Thank you baker.
Ex-US gymnastics coach John Geddert kills himself after sex assault charges
By Ben Feuerherd - February 25, 2021 | 4:40pm
A former Olympic gymnastics coach killed himself Thursday after he was hit with a slew of charges for sexually assaulting and physically abusing young athletes in Michigan, according to authorities.
John Geddert — who worked for years alongside notorious gymnastics predator Larry Nassar — was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Thursday afternoon, local station WLNS reported, citing state officials.
Earlier that day, the state attorney general unveiled 24 charges against Geddert that could have put him behind bars for life.
Geddert’s death was confirmed by Michigan’s attorney general, who called his suicide a “tragic end” to the horrific story.
“My office has been notified that the body of John Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life. This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the statement.
Nessel alleged that Geddert used his credentials as a US Olympic coach to convince parents to have their children train at his gym in Dimondale, Mich., where Nassar served as his in-house doctor.
But the AG said his treatment of them amounted to “human trafficking,” as the athletes were forced to labor under “extreme conditions” that resulted in injuries.
He was also hit with two counts of sexual assault against a teen in 2012, one count of continuing criminal enterprise, and a rap for lying to investigators who were probing Nassar’s own sexual abuse of gymnasts.
https://nypost.com/2021/02/25/us-gymnastics-coach-john-geddert-kills-himself-after-sex-trafficking-charges/
Dr. Rand Paul questionsDickless Rick Levine
"You Have Permanently Changed Them": Rand Paul Grills HHS Nominee Rachel Divine Over Parental Consent For Trans Minors
by Tyler Durden - Thursday, Feb 25, 2021 - 13:15
On Thursday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) grilled President Biden's nominee for assistant health secretary, Rachel Levine, over whether minor children should be allowed to make irreversible, life-changing decisions over their gender.
Levine,
<a transgender biological male
and former pediatrician, refused to answer the question - twice, instead suggesting that transgender medicine was a 'complex and nuanced' field, and that she would be open to a private discussion on the matter.
Paul starts off by noting that genital mutilation is recognized as a human rights violation, and that many who go through it do so willingly out of fear of social rejection. He then notes that America is 'normalizing the idea that minors can be given hormones to prevent their biological development…":
"According to the WHO, genital mutilation has been recognized internationally as a violation of human rights. Genital mutilation is considered particularly egregious, because as the WHO knows, it is almost always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children.
''Most genital mutilation is not typically performed by force, but as WHO notes that by social convention, social norm. The social pressure to conform, to do what others do and have been doing as well as the need to be accepted socially and the fear of being rejected by the community. American culture is now normalizing the idea that minors can be given hormones to prevent their biological development of their secondary sexual characteristics.''
''"Dr. Levine you have supported both allowing minors to be given hormone blockers to prevent them from going through puberty, as well as surgical destruction of a minor's genitalia. Like surgical mutilation, hormonal interruption of puberty can permanently alter and prevent secondary sexual characteristics. The American College of Pediatricians reports that 80-95% of pre-pubital children with gender dysphoria will experience resolution by late adolescence if not exposed to medical intervention and social affirmation."''
"Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one's sex?" Paul asked.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/you-have-permanently-changed-them-rand-paul-grills-hhs-nominee-rachel-divine-over-parental
continued
Levine deflected:
"Well, Senator, thank you for your interest in this question. ''Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field, with robust research and standards of care that have been developed. And if I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as the assistant secretary of health, ''I would look forward to working with you and your office in coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine".
Paul, visibly irritated, shot back:
"The specific question was about minors. ''Let's be a little more specific since you evaded the question. Do you support the government intervening to override the parent's consent to give a child puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and/or amputation surgery of breasts and genitalia? You have said that you're willing to accelerate the protocols for street kids. ''I'm alarmed that poor kids with no parents who are homeless and distraught - you would just go through this and allow that to happen to a minor."
What I'm alarmed at is that you're not willing to say: 'absolutely, minors should not be making the decision to amputate their breast, or to amputate their genitalia. ''For most of our history, we have believed that minors don't have full rights and that parents need to be involved, so I'm alarmed that you won't say, with certainty, that minors should not have the ability to make the decision to take hormones that will affect them for the rest of their life.''
"Will you make a more firm decision on whether or not minors should be involved in these decisions?" Paul repeated.
Levine repeated her last answer almost verbatim: "Senator, transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field…"
To which Paul shot back:
"For most of the history of medicine, we wouldn't let you have a cut zone up in the ER, but you're willing to let a minor take things that prevent their puberty, and ''you think they get that back? You give a woman testosterone enough that she grows a beard, you think she's going to go back to looking like a woman when you stop the testosterone? You have permanently changed them. Infertility is another problem. None of these drugs have been approved for this. They're being used off-label.''
''I find it ironic that the left that went nuts over hydroxychloroquine being used possibly for covid, are not alarmed that these hormones are being used off-label. There's no long-term studies. We don't know what happens to 'em. We do know that there are dozens and dozens of people who've been through this who regret this happening - a permanent change happened to them.''
And if you've ever been around children, 14-yar-olds can't make this decision. In the gender dysphoria clinic in England, 10% of the kids are between the age of 3 and 10. We should be outraged that someone is talking to a three-year-old about changing their sex."
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/you-have-permanently-changed-them-rand-paul-grills-hhs-nominee-rachel-divine-over-parental
Full Press Conference In Link
Olympic Gymnastics Coach Dies By Suicide Following Accusations Of Human Trafficking, Sexual Assault
by Tyler Durden - Thursday, Feb 25, 2021 - 17:20
Former Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert is dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday afternoon, just hours after he was charged in Michigan with 20 counts of human trafficking, sexual assault, lying to a peace officer and racketeering.
Geddert's death was confirmed by his attorney's office as well as Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
"My office has been notified that the body of John Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life. This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved," said Nessel.
Geddert, the head coach of the 2012 US women's gymnastics team at the London games, was a close ally of disgraced former team doctor, Larry Nassar - whose sexual assault of young gymnasts was ignored by Geddert, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The coach faced two sexual assault charges - one of first-degree sexual conduct and one of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, along with charges that he led a criminal enterprise, which Nessel said "applicable to the set of circumstances you’ll be hearing about when all of the evidence is produced in court."
Press conference from before Geddert's suicide:
"It is alleged that John Geddert used force, fraud and coercion against the young athletes that came to him for gymnastics training, for financial benefit to him," she said.
Some of those athletes subsequently attempted suicide and suffered from eating disorders and self-harm as a result of abuse including excessive physical conditioning in training, repeatedly being pushed to perform when injured, extreme emotional abuse and sexual assault, she added.
In written responses to The Wall Street Journal in 2017, Mr. Geddert denied any knowledge of assaults on gymnasts by Nassar or anyone else, saying “I would have immediately acted on any suggestion that any of our gymnasts were being – or had been – abused by anyone.” -Wall Street Journal
Geddert's charges all carried sentences ranging between 15 years and life imprisonment.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/olympic-gymnastics-coach-dies-suicide-following-accusations-human-trafficking-sexual
Mr. Potato Head To Become "Gender Neutral" To Allow Kids To Create "Same-Sex Families"
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson - Thursday, Feb 25, 2021 - 19:00
Toy giant Hasbro has announced that Mr. Potato Head will become gender neutral ‘Potato Head’ in order to encourage kids to create
<“same sex families.”
Yes, really.
The company is dropping “Mr.” from the name in a move “designed to break away from traditional gender norms, particularly when it comes to creating Potato Head families,” according to Fast Company.
The change will help children “create same-sex families or single-parent families” as Hasbro seeks to lean away from representing the “traditional family structure.”
<“Culture has evolved,”
said Kimberly Boyd, an SVP and GM at Hasbro.
“Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists—with the “Mr.” and “Mrs.”—is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.”
The iconic Mr. Potato Head gets a 21st-century rebrand https://t.co/TqRtl9jv1X
— Fast Company (@FastCompany) February 25, 2021
“The brand’s solution is to drop the gendered honorific title altogether,” writes Elizabeth Segran.
“This means the toys don’t impose a fixed notion of gender identity or expression, freeing kids to do whatever feels most natural to them: A girl potato might want to wear pants and a boy potato might wear earrings. Hasbro will also sell boxed sets that don’t present a normative family structure. This approach is clever because it allows kids to project their own ideas about gender, sexuality, and family onto the toy, without necessarily offending parents that have more conservative notions about family.”
According to the report, the move is a bid to “stay relevant in the 21st century” while challenging “heteronormative narratives.”
In other words, Hasbro is cashing in on the million in free advertising exposure that this will generate as a result of creating yet another divisive thing for woke imbeciles and those who’ve retained a semblance of sanity to argue over.
While in the meantime, kids will further be indoctrinated about how abnormal traditional family structures have become.
What could possibly go wrong?
https://summit.news/2021/02/25/mr-potato-head-to-become-gender-neutral-to-allow-kids-to-create-same-sex-families/
Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777 makes emergency landing at Moscow Vnukovo Airport due to cracked windshield
Russian Aviaton » Friday February 28, 2020 13:03 MSK
Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft en route from Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport to Bangkok has made a successful emergency landing at Moscow Vnukovo Airport due to a cracked windshield, a source in the emergency services informed TASS.
"The plane has landed without incident. No one has been injured," the source stated. There were over 190 passengers and 14 crew on board.
The Rossiya Airlines aircraft left Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport bound for Bangkok at 07:55 Moscow time. The crew reported a cracked windshield when the plane was flying over Kazakhstan. The pilots decided to return to Moscow and to land at Moscow Vnukovo Airport, where the aircraft will undergo a technical examination. The passengers will change over to another aircraft.
https://www.ruaviation.com/news/2020/2/28/14757/?h
This region of Ethiopia holds a special place in my heart. I've been there 3 times and traveled around Tigrey extensively. I have walked around the inside of the Church of Saint Mary and when I was there they were still using the oldest known Bible to be used regularly in a Church. In the same area as the Church of Saint Mary is a Monastary where the Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims they house the Biblical Ark Of The Covenant. This breaks my heart.
Killings in Axum by Eritrea troops ‘may amount to war crimes’
Amnesty says in new report that hundreds of civilians were killed by Eritrean troops in Ethiopian town of Axum last November.
alJazeera - 26 Feb 2021
The killings of hundreds of civilians by Eritrean troops in the ancient Ethiopian town of Axum in November last year amounted to “a series of human rights and humanitarian law violations”, according to Amnesty International.
The killings in Axum, located some 187km (116 miles) north of Mekelle, capital of the Tigray region, occurred during the armed conflict between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) last year.
On November 28 and 29, Eritrean troops killed hundreds of civilians in a “coordinated and systematic” manner in order “to terrorize the population into submission”, the report, released on Friday, said.
The 41 witnesses and survivors of the massacre, all ethnic Tigrayans interviewed by Amnesty, said Eritrean forces carried out extrajudicial executions and engaged in widespread looting.
The violations began on November 19 when Eritrean and Ethiopian forces entered Axum, indiscriminately shelling the city and firing at those who tried to flee, Amnesty said, adding that after the massacre, Eritrean forces detained hundreds of residents and threatened renewed killing if they encountered resistance.
The killings, the indiscriminate shelling of Axum and the looting of property “may amount to war crimes”, Amnesty said.
Axum residents identified the perpetrators as Eritrean soldiers, saying that they often rode in trucks with licence plates reading “Eritrea”.
Witnesses said most wore a uniform easily distinguishable from Ethiopian soldiers, some Eritrean soldiers wore the uniform of the Ethiopian army, but were easily identified for their plastic shoes known as “Congo chama” or “shida”, which are popular in Eritrea, witnesses said.
Some soldiers had three scars on each temple near the eye, marking them as Beni-Amir, an ethnic group that straddles Sudan and Eritrea but is absent from Ethiopia.
Language also distinguished the Eritreans: The Tigrinya dialect that Eritrean soldiers speak is distinctive, with its own words and accent.
Ethiopian and Eritrean authorities have made contradictory statements regarding the involvement of Eritrean troops in the Tigray conflict, with some high-ranking officials denying their presence but others acknowledging it, Amnesty added.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/killings-in-axum-by-eritrea-may-amount-to-war-crimes-amnesty
continued
Ethiopia’s government has denied the presence of Eritrean soldiers in the conflict.
Last month, the US said all soldiers from Eritrea should leave the Tigray region “immediately”.
Witnesses have estimated that Eritrean soldiers number in the thousands. Eritrean officials have not responded to questions.
The information minister for Eritrea tweeted last month that “the rabid defamation campaign against Eritrea is on the rise again”.
Deliberate targeting of civilians
Amnesty quoted residents who said that the troops also carried out systematic house-to-house raids to kill teenage and adult men.
One man who had found refuge in an unfinished building said he saw a group of six Eritrean soldiers kill a neighbour with a vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun on the street near the Mana Hotel.
“He was standing. I think he was confused. They were probably around 10 metres from him. They shot him in the head,” the man was quoted as saying.
Another man, who had run out of the city, returned at night after the shooting stopped.
“All we could see on the streets were dead bodies and people crying,” he said.
In December, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called the situation in Tigray “exceedingly worrying and volatile” after fighting was reported in areas surrounding Mekelle, Sheraro and Axum “in spite of government claims to the contrary”.
“We have corroborated information of gross human rights violations and abuses including indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, looting, abductions and sexual violence against women and girls,” Bachelet told reporters.
The conflict shook one of Africa’s most powerful and populous countries, leaving thousands of people dead and causing some 950,000 to flee their homes.
But little is known about the situation for most of Tigray’s six million people, as journalists are blocked from entering, communications are patchy and many aid workers have struggled to obtain permission to enter.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/killings-in-axum-by-eritrea-may-amount-to-war-crimes-amnesty