The Official World Politics Thread
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The Lonious Monk
Celestial Souljah
LIke how is FOX News still allowed to call themselves a news network. I've asked that before, and I'm going to keep asking. At this point they are basically a right wing parody of a news channel. I think it's dangerous for people to be able to tune into that channel and believe they are getting real news.
NinetyFree
I No Be Gentleman
Smoke signals in Sierra Leone.
The authorities in Sierra Leone said on Sunday that they had arrested most of the leaders of a thwarted effort to break into one of the West African country’s key military armories and barracks, hours after they had declared a nationwide, open-ended curfew in response to the overnight attacks.
The country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, said Sunday evening that there had been “a breach of security” at several places in the capital, Freetown, including the Wilberforce military barracks, the armory and the Pademba Road Prison, where some prisoners escaped.
The barracks are strategically placed near Mr. Bio’s residence, and the armory is one of the most important places where weapons are kept.
Most leaders of the attacks had been arrested, Mr. Bio said in an address broadcast on a state-owned television channel, and “calm has been restored.” He did not provide details on who the attackers were, and said that security operations and investigations were continuing.
The attacks were an “attempt to undermine the peace and stability we fought so hard to achieve,” he said.
The news reverberated across the region, which in recent years has endured a series of military coups. In Guinea, Sierra Leone’s neighbor, a junta rules despite international efforts to restore civilian governments.
The political situation in Sierra Leone has been tense since Mr. Bio, 59, a former military officer who took part in two coups during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s, was re-elected this year. The result of the vote was rejected by his main opponent and questioned by some observers who cited a lack of transparency.
In his address, Mr. Bio praised citizens for “complying with the security measures,” and called on everyone “to remain vigilant and to cooperate with the security forces.”
According to local journalists, heavy gunfire was heard early Sunday in Freetown, and soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles could be seen setting up military blockades in some strategic parts of the city. A flurry of videos posted on social media purported to show prisoners released from Pademba Road Prison.
The Economic Community of West African States, the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which includes Sierra Leone, said in a statement that it had learned “with utter disgust” of the “plot by certain individuals to acquire arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order in Sierra Leone.” It condemned their actions and called for the arrest and prosecution of the culprits.
The United States Embassy condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Sunday’s attempted break-in and urged residents to cooperate with government security forces. “Such actions have no justification,” it said in a statement.
Under Mr. Bio’s leadership, an additional one million children in Sierra Leone have begun attending school. But the country has been struggling with record levels of inflation and unemployment, and some of the highest levels of food insecurity in West Africa. He has also been accused of overseeing violent repression of protests, including in the summer of 2022, when more than two dozen people died in clashes amid demonstrations over rising prices.
The country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, said Sunday evening that there had been “a breach of security” at several places in the capital, Freetown, including the Wilberforce military barracks, the armory and the Pademba Road Prison, where some prisoners escaped.
The barracks are strategically placed near Mr. Bio’s residence, and the armory is one of the most important places where weapons are kept.
Most leaders of the attacks had been arrested, Mr. Bio said in an address broadcast on a state-owned television channel, and “calm has been restored.” He did not provide details on who the attackers were, and said that security operations and investigations were continuing.
The attacks were an “attempt to undermine the peace and stability we fought so hard to achieve,” he said.
The news reverberated across the region, which in recent years has endured a series of military coups. In Guinea, Sierra Leone’s neighbor, a junta rules despite international efforts to restore civilian governments.
The political situation in Sierra Leone has been tense since Mr. Bio, 59, a former military officer who took part in two coups during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s, was re-elected this year. The result of the vote was rejected by his main opponent and questioned by some observers who cited a lack of transparency.
In his address, Mr. Bio praised citizens for “complying with the security measures,” and called on everyone “to remain vigilant and to cooperate with the security forces.”
According to local journalists, heavy gunfire was heard early Sunday in Freetown, and soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles could be seen setting up military blockades in some strategic parts of the city. A flurry of videos posted on social media purported to show prisoners released from Pademba Road Prison.
The Economic Community of West African States, the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which includes Sierra Leone, said in a statement that it had learned “with utter disgust” of the “plot by certain individuals to acquire arms and disturb the peace and constitutional order in Sierra Leone.” It condemned their actions and called for the arrest and prosecution of the culprits.
The United States Embassy condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Sunday’s attempted break-in and urged residents to cooperate with government security forces. “Such actions have no justification,” it said in a statement.
Under Mr. Bio’s leadership, an additional one million children in Sierra Leone have begun attending school. But the country has been struggling with record levels of inflation and unemployment, and some of the highest levels of food insecurity in West Africa. He has also been accused of overseeing violent repression of protests, including in the summer of 2022, when more than two dozen people died in clashes amid demonstrations over rising prices.
Ex-editor of left-leaning news site The Recount charged with child pornography
Slade Sohmer, 44, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of dissemination of child pornography.
nypost.com
Ex-editor of left-leaning news site The Recount charged with child pornography
Slade Sohmer, 44, who until last month was editor-in-chief of the video-driven news site The Recount, was released on $100,000 bail on Monday after he was charged in Massachusetts court with possessing and disseminating “hundreds of child pornography images and videos,” according to The Berkshire Eagle.Assistant District Attorney Marianne Shelvey said this was one of the most “egregious” cases of its kind that she has come across.
His LinkedIn page also indicates that Sohmer since 2010 has worked as a co-director at Camp Power, a nonprofit which “provides kids from New York City’s most underfunded and underserved neighborhoods with freedom and encouragement that are often lacking in their communities back in the city.”
Court documents cited by The Berkshire Eagle allege that Sohmer’s phone contained disturbing video clips showing boys believed to be as young as three years of age being raped and forced to perform sex acts by adults.
Court documents cited by The Berkshire Eagle allege that Sohmer’s phone contained disturbing video clips showing boys believed to be as young as three years of age being raped and forced to perform sex acts by adults.
Ex-news site editor had hundreds of child sex abuse images, Mass. DA says
The former editor-in-chief of a news website was found with hundreds of images and videos showing child sex abuse, including at least one video he produced himself, prosecutors in western Massachusetts said this week. Slade Sohmer, the former editor of The Recount, was arraigned in Southern...
www.nbcboston.com
The former editor-in-chief of a news website was found with hundreds of images and videos showing child sex abuse, including at least one video he produced himself, prosecutors in western Massachusetts said this week.
Slade Sohmer, the former editor of The Recount, was arraigned in Southern Berkshire District Court Monday on two counts of possessing child pornography and two counts of dimensions of child pornography, the Berkshire District Attorney's Office said Tuesday
The investigation into the East Otis resident was ongoing, with more charges anticipated, prosecutors said, citing the extremely large amount of pornographic material found on devices seized from Sohmer on Oct. 17. That was prompted by a tip received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
StringerBell
OG
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