Four men arrested in NSW following child grooming investigation

Four men have been arrested in NSW in covert stings into alleged child grooming involving police posing as children online.

Police have swooped on four men in NSW after separate investigations into alleged child grooming in the past week.

Detectives from Strike Force Trawler arrested the men in Kogarah, Orange, Paddington and Westmead respectively after covert stings where officers allegedly posed as children online.

Officers allegedly began to engage online with all four men in the last month.

It will be alleged in court that three of the men believed they were talking with a child and went into sexually explicit details about acts they wished to perform with the minors.

A fourth man is accused of sending child abuse material via his mobile phone.

One man, from Sans Souci, was arrested on June 15 after allegedly trying to procure a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Police raided his home, seizing electronic devices, before the man was charged at Kogarah police station with using a carriage service to procure under 16 years for sexual activity.

The 43-year-old appeared at Sutherland Local Court on June 18, where he was granted strict conditional bail to reappear at the same court on August 13.

The next day, on June 16, officers swooped on a man in Orange who allegedly though he was speaking with a 14-year-old girl about sexual acts he hoped to perform with her.

Officers raided his home, seized a mobile phone and arrested the 57-year-old.

He charged with one count of using a carriage service to groom person under 16 years for sex.

The Party Games newsletter Get your political briefing from news.com.au's political editor Samantha Maiden.

The man was granted strict conditional bail to Orange Local Court on July 26.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/four-men-arrested-in-nsw-following-child-grooming-investigation/news-story/7422492a716ea5d08704ab0b43f3f6ac

RSL Victoria chief executive officer Jamie Twidale stood down, under investigation

RSL Victoria's chief executive officer has been stood down and is being investigated.

Key points:

RSL Victoria chief executive Jamie Twidale is on leave

The RSL says it has commissioned an independent investigation into matters regarding its chief executive

Mr Twidale took over the position in December 2019

In a statement to the ABC, RSL Victoria said it had commissioned an independent investigation into matters regarding Jamie Twidale, who is now on leave.

It said the results of the investigation were being considered by the state executive, and additional steps would be taken in accordance with RSL policy and procedures.

RSL staff were alerted to the investigation on Friday afternoon, when an all-staff email was sent by state president Robert Webster.

"We take any concerns regarding staff behaviour extremely seriously and ensure proper processes are followed," Dr Webster wrote.

Dr Webster said it would be inappropriate to make further comment while this process was underway, but the RSL was committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive workplace.

Mr Twidale took over the role in December 2019 after a 22-year career with the army and with the Victorian and Queensland State Emergency Service (SES).

Mr Twidale's served in deployments to Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, and was awarded a service medal in 2006 and an army commendation the following year.

He also ran for political office in 2018, but failed in his bid to be elected in the Victorian Upper House for the Reason Party.

At the time of his appointment, Dr Webster said the hiring of Mr Twidale had come at an important time, with the organisation undertaking a number of strategic projects, including the further development of RSL Victoria's Veteran Hubs network.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-20/rsl-victoria-chief-executive-jamie-twidale-investigated/100229006

Former mayoress, 68, was found dead in her bed after suffering 'caffeine poisoning' in 'highly unusual' case four months after her husband lost battle with prostate cancer, inquest hears

Delyse Critchley, 68, was found dead in her home in Bolton, Greater Manchester

A post mortem revealed that the former mayoress died from caffeine toxicity

Police investigation into her death has found no suspicious circumstances

Her death comes four months after her husband who died of prostate cancer

A former mayoress died in 'highly unusual' circumstances after a caffeine overdose left her with caffeine poisoning, an inquest has heard.

Delyse Critchley, 68, was found dead in her home in Bolton, Greater Manchester on April 8 this year.

Her death comes just four months after that of her husband, Alderman Norman Critchley, who lost a long battle with prostate cancer earlier this year.

A post mortem revealed that the former mayoress, who served the Bolton area between 2009 and 2010, died from 'caffeine toxicity'.

A caffeine overdose may occurs when someone takes in too much caffeine through drinks, food or medications. The recommended daily amount is 400 milligrams for healthy adults, the equivalent of four cups of coffee.

Taking in high doses of caffeine can cause major health issues including seizures and irregular heartbeat.

Bolton Coroner's Court heard that police forced their way into Mrs Critchley's house following reports of concern for her welfare.

Police coroner's officer Stefan Wilson told the court: 'She was found in her bed, she was unresponsive and she was not breathing.'

He added that medication was found at the scene.

A police investigation carried out into her death found no suspicious circumstances.

The exact circumstances surrounding her death will be revealed at a full inquest at a later date.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9703613/Former-mayoress-68-dead-bed-suffering-caffeine-poisoning.html

Report: Dr. Fauci participated in 'secret meeting' with scientists about COVID-19 origins in Feb. 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, admitted this week that a meeting took place with prominent scientists last February to discuss the origins of COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Just days after that meeting, one scientist who previously voiced concerns that COVID-19's genome was unnatural, completely reversed their opinion, and any suggestion that COVID-19 did not naturally emerge was dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

News of the meeting is particularly noteworthy because the theory that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has gained significant traction in recent weeks. The theory was previously dismissed as a conspiracy theory despite a lack of evidence disproving the possibility.

What are the details?

According to USA Today, that meeting, which took place on Feb. 1, 2020, "played a pivotal role in shaping the early views of several key scientists whose published papers and public statements contributed to the shutting down of legitimate discussion about whether a laboratory in Wuhan, China, might have ignited the COVID-19 pandemic."

The call was convened after Kristian Andersen, an expert in infectious disease genomics at the prestigious Scripps Research Translational Institute in California, told Fauci he was concerned COVID-19 may have been artificially engineered.

"The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1%) so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered," Andersen wrote in an email prior to the teleconference, adding that he and other scientists "all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory."

Andersen's email was one of more than 3,000 Fauci's work-related emails obtained by BuzzFeed News in early June.

Among those on the call included Fauci, Andersen, Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, "plus several other international experts on emerging infectious diseases and virology," USA Today reported.

"I remember it very well," Fauci recounted in an interview with USA Today. "We decided on the call the situation really needed to be looked into carefully."

"It was a very productive back-and-forth conversation where some on the call felt it could possibly be an engineered virus," Fauci added of the meeting.

Following the meeting, the group decided that World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu should be looped into their conversation. What came from contact with the controversial WHO is not clear.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/report-dr-fauci-participated-in-secret-meeting-with-scientists-about-covid-19-origins-in-feb-2020

Ted Cruz slams 'evil' critical race theory as a 'lie,' calls it 'every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lambasted critical race theory, calling it an "evil" concept derived from Marxism, and "every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets." Cruz made his fiery comments about critical race theory on Friday during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference.

According to Cruz, a reporter tried to get the Republican senator on a "gotcha" question last week, asking him, "What is critical race theory?" Cruz theorized the Capitol Hill reporter thought the question would trip him up because the reporter likely believes "conservatives are morons," and they "don't know what they're talking about."

"I explained to him and I said, 'Well, it's a theory that derives from Marxism. Carl Marx viewed the entire world as a conflict between classes, between the owners of capital and the working men and women, the proletariat,'" Cruz said. "A fundamental battle in society."

"Critical race theory takes that same Marxist concept except it replaces 'class' with 'race,'" he explained. "And it says all of America and all of the world is a battle between the races."

"Critical race theory says every white person is a racist," Cruz stated. "Critical race theory says America's fundamentally racist and irredeemably racist. Critical race theory seeks to turn us against each other and if someone has a different color skin, seeks to make us hate that person."

"And let me tell you right now, critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie and it is every bit as racist as the Klansmen in white sheets," Cruz emphatically proclaimed, which was greeted by applause from the conservative audience.

"As a Christian and as an American, I love my brothers and sisters, whatever skin color you are, whatever ethnicity you are, whatever faith you are, whatever creed you are," Cruz declared. "We are commanded to love, period, the end."

"And those who would divide us, those who would spread lies, it is evil," he concluded. "It is exactly that, it is evil."

Critical Race Theory is bigoted. It is a lie. And it is every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets. https://t.co/i2lDGVLfkw

— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz)1624049460.0

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People countered Cruz's comments on critical race theory.

"Critical race theory is an academic and legal framework that examines the impact of systemic racism on American society," the NAACP tweeted. "Refusing to examine our history denotes that nothing is wrong with our systems or history."

Critical race theory has dominated headlines in the past months and become a major topic in the culture war between left and right factions. Republican politicians across the country have taken steps to ban CRT from public schools.

Last week, Florida became the latest state to ban critical race theory.

"Florida's education system exists to create opportunity for our children," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) stated. "Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools."

Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate… https://t.co/mvFKI3rHRT

— Ron DeSantis (@Ron DeSantis)1623332367.0

https://www.theblaze.com/news/ted-cruz-critical-race-theory-racist

https://www.theblaze.com/news/ted-cruz-critical-race-theory-racist