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Sirhan Sirhan, man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, granted parole


The Guardian
Fri, 27 Aug 2021 19:20 UTC
Sirhan Sirhan
© AP
Sirhan Sirhan, age 77
The man who killed Robert F Kennedy was granted parole on Friday after two of the former attorney general, senator and presidential hopeful's sons spoke in favor of release and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars.

The decision was a major victory for Sirhan Sirhan, 77, though it did not assure his release.

The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan's 16th parole hearing will be reviewed over 90 days by the California parole board. Then it will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.

Douglas Kennedy, a toddler when his father was killed in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan's remorse and said he should be released if he's not a threat to others. He said:
"I'm overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr Sirhan face-to-face. I think I've lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love."

Comment: See also:

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TV

CNN publishes 'eerily prophetic' interview with ISIS-K commander - Done BEFORE Kabul 'fell' to Taliban


RT
Sat, 28 Aug 2021 20:06 UTC
ISIS-K interview
© CNN
ISIS-K interview with Clarissa Ward • August 27/2021
CNN's airing of an interview with an ISIS-K commander left observers to wonder how the media outlet gained access to the terrorist leader - and protected his identity - two weeks before his group killed nearly 200 people.

The interview was aired on Saturday, with the "senior ISIS-K commander" telling CNN reporter Clarissa Ward at a hotel in Kabul that the group was "laying low and waiting for its moment to strike." That moment apparently arrived on Thursday, when a blast for which ISIS-K took responsibility killed 170 Afghans and 13 US servicemen outside the Kabul airport. Hundreds more were injured.
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X

Environmentally conscious Amish farmers reject toxic large-scale solar power projects


Stop These Things
Sat, 28 Aug 2021 00:00 UTC
Horse and carriage
© Unknown
In Amish Country
The Amish community has already declared war on wind power, now it's solar's turn.

A more devout and God-fearing bunch, you'd be hard to find. Shunning many of the trappings of modern society, the Amish might seem backward to some. However, when it comes to taking on America's rent-seeking wind and solar industries, they're in a league of their own.

Threatened by massive solar projects planned [for] their communities, a group of Amish in upstate New York has said "thanks, but no thanks". Here's why:

Comment: The Amish are the backbone of resistance. We should all take a lesson.

See also: How political lunacy sabotaged South Australia's once reliable and affordable power supply

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Dollars

FBI agent tried to profit financially from knowledge of Michigan governor 'kidnapping' plot, defense lawyers claim


RT
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 11:43 UTC
MI Gov Whitmer
© Getty Images/Mikenzie Frost/WWNT/KJN
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
An FBI agent who helped 'foil' a plot to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer may have used his knowledge of the case to lend credibility to his private cyber intelligence company, newly filed court documents allege.

Attorneys for five defendants charged with attempting to kidnap the Democratic governor are seeking information about special agent Jayson Chambers, after a BuzzFeed report claimed that the FBI agent may have published tweets about the undercover operation before it was made public. The foiled kidnapping plot - allegedly hatched in retaliation against Whitmer's Covid-19 measures - was initially used as evidence of the domestic threat posed by right-wing extremism. But the narrative began to fall apart after it was revealed that at least 12 undercover informants played major roles in the scheme, leading to allegations of entrapment.

Comment: It wouldn't be the first time.

See also:

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Attention

'I was thrown in jail and a mental institution, then deported from Singapore... for not wearing a Covid-19 mask'

Chris Sweeney
RT
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 08:00 UTC
Glynn
© AFP/Gavin FOO
Benjamin Glynn
Don't like wearing masks? Neither does Benjamin Glynn. But his refusal to wear one, on account of his failure to accept Singapore's right to make them legally mandatory, saw him treated like a terrorist, as he tells RT.

The return leg of Benjamin Glynn's daily commute turned his life upside down. Violent arrests, a prison sentence and time in a mental institution followed, but he vowed, "I would do it all again, I don't regret anything."

Living in Singapore, the Brit and his partner decided to return home with their two kids, booking flights for May 31. On keen runner Glynn's final day at work, he went for a run with colleagues, followed by a few drinks. On the train home, a passenger videoed him not wearing a Covid mask - contrary to the local rules - and uploaded it to citizen journalism website Stomp.

Twenty-four hours later, the police knocked on his door, demanding he come to the station. Glynn said,
"I was happy to have a chat with them. I just thought it would be a conversation and I could go talk to them on the Monday, but they insisted they had to take me then. I objected to that as it was so late; it was my daughter's fifth birthday. But that's when the nightmare began."
Things turned ugly, and officers used batons which led to an ambulance being called due to Glynn bleeding from his knees, elbows and shoulders.
And it got worse and worse:
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Target

Switzerland's vaccination centers could be targeted by terrorists, nation's intel agency warns


RT
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 14:19 UTC
Vaccination center
© AFP/Valentin Flauraud
Patient or practitioner: Who is the secret ISIS-K agent?
Switzerland's vaccination centers are high on the list of potential terrorist targets, the country's secret service has claimed, adding that it was unaware of any concrete plots that could disrupt inoculation efforts.

Swiss daily NZZ am Sonntag reached out to the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) to ask about how the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan might affect security in the mountainous Central European country - but the response they received pointed to a different threat.

The Taliban's return to power doesn't fundamentally change the security situation in Switzerland, the FIS said. Instead, the main danger comes from jihadists who may try to attack infrastructure and places where there are large crowds - specifically, vaccination centers. A spokesperson for the agency told the paper:
"The targets of attack could also be the Covid-19 vaccination centers as well as vaccine transports and vaccine manufacturers."

Comment: Just how realistic is it ISIS-K will go after a mobile 'vaccination bus' with or without guards? Take a deep, deep breath Switzerland!

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NPC

Teacher removes American flag from classroom, suggests students pledge allegiance to gay pride flag instead

Paul Sacca
The Blaze
Sat, 28 Aug 2021 19:24 UTC
Kristin Pitzen
© Image via Twitter @libsoftiktok screenshot
Kristin Pitzen
A California teacher instructed her students to pledge allegiance to a gay pride flag after she removed the American flag from her classroom because it made her uncomfortable, according to a report. The school district has allegedly launched an investigation into the incident.

The alleged teacher was exposed by the massively popular "Libs of TikTok" account on Twitter, which has over 176,000 followers. The page shared an apparent TikTok video of the teacher explaining how she handles the morning announcements in her school, which includes the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I always tell my class, 'Stand if you feel like it, don't stand if you feel like it, say the words if you want, you don't have to say the words,'" the teacher said in the video, which has over 1 million views. "So, my class decided to stand but not say the words. Totally fine."
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NPC

Scottish teachers 'guilt-tripped' with white privilege tests instead of learning how to teach

Frank Furedi
RT
Fri, 27 Aug 2021 19:18 UTC
teacher students classroom school
© Pexel / Max Fischer
Once upon a time, teacher training was informed by the imperative of helping them to become effective educators of subjects like mathematics, physics and history, but that was back when we thought kids should actually learn stuff.

Today, however, the Scottish government wishes to train teachers to develop the skill of dealing with 'white fragility'. In order for Scottish teachers to be able to deal with this imagined problem, they will be given 'white privilege lessons' by designated experts. According to the 38-page document published by Education Scotland, teachers will be asked to take a 'white privilege test'! Why? Because before teachers can effectively guilt trip their students about their 'whiteness', they need to feel uncomfortable and guilty about their own white privilege.

When teacher training is transformed into a medium for guilt-tripping it is evident that something has seriously gone wrong with Scottish education. This philistine initiative for politicising schooling bears the official imprimatur of the Scottish government, making it clear that the imperative of indoctrination has subordinated education to a second-order role in schools north of Hadrian's Wall.
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Putin

Opinion polls suggest Russia's pro-Putin party still strong but fading in popularity

Paul Robinson
RT
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 19:01 UTC
Vladimir Putin Russian presidential elections
© Sputnik / Sergey Guneev
Vladimir Putin votes at Russian presidential elections
Russians will head to the polls next month for parliamentary elections. Despite the importance of the vote, the campaign has received little international coverage - probably because everybody already thinks they know the outcome.

The United Russia party, which backs President Vladimir Putin and holds 334 of the State Duma's 450 seats, is likely to come out on top. That said, there is still a lot to play for at the margins and the possibility of some major upsets remains.

In the last parliamentary elections in 2016, the ruling bloc took almost 54% of the vote. This year, opinion polls have it running much lower, with only 27% of respondents saying that they definitely intend to vote for the party. This second figure is slightly misleading as a large percentage of people declare themselves to be undecided or as not intending to vote. Counting only those who are decided, definite voters, then United Russia's total goes up to something around 36%. This is substantially better than the headline figure, but still way below its share in 2016 when it was basking in popular support after the 2014 reabsorption of Crimea.
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No Entry

China launches campaign to censor online content that 'bad-mouths' its economy


RT
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 19:11 UTC
China
© AP Photo / Andy Wong
Beijing has launched a two-month campaign to probe commercial platforms and social media accounts that post economic information, in an attempt to cleanse the media of content that criticizes China's economic policies.

The National Cyberspace Administration of China on Friday launched a "special rectification" action targeting illegal procurement and misinterpretation of financial information. The agency called on social media platforms to carry out checks to cleanse finance-related content that "violates China's regulations."

China's major regulatory agencies will supervise and guide the moves, focusing on eight types of violations. These include "bad-mouthing" China's financial markets and "misinterpreting" domestic economic policies, spreading finance-related rumors and "hyping negative information to threaten, intimidate, blackmail relevant stakeholders and seek illegal benefits." Those who repost foreign media articles or commentaries that are deemed to falsely interpret China's financial policy "without taking a stance or making a judgment" will also be considered violators under the regulation.
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