adventurous young men, have gone voluntarily for the economic opportunities mentioned by a man claiming to be from Afghanistan (black hood, SKAI report), but he also says he and others ("we") were jailed in Turkey for one month until "today" when the police not only released them but "police brought us here and told us that the gates are opened."

March 5, Mekut Mallet: Turkish police military beat and force refugees to cross Greek border at gun point

March 4, Manoto News: Turkish police threaten with weapons #پناهجویان To the Greek border (translated from Persian)
He goes on to further state that Turkey's "Grey Wolves", a Turkish far-right & fascist organization, have been attacking the workplaces and homes of Syrian refugees in the south of Turkey, with the intention of driving them across the border into Greece.

You can read the full post with all the documentation here.

      Read More...
Handcuffs

Federal grand jury indicts alleged MS-13 gang members in San Francisco for racketeering, murder & weapons charges


US DOJ Northern District of California
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
MS-13 indictments San Francisco
© AP Photo/Janie Har
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott, speaking at the podium, joins Federal authorities announcing, Friday, March 13, 2020, indictments against 17 alleged members and associates of the MS-13 gang, saying they were trying to take over San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge Tatum King, left and second from left is U.S. Attorney for Northern California David Anderson.
A federal grand jury indicted 17 Bay Area residents for a broad range of racketeering crimes including RICO conspiracy, attempted murder, and assault, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. The Superseding Indictment handed down February 18, 2020 and unsealed today catalogues a litany of crimes allegedly perpetrated in and around the Mission District of San Francisco.

"San Francisco continues to suffer from gang violence and gang claims on our public spaces," said U.S. Attorney Anderson. "I am grateful to the men and women of Homeland Security Investigations and the San Francisco Police Department for their professionalism and teamwork. San Francisco is safer when we all work together. We will oppose gang activity with professional law enforcement and vigorous prosecutions."

"MS-13 gang members prey upon the communities they live in, committing the most heinous violent acts against their victims. The streets of San Francisco and the surrounding communities are safer when criminal gang members are held to account for their crimes," said Special Agent In Charge King. "I'm proud of our agents' exhaustive investigative work, together with the San Francisco Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office, in bringing these subjects to justice. We also appreciate the law enforcement assistance with yesterday's successful criminal arrests provided by the South San Francisco Police Department, the Mountain View Police Department and the San Mateo County Gang Intelligence Unit."

Comment:

      Read More...
Health

What can the US learn from South Korea's coronavirus response?

John Dale Grover
Washington Examiner
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 08:11 UTC
Drive-thru clinic
© Yonhap/AFP via Getty Images
Drive-thru coronavirus screening clinic in Daegu, South Korea
The World Health Organization just declared COVID-19, which is caused by the novel coronavirus, a global pandemic, warning, "There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives." So far, Johns Hopkins University estimates that there are at least 1,050 cases in America, and that number is expected to grow. Meanwhile, South Korea has had 7,755 cases and yet has done a good job of handling the outbreak. How has Seoul been able to slow down the number of new cases?

South Korea is a model to follow if countries want to avoid long-term locking down millions of people with the police and military, as China and Italy have done. To be fair, South Korea may still impose stricter quarantine measures as they run out of hospital beds in some areas. Yet, despite these huge problems, South Korea has been a relative success story by focusing on hot spots and asking people to remain at home voluntarily and avoid travel and large gatherings. In addition, anyone tested positive for COVID-19 who breaks quarantine will run afoul of South Korean law.

Comment: Additional information surfaces from China's strategy:


Acknowledgements for South Korea's handling of the coronavirus back in February:






      Read More...
Star of David

Interview: UN's list of companies exploits the occupation of Palestine, omits key profiteers


The Real News Network
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
company logos
© United Nations
The United States and Israel not only delayed the UN's list of companies exploiting Palestinian occupation for three years, but omitted the most egregious profiteers, concealing activity that could be a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

Marc Steiner: Welcome to The Real News. I'm Marc Steiner. Good to have you with us.

In February, the United Nations Human Rights Committee published a list of 112 companies that profit from the Israeli occupation on Palestinian and Syrian land. Now the colonization of occupied territory, and the exploitation of property and people in that territory, is prohibited by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. It's interesting to note that that convention was prompted, these international rules were prompted, because of the Nazi theft and exploitation of Jewish land and property, in large part. The companies listed by the UN are all involved in activity benefiting from this illegal occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. That makes them complicit in a war crime. What will all that mean? We're going to talk about:

      Read More...
Handcuffs

Feds crackdown leads to the arrest of over 600 alleged Mexican cartel members

J. Edward Moreno
The Hill
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 02:59 UTC
DEA raid
© Concord Monitor
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced Wednesday that more than 600 arrests have been made as a result of an interagency operation cracking down on Mexican cartel activity.

"Project Python," a DEA-led initiative, targeted members of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). According to the DEA, over the last six months federal law enforcement officials have been monitoring the activities of the accused. The operation resulted in more than 600 arrests nationwide, 350 indictments and "significant seizures of money and drugs," according to the agencies.

"Project Python marks the most comprehensive action to date in the Department of Justice's campaign to disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately destroy CJNG," Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said in a statement.

Benczkowski cited an executive order President Trump passed shortly after Trump was inaugurated in 2017 that condemned cartel operations in the U.S. and directed federal law enforcement to use the Threat Mitigation Working Group, which was put in place by the Obama administration in 2011.
"When President Trump signed an Executive Order prioritizing the dismantlement of transnational criminal organizations, the Department of Justice answered the call and took direct aim at CJNG. We deemed CJNG one of the highest-priority transnational organized crime threats we face. And with Project Python, we are delivering results in the face of that threat for the American people."
      Read More...
Arrow Down

Six people killed in US air strike: Iraqi military


Tasnim News Agency
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 18:25 UTC
Iraq airport
Iraqi military said six people have been killed and 12 injured in overnight US air strikes on Friday.

Condemning the attack, the Iraqi military described it as targeted aggression against the nation's formal armed forces and a violation of sovereignty, according to Reuters.

Three soldiers, two policemen and one civilian were killed, it said. Four soldiers, two policemen, one civilian, and five militiamen were wounded, the military added.

The Pentagon claimed the strikes targeted "five weapon storage facilities" allegedly operated by Iraq's Kata'ib Hezbollah forces - part of the country's paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) - a group the US has blamed for attacks on its forces in Iraq.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

New York will allow transgender children to change sex on birth certificate

Marlo Safi
Daily Caller
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 18:04 UTC
UMCG transgenders
© RTV Noord/Erik Hoogeboom
New York State officials announced Tuesday that the state is changing its policy prohibiting transgender minors from changing their sex on their birth certificate, according to Dallas Voice.

Following a federal lawsuit that Lambda Legal, an LGBT legal defense nonprofit, filed against the state last month on behalf of a transgender boy, officials in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's and New York Attorney General Letitia James' offices announced the policy change allowing minors age 16 or younger to make a request for a sex change on their birth certificates through their parents or legal guardians, Dallas Voice reported.

Prior to the policy change, the State had been permitting people who were 18 and over to change their sex designation on birth certificates without surgery, but minors were prohibited from doing so.
      Read More...
Health

WHO chief: Europe now center of coronavirus pandemic, and other news


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:03 UTC
Ghebreyesus
© REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has now surpassed 5,000 and Europe has become the center of the outbreak, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the death toll passed the "tragic milestone" at Friday's daily briefing. He told the virtual press conference that Europe has become the center of the outbreak and the continent has more cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined apart from China.

The global health body said it is "impossible" to say when the pandemic will peak and Tedros warned world governments that a raft of measures are needed to tackle the disease.

He said that any country that thinks it could not fall victim to a large outbreak of the Covid-19 illness is making a "deadly mistake".

The health chief announced that the WHO is launching a Covid-19 solidarity response plan to enable individuals and organizations to contribute to disease control efforts.

Comment: The EU is running into problems coordinating its response among members. Rusula von der Leyen slammed Trump's travel ban, but individual EU nations are implementing their own travel restrictions. Austria banned travel from Italy. Slovakia banned all international travel. The Czech Republic shut the borders with Austria and Germany. Slovenia closed its border with Italy. Macron said any country closing borders with Italy is making a bad decision. (But says it may be appropriate in the future.) Merkel too thinks it is not appropriate.
The same spirit of unity and solidarity was notably absent last week, however, when France and Germany, among others, refused to lift controls on the export of protective medical gear to avoid facing shortages at home - even after a desperate request to do so from Italy.

The refusal was criticized by EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic, who said the ban risks "undermining" the bloc's "collective approach" to handling the crisis.
While Ireland has closed all schools, those in Britain will remain open "for the foreseeable future." France too is closing schools (the kids must be happy!), and banning gatherings of over 100 people - to "postpone the spike" as long as possible (or "flatten the curve" as it's being called).

Ukraine reported its first death, and Kazakhstan its first cases. Ukraine is closing its borders for the next two weeks. Iranian security forces have been ordered to clear the streets, making sure businesses and roads are shut down, and a nationwide lockdown has been ordered - to take effect in the next 24 hours. Russia has closed its border to anyone coming from Italy.

In the States, Louisiana postponed its Democratic primary for two months. New York "canceled Broadway" (and all other theaters), and banned gatherings of 500 or more people. And Wall Street had its worst day since 1987's Black Monday.

See also:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts