Progressive district attorneys’ failure to enforce law and order has resulted in a surge of smash-and-grab thefts across American cities run by Democrats. The rise in thefts, particularly at retail stores, has become a significant problem for the retail industry, amounting to $100 billion in shrinkage in 2022. Even more concerning is that organized criminal gangs now target gun stores instead of clothing, jewelry, and pharmacy stores.

Diving into Bloomberg data, the story count for “gun shop robbery” in all US news media stories soared to a record high in the fourth quarter of 2022, with data going back to 2013. The surge even surpassed levels during the early virus pandemic. 

As of late, a series of gun store robberies in the Mid-Atlantic area have alarmed gun shop owners, local police, state police, and federal agencies. These shops are located in the Washington-Baltimore metro area, where Democrats have been in control for decades. 

On April 30, two gun stores, one just outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County, Virginia, and another one in Rockville, Maryland, about an hour north, were targeted by what some in the firearm industry have described as criminal organized gangs. 

One of the owners of Engage Armament in Rockville told FOX 5 that he believes the suspects that targeted his shop and Dominion Defense in Fairfax were part of the same gang. 

Luckily, the thieves weren’t successful at breaking into the Engage Armament facility, but down in Fairfax, they stole 53 long rifles and handguns. 

“Our biggest concern is that these guns don’t get into the wrong hands.

“We try to do everything the right way – to do everything we can to keep them out of the wrong hands. Still, people have their rights, you know, to exercise their Second Amendment rights, but we do want to keep the guns out of the wrong hands,” said Engage Armament Co-owner Carlos Rabanales.

One of the two suspects appearing in Dominion Defense’s security video was wearing a Nike mask. 

RECOGNIZE THEM? @FairfaxCountyPD shared new VID showing 4 younger looking suspects who FCPD says stole 53 hand & long guns from Dominion Defense in Springfield, VA April 29th. A co-owner of Rockville’s Engage Armament believes some of the same guys tried to hit their shop @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/9gCKjtv9ys

— Stephanie Ramirez (@RamirezReports) May 9, 2023

On Tuesday, the ATF working with Montgomery County police, announced a $15,000 reward for the arrest of suspects of a different Rockville gun shop burglary, Atlantic Guns.

Last November, the ATF revealed at least five attempted and successful gun shop burglaries in Montgomery and Anne Arundel Counties of Maryland. These are areas where a majority of residents vote Democrat. 

When accountability for bad behavior is removed from society, it emboldens criminals. And now these criminals are robbing gun stores and arming themselves with guns while the Biden administration is adamant about disarming law-abiding citizens. 

Some say… We’re living in a clown world. 

Authored by Didi Rankovic via ReclamTheNet.org,

A rose by any other name…

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Disinformation Governance Board met an ignoble demise last year, when it was disbanded within months, amid public criticism and staff-related scandal.

Despite being derisively referred to as “the Ministry of Truth” – i.e., a US government’s alleged attempt to create an Orwellian-like institution – it was a fairly safe bet that the strong backlash notwithstanding, the initiative would rear its head again at some point. Soon.

Meet the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC), located at the Office of the Director of US National Intelligence (ODNI). Some sentiment suggest that this might be a Disinformation Governance Board 2 – what with a similar declarative focus on foreign threat, which is then easy to transition, as a smokescreen, to turning the authorities’ sights onto “domestic dissenters.”

And that would mean more censorship, in effect flying under the radar, critics fear.

A deceptive tactic, they continue, which could easily use foreign threats simply as an excuse to influence politics at home.

Speaking of interference – the FMIC could also “duplicate” other US efforts, such as that of a State Department’s unit that has taken it upon itself to suppress what’s seen as “populism” in other countries.

Now, this is what the FMIC has to say for – and about itself – the threat from abroad is constant and “dynamic” – no doubt – but therefore, “informing efforts to counter it requires constant attention, a whole-of-government approach, support from the private sector, and engagement from the public.”

However, the “soothing” mention of foreign threats is not the only thing the FMIC will be dealing with – there’s also “protection of US public opinion.” And this, opponents may suspect, might be a euphemism for “policing domestic narratives.”

The existence of the Center seems to have been presented to the public in a rather low-key fashion. It was last Thursday that it came up during an address by ODNI chief Avril Haines, a full 45 minutes into the speech, during a hearing organized by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Matt Taibbi, who pored over Twitter’s internal documents to become one of those behind the explosive Twitter Files, doesn’t look at this kind of initiative very kindly.

In fact, he seems to pretty much consider it a ruse whose real goal is to “slowly adjust aim to domestic targets.”

But first – what Taibbi calls “the basic rhetorical trick of the censorship age” must “raise a fuss about a foreign threat, using it as a battering ram to get everyone from Congress to the tech companies to submit to increased regulation and surveillance.”

Update(2130ET): Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin clarified late Saturday in an audio statement that despite regular Russian forces having “retreated” from parts of Bakhmut’s north (in his words), his own Wagner fighters are still advancing. So it seems his power struggle with the military chain of command and defense ministry continues, as he persists in his controversial narrative that it’s only his company that’s spearheading gains and engaged in heavy fighting (akin to the battle for Soledar). 

Prigozhin stressed that Wagner advanced today, and that Ukraine controls only 1 square km in Bahmut and remains in control of just 29 or so tall buildings. 

⚡️Wagner PMCs advanced up to 550 meters in different directions — Prigozhin pic.twitter.com/3Nbb21yrl1

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 13, 2023

Meanwhile TASS has cited the head of an elite Russian unit to say that intensified Ukrainian engagement has only happened along some parts of the frontlines: 

Commander of the Akhmat commando unit and Deputy Commander of the 2nd Army Corps Apty Alaudinov said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops increased their activity only in some sectors of the line of engagement.

Earlier, Yan Gagin, an advisor to Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin, reported that Ukrainian units had become more active along the entire line of combat engagement.

“The Ukrainian units became active not along the entire line of combat engagement, only in certain parts and still the situation has not significantly changed,” Alaudinov told TASS.

“The situation is completely under control in our sector,” he added.

The day prior, the defense ministry acknowledged some degree of a pullback in limited sectors in the north of the city. Prigozhin had described the regular forces as “fleeing” – a characterization which was denied by the Kremlin. 

* * *

Shortly after a Russian military helicopter crash was reported early Saturday in a region near the Ukrainian border, a second crash of an aircraft has been reported, at a moment of continuing general bad news for Moscow related to the Ukraine war. Possibly a third aircraft downing has also been reported – all within a matter of hours.

“An Su-34 fighter jet crashed in Bryansk Region, Russia near the Ukrainian border, minutes after reports that an unidentified helicopter also went down in the area, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, citing sources,” state media is reporting.

Details on casualties weren’t initially revealed, but images and video circulating on social media show what appears to be a crash site, including the jet’s tail and engine on fire. 

The jet crash reportedly happened near the village of Istrovka north of the Ukrainian border, and unofficial military channels online are saying the pilot and navigator were killed. 

Just hours before news of the jet crash emerged, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter separately caught fire and crashed. It may have been shot down. Newsweek is meanwhile suggesting that a total of two helicopters crashed within the same time frame, reporting that— 

A Su-34 combat jet and a Mi-8 helicopter came down on Saturday, according to Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency.

Russian online news channel Mash posted on Telegram that another Mi-8 helicopter and a Su-35 warplane crashed in the same area on Saturday.

There’s also growing speculation that given multiple aircraft came down in the same region, it may have been from a Ukrainian attack on the aircraft, but this is unconfirmed: 

This was also reported by Russian media outlet Readovka, who said: “Two helicopters and fighter-bombers were shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Our pilots were ambushed and we are talking about a carefully planned operation.” Newsweek has been unable to independently verify reports of the additional crashes.

BREAKING: Ukraine claims RUSSIA LOST 4 AIRCRAFT in ONE DAY!!!

Two Mi-8s Attack Helicopters, one Su-35 and one Su-34 were shot down/crashed in Bryansk region.#aircraft #Su34 #Su35 #Mi8 #crash #helicopter #fighterjet #Bryansk #Ukraine #Russia pic.twitter.com/uqxBNhKvD2

— EurAsian Times (@THEEURASIATIMES) May 13, 2023

A Reuters national security correspondent is counting four total downed aircraft on Saturday, citing Russian state sources:

May 13 (Reuters) – The Russian news outlet Kommersant reported that two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border, in what would be a spectacular coup for Kyiv if confirmed.

— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) May 13, 2023

The day prior, on Friday, a Mi-28 military helicopter had crashed during a training flight in Crimea, after which the defense ministry confirmed that two pilots were killed. 

TASS cited defense officials who described, “At 3:42 p.m. (Moscow time) on May 12, 2023, a Mi-28 helicopter crashed during its scheduled training flight in the Dzhankoi district of the Republic of Crimea. The helicopter performed its flight without an ammunition load. There is no destruction on the ground. Both pilots died.”

The military statement said the crash in Crimea was due to a “technical failure” of the attack helicopter but said a further investigation is ongoing. 

Overall this has been a bad past week and even month so far for Russia and its war efforts.

⚡️#BREAKING A helicopter crash in Klintsy, Bryansk region, Russia pic.twitter.com/YQZ8hfMCAZ

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 13, 2023

There’s not only been a spate of these deadly aerial incidents in the past 24 hours, but Russian territory is coming under increased drone attack from Ukraine, and oil facilities in particular have been targeted and significantly damaged. In addition the defense ministry acknowledged that Russian military positions have pulled back in some areas of northern Bakhmut, following prior months of steady gains.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner forces, has called it a “rout” – as the open feud between himself and the top military command has also been a likely cause of ‘low morale’ and is somewhat embarrassing on an international stage.

At this point it remains unconfirmed and uncertain whether these Saturday jet and helicopter crashes were the result of cross-border shootdowns. If so it would mark a huge escalation and leap in Ukraine’s capabilities, including the possibility of Western advanced offensive weapons being used:

/15. Russian media – “The aircrafts that crashed in the Bryansk region were shot down not from the territory of Russia – the Armed Forces of 🇺🇦 attacked it from the Chernihiv region, Ukraine”.
P.S: distance from the 🇺🇦 border to geolocated crash site of one of Mi-8 is about 50 km pic.twitter.com/di9dvpuvaA

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) May 13, 2023

Reuters summarized of the battlefield developments by Friday:

Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine’s battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new Ukrainian offensive, in a retreat that the head of Russia’s Wagner private army called a rout.

The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow’s main objective for months during the war’s bloodiest fighting.

“In three days of counter-offensive activity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut sector have liberated 17.3 sq. km (6.6 sq. miles) of territory,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the “east” group of Ukrainian forces, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Both sides are now reporting the biggest Ukrainian gains in six months, although Ukraine has given few details and played down suggestions a huge, long-planned counteroffensive has officially begun.

Additionally days ago Moscow’s big Victory Day parade was widely reported as “muted” and lacking in tanks and other military hardware that is typically on display.

Ukrainian officials have mocked all of this as showing weakness, also while Kiev’s spring counteroffensive may be imminent, or is perhaps already begun. All the while, Ukraine’s cross-border attacks are only growing bolder, and it doesn’t seem the Kremlin can do anything about it.

Yet, despite what appear to be significant Russian military setbacks, Ukraine frontlines in many places are still getting pounded. For example, the below video is purportedly of a recent Russian strike in Western Ukraine, possibly on Friday or Saturday (with footage just emerging):

Big hit by Russian missile or drone in Khmelnitsky this morning. pic.twitter.com/mCUsvQbyw8

— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) May 13, 2023

And here:

Probably the clearest footage I’ve seen of the enormous hit this morning in Khmelnytsky. pic.twitter.com/6rGQMqOUgf

— Big Serge ☦️🇺🇸🇷🇺 (@witte_sergei) May 13, 2023

As for the much-touted spring counteroffensive by Ukraine forces, it’s as yet unclear whether this is in full swing or not. While there have been moves on the ground, Zelensky has so far denied that it’s begun, saying his forces must “wait”. 

An exclusive investigation by Daily Mail might make you reconsider your next order of fried chicken at American fast-food chains. The investigation reveals these restaurants infuse their chicken with additives, preservatives, and other proteins to keep costs low. Some of these menu items are described as “premium” or “all-white-meat,” but far from it, instead include ingredients such as seaweed and even wood pulp.

The report said there are more than 120 ingredients hidden within chicken burgers or nuggets at fast food restaurants. Those ingredients are listed below on a restaurant-by-restaurant basis:

McDonald’s 

The enduringly popular McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets have been the center of controversy in the past – after a now-debunked video emerged in 2010 of ‘pink slime’ supposedly going into the nuggets at a factory. 

The brand worked hard to dispel this myth, but the treats are still not made from 100 percent chicken meat. 

The nuggets do contain white boneless chicken, but they are also full of several types of flour, flavorings, spices, acid, yeast extract, dextrose and lemon juice solids.

Wendy’s 

In the patty of the Wendy’s classic chicken sandwich, only 56 percent of the meat is chicken breast.

 The other 44 percent is a mixture of water, wheat flour, starch, acids, spices and flavor powders. It also includes fully refined soybean oil, raising agent and more unusual ingredients such a dehydrated chicken powder and smoke flavoring. 

The patty, bun and mayonnaise include over five allergens, so it’s worth checking the recipe before you tuck in if you have any allergies.

Carl’s Jr. 

Carl’s Jr nuggets are set apart from the other offerings on the market with their distinctive star shape. 

They also include some more unusual ingredients – namely ‘chicken type flavor’ – according to The Daily Meal. 

The outlet reports that the nuggets include beef flavor, which has three different types of protein in it (from hydrolyzed soy, wheat, and corn protein) and beef fat. 

As for the spicy chicken sandwich, it reportedly contains ‘isolated oat product’ in its patty, and microcrystalline cellulose in its bun – which is a refined wood pulp.

Subway 

The chain has faced criticism in the past, with claims that some of its chicken products were made from non-chicken material. Subway responded to the claims, saying its ‘Oven Roasted Chicken and chicken strips are made from 100 percent all white meat chicken.’ 

However its products certainly aren’t made from chicken alone. Its oven-roasted chicken also contains flavorings, potato starch and carrageenan. 

This is a chemical compound which is safe to eat, but is made from parts of various red seaweeds. It is used to thicken foods, and does not have any nutritional value.

Jack in the Box 

Jack in the Box has various poultry-based offerings on its menu, including chicken tenders and nuggets.

 These products often contain wheat and milk, so those with allergens should check the ingredient list. 

The meat in the popcorn chicken also contains ‘isolated oat product’ among its other ingredients of chicken breast strips with rib meat, water and potato starch.

Whataburger 

According to The Daily Meal, a significant proportion of the chain’s Southern-style chicken strips are not pure chicken meat, with up to 12 percent of each tender containing ingredients like water, sodium phosphate, and isolated soy protein.

 Isolated soy protein, which is derived from soy beans, is a common ingredient in processed foods as a way to bulk them out. 

This last ingredient is a common fixture in processed foods, the outlet reports. A protein derived from soybeans, isolated soy protein is a cost-effective way to bulk out foods. 

But those with potentially dangerous soy allergies should stay away from anything containing soy protein.

Burger King 

According to The Daily Meal, Burger King chicken nuggets also contain a whole host of flavorings alongside chicken breast and rib meat. 

These include autolyzed yeast extract, a substance derived from yeast, and other flavor enhancers including disodium guanylate, a form of salt that is sometimes used in tandem with MSG, and which is also found under the name E627. 

They are also unsuitable for anyone who can’t eat eggs, milk, wheat, gluten or celery.

Domino’s 

Although known for its pizza rather than the traditional chicken tender or nugget, there are also extra ingredients in the fast food giant’s poultry offerings. 

Its grilled chicken contains tens of ingredients including modified corn starch, modified food starch and lipolyzed butter oil. 

Modified starch is typically used as a thickening agent, stabilizer or emulsifier, and to make foods last longer.

Dairy Queen

 Dairy Queen’s chicken strips contain a substantial percentage of ingredients other than pure meat. The uncooked tenderloin chicken fritters contain up to 18 percent of a solution of water, hydrolyzed soy protein, salt, and sodium phosphates. 

Sodium phosphate is used to improve the chicken’s texture, and help keep it fresher for longer. 

A Dairy Queen representative said: ‘Our chicken strips are 100% seasoned, white meat chicken. Each chicken strip is a single tenderloin that is marinated and breaded for maximum flavor. While we provide our ingredient lists to the public on DairyQueen.com, we refrain from providing the exact recipe or ingredient percentage for competitive reasons.’

Arby’s 

According to The Daily Meal, the Buttermilk Chicken Fillet contains a surprising ingredient to help enhance its flavor – protein concentrate. 

Commonly consumed by athletes and bodybuilders, whey protein is frequently added to other foods to give them a textural and tasty boost and help them last longer on the shelf, it reports.

White Castle 

The shape of the chicken offering at this chain may be a clue that it is not 100 percent meat. 

These rings contain an extensive list of ingredients, including preservative carrageenan – which is derived from seaweed – and powdered cooked chicken.

This explanation may clarify things.

And a recent study from Imperial’s School of Public Health found higher consumption of ultra-processed foods (like the ones above) might be linked to an increased risk of developing and dying from cancer. 

One might wonder why BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager overseeing trillions of dollars, hasn’t shaken up the fast food industry that appears to be serving consumers unhealthy food, which, according to Imperial, could potentially contribute to cancer. Isn’t the ‘S’ in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) supposed to promote the health and safety of society and enhance the quality of life? Maybe Larry Fink is preoccupied with more important concerns, like climate change and gender identity. 

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Substack,

It’s time for another US presidential race where populist factions on both sides spend a few months angrily decrying the establishment before voting for candidates in the general election who will fully serve that same establishment.

I think this is just the norm now. Public discontent with the US political status quo is now so great that there’s going to be a new “Hey kids, you can vote your way into revolutionary change!” feature built into every presidential election. 2012 was the end of a political era.

❖

The biggest misconception about politics is that political differences have any meaningful existence at all. Everyone’s herded into two mainstream factions who both serve the interests of the powerful, while those few who can’t be herded are marginalized into political impotence.

And I am of course mainly talking about the English-speaking world here. The global south has real political diversity of real consequence, and has real differences from the status quo politics of the US-centralized empire. But within that empire, political differences are effectively illusory.

❖

I feel like maybe we didn’t make a big enough deal about that revelation the other day that the US government now has so many institutions dedicated to “perception management” and regulating “disinformation” that it created a new agency within the ODNI to oversee all of them. 

I mean everyone made a lot of noise about the DHS’s “disinformation governance board” last year, and rightly so, but as a whole this seems way more egregious in terms of government interference in human communication.

❖

The problem with opposition to dissent-crushing measures is that it mostly only comes from those at whom such measures are directed. Mainstream journalists know they won’t be imprisoned like Assange, because they won’t do work like Assange did. Mainstream liberals know they won’t be censored online, so they’re happy to cheer for online censorship.

Measures designed to control the narrative and suppress dissent are directed at the fringes, not the mainstream, because that’s where dissent of real consequence always first emerges. It won’t be those with mainstream political leanings seeing their speech increasingly marginalized and hidden away by algorithms and AI, it will be those who oppose the political status quo. In the future it won’t be those with a mainstream worldview being oppressed by things like tech surveillance, police robots and CBDCs, it will be those well outside the Overton window of permissible debate. The average person will be unaffected by such measures, because in our current mind-controlled dystopia the average person is compliant and innocuous.

This is why attempts to get a large movement of opposition to these totalitarian measures typically fail to gather significant public traction: because only people on the fringes have reason to fear them. By controlling the mainstream consensus, our rulers eliminate any meaningful opposition to their tyranny toward the real dissidents whose politics generally lie well outside that consensus. And since it’s only widespread mainstream opposition that would ever give them reason to fear public backlash, they can keep ratcheting up these dissent-crushing measures.

I don’t really have any solution to this problem; I’ve been staring at it for years and don’t see any easy answers. I’m just putting it out there in the hive mind so that awareness of the problem can grow and we can start collectively looking for solutions.

❖

This civilization is so mentally ill that you’ll get treated like a gibbering lunatic for expressing the most sane and rational opinions anyone can possibly express.

Something as basic as “The world’s most powerful government should stop ramping up nuclear brinkmanship on multiple fronts” will get you treated like a kook, when really it’s so obvious and common sense it shouldn’t even need to be said.

That’s how crazy mass-scale brainwashing has made everyone.

❖

I will never support any form of capitalism, because no form of capitalism — real or hypothetical — will ever have an answer to the problems of ecocide and the need to care for the needful.

Every capitalism-based solution that has ever been proposed for these problems is self-evidently ridiculous; the notion that privatizing the natural world can preserve oceans and rainforests is infantile nonsense that’s refuted by all of human history, as is the notion that the needful can be cared for solely by voluntary charity. No intellectually honest person believes this is true. No ancap who’s thought hard enough about ecocide and caring for the needful sincerely believes that capitalism can address these problems. At their most honest, they’ll say that ecocide and starvation are necessary sacrifices that must be made for the freedoms and conveniences they want to have for themselves.

I appreciate a right-libertarian who straight up admits that they’re fine with environmental destruction and the weakest members of society dying off rather than pretending the “free market” can address these issues, because at least they’re being honest about where they stand.

And of course the current western status quo model of capitalism with a little state welfare and a few superficial environmental restrictions isn’t working either, because here we are. Every possible capitalist school of thought has failed to find a solution to these problems. You can yell “but communism bad” at me all you want, but that doesn’t address the fact that people are struggling to survive and our biosphere is hurtling toward collapse, and that literally nothing anywhere in capitalist thought has anything resembling a viable answer for this.

We won’t ultimately have a solution to ecocide and exploitation until mass-scale human behavior ceases to be driven by the pursuit of profit altogether, because ecocide and exploitation are profitable. We’re going to have to find another organizing principle if we’re to survive on this planet.

❖

Never let yourself lose sight of the reality that as bad as things are, the fact that there are things at all is vastly more significant than any of our puny human problems.

It’s not something you can talk about all the time because people will think you’re being callous about human suffering and all the problems that we do have, but the truth of the matter is that even if things were ten times worse than they are now, it would still be vastly less significant than the fact that we get to live in a world and perceive it and think about it and share ideas about it instead of nothing existing at all.

Yes, pay attention to our problems and do what you can to fix them, but never, ever let yourself lose sight of the fact that we are living in the middle of a continuous miracle of unfathomable beauty, and that we ourselves are inseparably unified with that vast miracle. If you only fixate on thoughts about our problems you will become bitter and ineffective in the fight against injustice, and more importantly, you will have wasted your time here failing to appreciate the wondrousness of a human life on this amazing planet.

*  *  *

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Following a major legal victory in the free speech department, after school Satan Clubs are picking up steam.

Launched in 2020 and promptly opposed by most parents, the clubs, associated with the Satanic Temple, are being pitched as an alternative to Christian after-school groups for those who identify as agnostics, atheists and religious minorities, such as pagans.

Last Monday, the Satanic Temple and the ACLU scored a legal victory after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled against the Northampton County school district, which banned the club from meeting on its grounds.

“In a victory for free speech and religious freedom, a federal court has ruled that the Saucon Valley School District must allow the After School Satan Club to meet in district facilities,” the ACLU said in a statement.

Totally not Satanic?

The PR campaign behind the Satanic Temple is a sight to behold. Founded in 2014, the organization claims to “encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority,” and says that members should use “practical common sense” and stand up for justice.

Congregations tell those interested that if they’re trying to “sell my soul, get rich, join the Illuminati, etc.,” that they should look elsewhere.

“We’re definitely not interested in having children identify as satanists,” said satanist Rose Bastet, who has been involved in the Satanic Temple for four years, and is one of the After School Satan Club volunteers at B.M. Williams Primary in Chesapeake, VA. Bastet spearheaded the effort to get the club into the school in October 2020 – a process which took a long time because the school was “giving us the runaround,” she said, adding that “they were in the background looking for any way that they could prevent us from meeting.”

Ya think?

Just nature stuff!

According to Bastet, Satan Club is just teaching kids about nature and whatnot.

“One of our meetings a couple of months ago, we learned about Virginia native bats,” she said, adding “This last meeting, we had one of the parents in the club volunteer to bring in a bunch of bones and fossils that she and her husband have found in Virginia.”

Neat!

That said, the ‘curriculum’ could change this fall as the club seeks to integrate the seven tenets of the Satanic Temple, which include “compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason,” and that “beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.”

“We just came out with a book that is like the children’s version — or I should say a very sweet way to interpret — the tenets in a very understanding way that children could understand. So we might start actually using this book to talk to the kids about our seven tenets,” said Everett, adding “We have a lot of big plans for next school year.“

We bet they do…

Authored by Elizabeth Dowell via The Epoch Times,

California’s reparations committee is calling for state officials to end cash bail and the prosecution of low-level crimes after approving a reparations payment plan to make amends for slavery and anti-black racism earlier this week.

The nine-member committee, which was created by state legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, approved its final recommendations to the California Legislature, which will decide whether to enact the measures and send them to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

A final report is due to the Legislature by July 1, where recommendations include several proposals related to criminal justice, including the elimination of cash bail.

“The cash bail system is at the core of many of the class and race-based inequities in the criminal legal system,” the committee wrote in its proposal.

“The task force accordingly recommends that the legislature take all steps necessary to definitively end cash bail.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs into law a bill that establishes a task force to come up with recommendations on how to give reparations in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 30, 2020. (Office of the Governor via AP)

Government officials and prosecutors have argued that it’s unfair to low-income people who can’t afford it to pay cash for bail and have fought to end this requirement.

“Pretrial detention can last months and even years, during which incarcerated individuals suffer countless harms, including deteriorating mental and physical health, risk of sexual violence and lasting trauma,” the committee wrote.

“These harms exert significant pressure on defendants to accept plea bargains in order to be released from custody rather than fighting the charges at trial.”

Newsom called the recommendations “a milestone in our bipartisan effort to advance justice and promote healing.”

“Dealing with the legacy of slavery is about much more than cash payments,” Newsom said in his statement.

“We are waiting for the process to be completed.”

The recommendations approved by the committee outline restitution that, if approved by state lawmakers, could cost billions of dollars to address historical disparities in health care, housing, and policing.

“Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility—all while investing billions in rooting out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and beyond. This work must continue,” Newsom said.

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, a Los Angeles-area Democrat on the committee, said in an interview that it’s too early to know whether payments could get passed in the Legislature, as the committee’s report deadline looms.

“We have absolutely no idea right now what will or will not be approved,” he said.

Republican Lauren Boebert criticized the reparations payments calling it “a joke.”

“The fact that supposedly serious people in San Francisco are considering a plan that would give $5,000,000 in reparations to every black resident in their city in a state that never had slavery is a joke,” Boebert wrote on Twitter.

California’s black population includes more than 2.5 million people.

The committee outlines what it describes as “over-policing” of black Americans before calling for California to stop prosecuting low-level crimes.

“Given the devastating impacts of this kind of over-policing, the task force recommends that the legislature prohibit law enforcement from criminally enforcing public disorder infractions and other low-level crimes,” the committee wrote.

“Instead, a public health and safety institution, without criminal arrest or prosecution powers, would enforce prohibitions such as sleeping on the sidewalk, fare evasion, spitting on the train, and similar transit-related or other public disorder violations that criminalize poverty,” the committee added.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who chairs the state Legislative Black Caucus, said that the caucus would champion policy proposals included in the task force’s report.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with our Legislative colleagues and Gov. Newsom’s administration as we continue to fight for equity in our communities,” Wilson said in a statement.

By not showing up for duty, Oregon’s Republican state senators are thwarting Democrats’ attempts to pass bills on gun control, abortion and so-called “gender-affirming care.” Oregon Senate rules require that two-thirds of members be present for before votes on legislation can be held. Senators joining the no-show campaign are playing with fire, as they could find themselves disqualified from serving additional terms. 

Outwardly, Republicans claim their boycott is aimed at forcing Democrats to comply with a long-obscure 1979 law requiring bill summaries to be written at an 8th- or 9th-grade reading level. However, that position is widely understood to be a creative pretext for blocking bills that Republicans consider extreme. Credit a GOP senate staffer who dug up the 44-year-old law that’s seemingly been ignored ever since enacted. 

Hundreds of bills are now stuck, but the blockage is primarily motivated by Republican opposition to two particular Democrat proposals. The first of them is House Bill 2002, which would:

• Let minors of any age get an abortion without parental notice, much less permission
• Order private insurers and Medicaid to pay for more services under an umbrella of “gender-affirming care” 
• Require student health centers to dispense abortion and emergency contraception drugs 
• Deploy mobile “health clinics” to carry out abortions and gender transitions in rural areas

Republicans are incensed by the package. “Oregonians do not want more of their taxpayer dollars going to something they fundamentally disagree with,” said Rep. Christine Goodwin told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Ask them how they feel about a mobile abortion truck parked in their neighborhoods.”

Of course, it’s not just taxpayer dollars at stake: The mandates for private insurers would mean higher premiums for all Oregonians covered by private policies, compelling them to indirectly fund gender swaps for fellow citizens. 

Republicans are also trying to derail House Bill 2005, a gun control bill that would: 

• Increase the minimum age for buying certain semiautomatic firearms from 18 to 21
• Criminalize possession of untraceable firearms, which gun control advocates label “ghost guns”
• Require background checks for private firearm sales

Democrats and Republican leaders have been holding closed-door meetings, but the Democratic Senate leader says his side won’t budge on the abortion and gender-switch bill.

The longer the boycott lasts, the closer various Republicans put themselves in jeopardy of disqualification from additional terms in office. Last year, by a resounding 68% to 32% tally, the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that imposes that penalty on legislators who rack up 10 unexcused absences. The measure was motivated by repeated walkouts.  

When Democrats in Texas and Wisconsin carried out similar walkouts to block legislatures from achieving a quorum, they were celebrated as heroes. However, Republicans are being condemned for using the same tactic in Oregon. 

“It is abundantly clear that there is a concerted effort to undermine the will of the people and bring the legislature to a halt in violation of the constitution of the state of Oregon,” said Democratic Senate President Rob Wagner.  

ON PLANE TO DC: Texas Democratic lawmakers are leaving state to break quorum to stop Republican voting bill. Veteran Capitol observers say this is unchartered territory. Photo from Democrat on the plane. https://t.co/YOuOMb0A2m pic.twitter.com/abWoARvFIC

— ScottGordon (@ScottGordonDFW) July 12, 2021

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,

A Defense Department official told Congress that the Pentagon is acting on plans to build a multi-layered air defense system in Guam, where Washington keeps several military bases. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is requesting $1.5 billion to begin stationing new radars and interceptors on the island next year.

Missile Defense Agency director Vice Adm. Jon Hill told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the Pentagon is currently conducting environmental impact studies at multiple sites where it hopes to deploy new systems. Local officials in Guam now have less than 30 days to review the reports and offer a response.

Hill stressed that the US must defend all of its territories as if they were the American homeland, including Guam, adding that the Pentagon would install a “360-degree layered defense capability” on the island to secure it against “simultaneous cruise, ballistic, maneuvering and hypersonic” missile attacks.

The Missile Defense Agency plans to deploy AEGIS, SM-3, SM-6 and THAAD interceptors at various points on Guam. The Pentagon previously awarded Lockheed Martin a $527 million contract to develop an upgraded AEGIS system for the island, while the MDA is hoping to receive another $1.5 billion to spend on Guam’s air defenses during FY 2024.

The Defense Department is additionally working on new radar systems to deploy to Guam. “We are in the early stages of developing the Homeland Defense Radar-Guam (now designated as the AN/TPY-6 radar) and the Aegis Guam System to provide persistent long-range midcourse discrimination, precision tracking, missile engagements, and hit assessment to protect Guam,” Hill said in his written testimony.

The vice admiral told the Senate panel that the systems were needed to contend with alleged threats posed by China and North Korea.

The Joe Biden administration has adopted confrontational policies toward Beijing and Pyongyang, issuing a steady stream of threats and ultimatums to both countries. China and North Korea say the US military buildup in the region is driving a major spike in tensions, citing a flurry of live-fire drills and other operations in the Asia-Pacific in recent years.

The AEGIS system in particular could further fuel the cycle of escalation, as it is capable of being converted to fire offensive missiles, including those carrying nuclear warheads, in addition to defensive interceptors