‘Flash Rob’ Mob Of Up To 17 Teens Ransacks Nike Store In LA 

A throng of teenagers stole $12,000 worth of goods from a Los Angeles Nike store in a ‘flash rob mob’ that was captured on video.

Shortly before 6 pm, over a dozen robbers bombarded the Nike Community Store on South Alameda Street.

Footage shows them loading garbage sacks with boxes of sneakers and rushing about the store, their arms brimming with clothes, as customers look on hopelessly.

Several of the teens hide their faces behind black masks. One is wearing a pair of yellow gloves.

The LAPD singled out 17 suspects. One was identified by their ‘distinct’ sweatshirt featuring an emblem of a bonsai tree and the words ‘Ritual of the Spirit’.

A police press release describes the suspects as ‘four females and 13 males, Black, varying in age from 15 to 20 years old.

The teens escaped in five vehicles including a tan Infiniti four-door, a grey KIA SUV, a white Honda, a KIA four-door and a black Audi.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Los Angeles County currently has the highest commercial robbery rate in the state.

In 2022, the state saw a 28.7 per cent jump from the low rates of the pandemic years.

While the shoplifting rate stays below pre-pandemic levels, this doesn’t account for other types of retail theft like commercial burglary.

After seeing a 5.8 per cent increase last year, the rate for this kind of theft is 15.7 per cent higher than in 2019.

This figure includes lost product costs, increased insurance costs, raised price of goods and unrealised wages.

Law enforcement has embarked on a statewide crackdown on organised retail robbery, which is expected to cost the state over $19 billion this year.

Just this week, the California Highway Patrol’s Organised Retail Theft Task Force reported the results of a huge crackdown spanning several counties.

The sting meted out 137 arrests as well as the recovery of three looted vehicles and more than $60,000 in goods.

Governor Gavin Newsom said in August that the state would be tripling CHP resources in the Los Angeles area to fight retail crime.

He said in a press release that the CHP was the proven leader in tackling organised retail theft and through this expanded partnership the agency would further assist the city in doing its job to keep Angelenos and their business safe.

Stores will ultimately be a thing of the past with stores going online for their sales. More and more shops are shutting down and going online these days, at least that way they can’t have their goods looted. However, this is more evidence of society’s moral decline.

Even if these people are caught, the prosecutors and judges will just give them a hug and let them walk free with no penalty, but this should be treated like an organised crime.

All shops should have automated gates that come down that prevent the looters from leaving before this behaviour rests its ugly head.

In A Bid To Fill Teaching Shortages, Lancashire Council Is Giving Priority To The Children Of Teachers

Parents and Sir Lindsay Hoyle have slammed Lancashire council’s ‘divisive’ plan to fill teaching shortages by giving school places to the children of potential teachers.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who’s Speaker of the House of Commons and MP for Chorley, attacked the Tory-run council for its plan, accusing the authority of failing to provide more school places.

Lancashire County Council leaders are set to carry out a public consultation over how it assigns places to students when a school is oversubscribed.

The idea is that it would help recruit and retain teachers, with thousands going on strike in recent months over pay, and others exiting the profession entirely.

As well as the children of staff, education chiefs are also looking at a level of priority being given to the children of armed forces personnel.

Labour MP Sir Lindsay told a newspaper outlet that any form of selection criteria set by Lancaster County Council will cause division within communities and leave numerous parents with a feeling of injustice at the way in which school children are selected.

He said that the root cause of problems in many parts of Lancashire, including his constituency of Chorley, was the lack of school places. The education authority Lancashire County Council had not taken action soon enough to plan for population increases.

Parents in Blackburn told a newspaper outlet it was unfair that children living outside the catchment area were being given favourable treatment over those who lived just minutes away.

Natalie Conway, 44, a student nurse, said that she thought the proposals were very unfair and that priority shouldn’t be given to those who work at the school.

She said that she’s a student nurse and if any of her family turned up at A&E requiring treatment, should they be seen first just because she works there? Of course not. It should be the same for school admissions.

Ami Alex, 25, a singer and street performer, said that she thought it was a really bad idea and did not believe that any child should be given priority over another.

She said that everyone should be treated equally and that she thought it was a silly idea.

Louise Delve, 55, said it was penalising other children. What if a child already had a sibling at the school and they miss out on a place because it’s given to a staff member’s child? Their parents would then have to do four school runs a day.

This is straight out of a communist playbook, education for the privileged only, but then it’s supply and demand. In an ideal world, this would be unnecessary but there’s now a lack of teachers.

I’m actually surprised there’s any available place at any of the schools as we’re getting overrun at the moment and I don’t see any new schools being built at the moment either.

It’s actually disgraceful that it’s come to this because all British-born children should have equal opportunities when it comes to education needs, but then I guess they’ve got to do something to entice enough teachers to the job.

The idea is that we help recruit and retain teachers, especially with thousands going on strike in recent months over pay, and others leaving the profession altogether.

Perhaps Rishi Sunak could find a way to reduce the number of children and their families coming into this country until public services can cope with the demand.

There is no end to these stories about inept councils, but remember that these councils are staffed by people who are essentially missing a brain.

Green Initiatives Are Being Implemented In Oxford

Oxford City Council are going to prohibit gas hobs and boilers in new homes from 2025 in a bid to become more environmentally friendly.

The city is planning to hit zero by 2024 and says this move will help tackle the ‘existential threat of climate change’.

The proposals state that appliances that use fossil fuels for heating and cooking are to be prohibited from being installed in new homes, with very limited exceptions.

Oxford’s Labour Council also wants to bring forward their 2036 ban on gas and oil in new builds.

However, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has criticised Oxford councillors for diverging from the national timetable to meet net zero by 2050.

Steve Turner, executive director at the HBF, told a newspaper outlet that they need all parties, including central and local government to work together and avoid diverging from the developing plan, which would lead to unnecessary delays and additional costs.

Steve Turner added that the industry was committed to the government’s plan and was working with stakeholders to deliver it.

In September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed back green targets, such as the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales by five years to 2035.

About a fifth of all households will be covered by an ‘exemption’ from ever having to remove their gas boilers and replace them with a heat pump.

Rishi Sunak also said he was scrapping ‘heavy-handed’ measures including an increase in recycling that could see each home have seven bins, and taxes on meat and flying, and new rules on car-sharing journeys, though critics had already questioned whether they would ever be introduced.

The Prime Minister insisted his delay on net zero policies was not a ‘short-term decision’ aimed at winning the next general election.

Whilst there’s no set-out ban on gas hobs in the United Kingdom, an increasing amount of new homes will not be connected to the UK’s gas grid.

A report also found that gas cookers can fill a kitchen with air pollution that breaks recommended safe levels.

Researchers rigged monitoring equipment in more than 280 homes, 40 in the United Kingdom, as well as in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia.

More than half of homes using gas hobs and gas ovens in the experiment breached the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) once a week.

Perhaps all those smart people in Oxford ought to do some research because banning gas hobs will have very little impact, and this looks like garbage science. Burning gas begets CO2 and water. Hobs are on for a brief period of time, and there’s very little probability of any health risks from gas hobs.

Perhaps we should tell them that council offices often leave their lights on when nobody is working and sometimes the heating gets left on as well. It appears that it’s one rule for them and another for us.

Not only that, we are permitting governments to tell us what we can have in our own private homes. Next, they’ll be telling us that we can’t breathe the air.

Unfortunately, science has become a religion when it comes to climate research, and anyone who doesn’t align with climate change is shunned.

It’s about time common sense was brought to politics. Climate change is happening, but it’s not man-made, it’s the natural cycle of the earth because nothing stays the same. It just can’t, and in the scheme of things it’s going to make absolutely no difference!

A New Welfare Clampdown Will Force Housebound And Mentally Ill People To Work From Home 

People housebound with physical and mental conditions will be told to look for employment they can do from home or face having their benefits cut under hardline welfare reforms.

Under plans to be unveiled by Rishi Sunak, they will be told that being unable to leave home is no obstacle to finding work, thanks to modern technology.

A newspaper reported that new claimants from 2025 could lose handouts worth up to £4,680 a year because they can no longer be written off as unable to work.

It’s expected to form part of a ‘carrot and stick’ approach to welfare, with Tory sources saying that Rishi Sunak had backed away from a reduction on overall benefits, saying the emphasis would be on ‘reform, not cuts’.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has examined whether to break with convention and increase benefits by less than the 6.7 per cent inflation figure recorded in September.

Under one plan, benefits would have been ‘uprated’ next year by the lower October inflation figure of 4.6 per cent, saving the Treasury about £2 billion.

However, a source said that the full rise had now been considered ‘affordable’ after better-than-expected projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility were delivered on Friday.

The State Pension is also now likely to be increased in line with the triple lock, the commitment to increase State Pensions by the highest out of average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5 per cent, meaning an 8.5 per cent increase.

In a major address yesterday, Rishi Sunak indicated that the Government would look for savings instead of taking steps to drive down the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.

The carrot and stick package will include additional support and training for those wanting a job, coupled with more stringent sanctions for those who refuse to look for work, who could have their benefits stopped entirely.

The Prime Minister said that getting people off welfare and into work would allow the Government to continue to deliver a ‘generous safety net’ for those who can’t work. Rishi Sunak said that ‘work, not welfare, was the best route out of poverty’.

He added that right now, around two million people of working age were not working at all and that this was a national scandal and an enormous waste of human potential.

He said that we must do more to support those who can work to do so, and they would clamp down on welfare fraudsters because the system must be fair for the taxpayers who fund it.

This is a total cop-out by our government which is still letting boat people into our country with no deterrant.

It’s a money-making scheme for the Tories, and they’re not going to end it whilst they’re making money from it, and thanks to our government boats have been arriving in their masses under Rishi Sunak and Boris, who put them in 4-star hotels, and what does Rishi Sunak suggest these people do from home?

Obviously, there are people out there who will never be able to work, but there are some people out there who haven’t worked a day in their life and are simply slothful and can’t be bothered to find work, but can you blame them? They realise that working will not benefit them in the long run, because what are they actually working for? They will eventually get old, be put into a care home, have their money taken from them and live in a small room, mainly in seclusion. Wow, that was worth working for!

We should be shipping illegals back to their own country, we would save millions, if not billions of pounds, but the Government won’t do that because they need their vote.

Perhaps we should send the MPs away as well to remove our National Debt because they hide behind our immigration to take the spotlight off their ineptitude and deceit.

Julian Assange, The Founder Of WikiLeaks

Most people would have forgotten who Julian Assange is. He was the gentleman who founded WikiLeaks and who now sits in prison – a political prisoner, being held at Our Majesty’s pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign.

He came to wide international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a string of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning – footage of a US airstrike in Baghdad, US military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and US diplomatic cables.

A diplomatic cable, also known as a diplomatic telegram (DipTel) or embassy cable, is a confidential text-based message exchange between a diplomatic mission, like an embassy or a consulate, and the foreign ministry of its parent country. A diplomatic cable is a type of dispatch. Other dispatches may be sent as a physical document in a diplomatic bag.

Julian Assange was raised in several towns in Australia until his family settled in Melbourne in his mid-teens. He became involved in the hacker community and was convicted of hacking in 1996.

Following the establishment of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange was its editor when it published the Bank Julius Baer documents, footage of the 2008 Tibetan unrest, and a report on political killings in Kenya with The Sunday Times.

In November 2020, Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for Julian Assange, for questioning in a Swedish investigation. After losing his appeal against the warrant, he breached bail and took sanctuary in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012.

He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 on the grounds of political persecution and fears he might be deported to the United States. He stood for the Australian Senate in 2013 and launched the WikiLeaks Party but failed to win a seat. Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2019.

On 11 April 2019, Julian Assange’s asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities. The police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested. He was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and condemned to 50 weeks in jail.

The US government unsealed an indictment charging Julian Assange with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion related to the leaks provided by Chelsea Manning. In May 2019 and June 2020, the US government unsealed new indictments against Julian Assange, charging him with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and alleging he had conspired with hackers.

Julian Assange has been detained in HM Prison Belmarsh in London since April 2019, as the United States government’s extradition effort is contested in the British courts.

The mother of Julian Assange has since spoken of the unending, gut-wrenching pain she’s been suffering. She also said that the WikiLeaks founder was being cruelly psychologically tortured by the authorities and said that she feared he would be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

Julian Assange, 52, is wanted in America over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following WikiLeaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in 2010 and 2011.

Julian Assange might be in prison, but shouldn’t we the public keep raising our voices to our politicians till it’s all they can hear? After all, Julian’s life is in their hands.

Julian Assange’s fiancee accused the UK authorities of playing the role of executioner after he suffered a mini-stroke in jail.

Stella Moris, 38, said he was left with a drooping right eyelid, memory problems and indications of neurological impairment after the stroke.

She said that his confinement was having a disastrous effect on his health.

If the Americans get hold of him he will never feel fresh air on his face again. To sum it up we live in a Western unlawful cruel regime which outlaws press freedom and human rights, and this is what happens when people go up against the elite and expose the truth. We now live in a future where people will be imprisoned for speaking up or standing up – isn’t it a wonderful world we now live in, NOT!

Regardless of whether you like Julian Assange or not, or his methods, we have to stand up for what we believe in, otherwise, it’s 1984, full stop!

It’s about time that the US took some responsibility for their own actions instead of persecuting others for telling us about it. I mean, what other atrocities have they kept concealed from us? I bet there’s an abundance of them.

I’m sure that there will be plenty of extremely patriotic people out there saying that Julian had what was coming for him, but what did he really do wrong? I personally believe he didn’t do anything wrong, but he’s still being politically persecuted for exposing the crimes of the political elite.

The man didn’t kill anyone for goodness sake, he just exposed the illegal horrors perpetrated by the US federal government and others.

Does this also mean that anyone who exposes the barbaric behaviour of the so-called Western democracy should be banged up for life? It’s all about telling the truth to the people, but instead, they all sit on their hiney behind closed doors devising their next adventure on human life, and why shoot the messenger while all those real traitors roam free?

However, there are fools out there calling for him to be locked up indefinitely or sent to the US. Julian Assange was just a person who demonstrated crimes by the government – the sheep should go back to sleep or watch Love Island instead, but let’s face it, British politicians have always bent over for the US – there must be a few sore arses out there!

Free the guy now. It’s old news and what do they say ‘The truth will set you free!’.

XL Bully Owner Wearing Bright Green Top With ‘Friendly’ On It Confronts Busybody Cyclist Who Claims Her Pet Is Dangerous 

This is the moment the owner of a Bully XL confronted a busybody biker who called her loyal pup ‘dangerous’ before then backpedalling and saying he was ‘wrong’.

Amanda Holloway was walking her beloved 12-month-old pet Hulk, who was sporting a bright green jacket with ‘friendly’ on it when she encountered a male cyclist who said he should be wearing a muzzle.

His comments come amid fears over the soon-to-be-banned Bully XL dogs, who have mauled adults and children to death in a string of bloody attacks across the United Kingdom.

Mrs Holloway, whose animal’s breed is soon set to be banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act after a series of fatal incidents, caught the argument on camera as she strolled in Bushy Park, Richmond, west London.

Posting the video on Facebook, the mother of three wrote, so this is the beginning of my walk with the altercation with the biker as you can see he isn’t bothered by people or dogs, he just wants to go on his walk with his mumma and his ball.

The clip shows Hulk sitting on the path waiting for his ball to be thrown, as other people and pets strolled past him. Seconds later, a cyclist was heard saying, ‘That dog should have a muzzle on it’.

‘No he shouldn’t actually,’ said owner Mrs Holloway, who is a stay-at-home mother.

‘It’s the “Powerful Dogs Act”, why shouldn’t it? ‘ retorts the cyclist, in relation to the Dangerous Dogs Act, which from December 31 will make it illegal to have an American XL Bully in public without a lead or muzzle.

‘Because he is absolutely friendly and the law isn’t until December 31, so educate yourself,’ Mrs Holloway answers. Speaking of the muzzle, she continues: ‘Why does he need one? He hasn’t attacked anyone in all his life.’

‘Yeah but it’s the Powerful Dogs Act,’ the cyclist responds.

‘And I have complete control over him, absolute control. It’s the owner, not the dog. So unless you own one, keep your opinions to yourself.’ she adds, as she turns back to her Hulk, who is waiting patiently by the park gate.

Telling her dog to ‘sit’, she gloats: ‘Oh look, a “dangerous dog” sitting and waiting for the gate to be opened. So dangerous, isn’t he?’

All dogs are friendly up until the point they attack someone. However, we should be looking at the owners that buy or breed these dogs, for not every large canine is dangerous unless the buyer or breeder has them for the purpose of fighting or attacking.

Dogs that are bought for the purpose of being a guard dog should be behind a closed door or muzzled, but then it wouldn’t be a guard dog, would it?

In her opinion the dog was safe and he was friendly. However, it’s a dog and I grant you, not every dog will attack, but there’s always that chance that it could because it’s part of their instinct to do so.

All dogs out in public should be on a short lead regardless of their breed or how friendly they are because not every person wants a dog running up to them, although I’m a sucker for anything that’s canine.

She said that her dog was friendly and it probably is, but all breeds have the instinct to harm if they’re in a situation where they feel threatened and large dogs are capable of doing just that.

However, we have some men like that as well, right? Should we muzzle all men or put them down because they could be dangerous?

The Inheritance Tax Is Expected To Be Cut By Jeremy Hunt In The Autumn

Jeremy Hunt is poised to cut inheritance tax in the Autumn Statement in a move that could reduce Tory pressure over dire polls.

The Chancellor is increasingly expected to act to ease the burden next Wednesday after inflation declined slightly quicker than expected.

He is also thought to have a tad more wriggle room after Treasury revenues were boosted by increasing wages pulling people deeper into the tax system.

Treasury sources have emphasised that the package will not include anything that fuels inflation, and must be ‘affordable’.

Jeremy Hunt is likely to move on business taxes first, but insiders have sounded increasingly warm on the prospect of trimming IHT.

Many Tories argue it’s a tax on aspiration and decreasing it would draw a remarkably precise dividing line with Labour for the election.

Official figures revealed inflation dropped by more than anticipated to 4.6 per cent in October, its lowest level for two years. Experts had predicted a rate of 4.8 per cent.

Downing Street had previously played down ‘speculation’ on cutting inheritance tax, with Whitehall sources saying in September that there had been ‘no discussions’ about including the measure in the Chancellor’s autumn statement.

However, Jeremy Hunt said that the Government was shifting to the ‘next part’ of its plan.

He said that they were now beginning to win the battle against inflation and they could move to the next part of their economic plan, which was a long-term growth of the economy.

The move would be welcomed by Tory backbenchers, including former business secretary Jacob Rees Mogg who said IHT should be ‘extinguished’.

Inheritance tax is levied at 40 per cent after death and raises more than £7 billion a year. Although most estates fall below the starting threshold, which can be up to £1 million, surveys indicate it’s widely unpopular.

Rishi Sunak was challenged on taxation during PMQs.

Tory MP Greg Smith asked the premier to ‘agree in principle’ that the higher rate tax band was never meant to catch police sergeants, nurses and teachers.

Rishi Sunak said that he agreed with him and was pleased that the vast majority of people would continue not to pay the higher rate and that he shared his ambition to cut taxes for working people.

He said that right now inflation was falling and they were sticking to their plan, delivering a halving of it this year, because that was the most effective tax cut they could have delivered for the British people this year, rather than making it worse, as the party opposite would.

This will make little to no difference to real people. Meanwhile, their ‘you will own nothing and be happy’ proceeds at speed. They will make sure you own nothing and that will be nothing left for your children to inherit.

This is a scorched earth policy. They know they’re on their way out in the next election so they’re filling their own and rich backer friends’ pockets with gold. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to bring back sending children up chimneys because this is what Tories do.

They’re also spending 8 million a day on hotels for illegals, how about cutting that before hitting British taxpayers?

You pay income tax and then Inheritance Tax, which only promotes less saving. Less production and fewer incentives to work hard and save. 

The only thing you’ll probably inherit is a cold and then the Tory Party would tax that given half a chance. 

Suella Braverman’s Parting Shot To Rishi Sunak… And Why She Wrote It

Suella Braverman wrote an incendiary 1,318-word resignation letter which revealed a string of secrets from her time in Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet.

The former home secretary levelled point-blank parting shots at the Prime Minister’s character and leadership and delivered a harsh verdict on the Government’s chances of success in tackling the small boat crisis.

Here we look at what Suella Braverman wrote and explore the background to the main points she raised with the Prime Minister.

Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary by Rishi Sunak on Monday, and in a blistering letter, the ex-Cabinet minister accused the Prime Minister of breaking a string of promises on migration, the Rwanda asylum deal, Brexit and gender protections.

Suella Braverman revealed a previously unknown written deal with Rishi Sunak, setting out areas in which she says he agreed to support her.

These included several specific policies on immigration, as well as on post-Brexit agreements and protecting biological sex and ‘same-sex spaces’.

She said that Rishi Sunak agreed to a ‘document with clear terms’ during his second leadership campaign in October last year, in exchange for her ‘pivotal’ support in his bid to take over from Liz Truss as Prime Minister. Suella Braverman then went on to accuse him of treating their deal with ‘equivocation, disregard and a lack of interest’.

Suella Braverman then confirmed for the first time that she wanted the Illegal Migration Act, passed earlier this year to go much further.

She believed it would be necessary to disapply human rights law in illegal migration cases, making it easier to deport people, but she said that Rishi Sunak insisted on ‘compromises’ in the legislation.

Suella Braverman argued that, even if the Government won its appeal over legal challenges to its Rwanda policy in the UK’s Supreme Court, ministers would ‘struggle’ to execute it.

For the first time, the former home secretary publicly acknowledges the Rwanda scheme would be fraught with problems, painting a significantly different picture from what she had said while in office.

Attempts to remove small boat migrants to Rwanda will be ‘far from secure’ against legal challenge and lead to ‘months’ of delay because of what she describes as Rishi Sunak’s ‘betrayal’ of their agreement.

Suella Braverman made the extraordinary assertion that the Prime Minister failed to respond to ‘multiple’ letters in which she proposed a backup plan to the Rwanda scheme.

Suella Braverman’s letter must have been a challenge for the leadership, but she’s also full of broken promises, and nothing much was accomplished under her tenure.

We should definitely be banning boat people from our country, whilst our homeless people live on the streets, it’s appalling that people who were born in this country are treated so abysmally.

It wasn’t even a resignation letter, she was ditched like a scrap of garbage, although she’s just as much of a snake as Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson was. It’s amusing how they all throw their toys out of their prams when playtime is over.

Rishi Sunak has got to go because he’s just not got any spine. We need powerful leadership in politics, not watered-down schmaltz.

What we need is a Prime Minister who will deliver to the needs of the people, and a system that works, not some of the time, but all of the time.

Perhaps we should give the Lib Dems a go for a change, perhaps then students will get their education back instead of wasting millions on wars that don’t concern us but claim that they do.

Mexico’s Awestruck Worshippers Film Virgin Mary Statue ‘Crying’

Worshippers in Mexico were left in amazement after witnessing the real-life ‘miracle’ of a statue of the Virgin Mary ‘crying’ and the stunning scene was captured on film.

The apparent miracle is said to have occurred at a church in El Canal, a community in the state of Colima.

Hundreds of believers and spectators have flocked to the spiritual statue in hopes of seeing the weeping Virgin Mary for themselves.

Some have even said the statue’s eyes became red as the tears came trickling down.

Local resident Victor Ramos said that similarly, when we cry, our eyes become red, and the same happens to the image.

Other locals have gone on to associate Mary’s tears with the ongoing violence in the state of Colima this year.

As of October, there have been 702 intentional homicides confirmed by the Colima Prosecutor’s Office.

The statue’s tears have made spectators believe she’s attempting to signal peace in the violence-filled community.

Though the so-called miracle has astonished many, it didn’t impress Professor Luigi Garlaschelli who spoke about the science behind the statue. He noted some statues have the ability to absorb water based on their materials.

Luigi Garlashelli said that you need a hollow statue made of plaster or ceramic.

He added the outside of the statue is typically accompanied by a waterproof layer.

Once the hole at the top of the statue is filled with water then the ‘porous material with absorb it’, but if there’s even a slight crack in the structure it could cause water to drip out.

In April, a Vatican academy in Italy set out to investigate ‘mystical phenomena’ around the world including ‘weeping’ statues of the Virgin Mary, stigmata and ghost sightings under plans for a new dedicated observatory.

The Pontifical Mariana International Academy, which described itself as a scientific institution of the Holy See, has hoped to uncover ‘around a hundred ongoing phenomena’ in Italy alone.

On top of delving into the mysterious crying Virgin Mary all over the world, they have also committed themselves to investigating ghost sightings, interior locutions and stigmata, which believers see as bodily marks, scars or pains corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ.

In September 2019, other worshippers said that they saw ‘tears’ streaming down the face of a painting of the Virgin Mary as a ‘sign of God’ in a church facing bankruptcy.

Some would say that this was a very disrespectful hoax to pull and that some people have no shame, but then when has the church had any shame? But then it’s not just the Virgin Mary that’s weeping these days!

There’s definitely a lot to cry about in this world and even the statues are brokenhearted, but then I guess for good to be acknowledged, bad must exist, we were not promised a perfect life, and statues don’t cry.

Three Decades Later, The Flower Tattooed Woman Is Identified

A murder victim known only as ‘the woman with the flower tattoo’ has finally been identified as a British 31-year-old after three decades, with the hunt for her killer still underway.

Rita Roberts was violently killed before her body was dumped in a river in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1992.

She’d moved to Antwerp from Cardiff in February of that year and her family last heard from her when they received a postcard a few months later, in May.

Shortly after, on June 3, her body was found floating against the grate of a water treatment plant in the Groot Schijn River, near Ten Eekhovelei, with detectives saying it had possibly been in the water for some time.

She was wearing distinctive neon sports clothes and her most notable physical feature was a tattoo on her left forearm of a black flower with green leaves and ‘R’Nick’ inscribed underneath.

She remained unidentified for thirty years until an international effort to identify her body was launched this year and a relative recognised her tattoo, allowing her agonised family to say goodbye at last.

Rita’s body was discovered near Antwerp’s Sportpaleis events hall in a busy residential and shopping area in the Deurne district of the city.

The river, which runs alongside the A1 motorway, flows from the Provinciaal Groendomein Riviernhof towards a water pumping station.

When an appeal to discover her identity started in May this year, detectives described her as being aged between 20 and 50 years old, about 170cm in height and of a stout build.

She had light skin and mid-length dark hair and was wearing a t-shirt and dark blue Adidas training trousers.

Now that she’s been identified, Belgian authorities are calling on the public to come forward with any information they may have as they continue to search for her killer.

An international appeal was launched which saw Belgian, Dutch and German police collaborate with INTERPOL to try and identify 22 women thought to have been murdered.

The pioneering Operation Identify Me marks the first time INTERPOL has made public some details of Black Notices, which share critical pieces of information about unknown bodies.

While many of the victims’ identities are still unknown, a family member in the UK recognised Rita’s tattoo on the news and came forward, contacting The International Criminal Police Organisation and Belgian authorities online.

However, did her family not contact the police in the United Kingdom so that they could contact the police in Belgium when they realised something was extremely wrong? Did the police not join the dots of the woman’s dead body that they discovered, and why did it take so long?

Traces of DNA on a body that has been in the water for a prolonged period of time erode depending on how long the body has been in the water, so I’m assuming that the body had been in the water for a long time, but with such a unique tattoo, it’s odd that it’s taken so long to identify the body.

I know that if I had a family member that I’d not heard from in weeks, let alone decades, I would be actively seeking their whereabouts, and if a family member has only just come forward then something majorly wrong had happened with the investigation.

Antwerp is a hotbed of crime now, even more so than back then, and it would have probably had a lot of bodies piling up. It’s a transient population with lots of illegals, so I would imagine that she just got logged as a Jane Doe and periodically appeared in cold case reviews and she fell through the cracks.

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