The January 6 Committee postponed what was said to be its final public hearing today because of Hurricane Ian. As we watch the path of that severe storm and hope for the best for Floridians and others affected by it, we’re keeping an eye on other developing stories around the world.
Potentially Deadly Treat. Beware of “rainbow fentanyl” as you prepare your Halloween candy. The DEA says that the colorful pills and powders look like candy but contain deadly fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
In Connecticut, health officials found rainbow fentanyl that had been hidden in boxes to look like Skittles, Nerds and other candies. Officials in Kentucky say they have found similar occurrences. There’s no doubt that the goal of those selling these pills is to attract a younger crowd, but teens may not be aware of just how potent fentanyl is. The photo below makes it frighteningly clear.
A Quick, Deadly Encounter. The video in this news story is disturbing, so viewer beware. To summarize, a man strolls down sidewalks near Drexel University in Philadelphia around 12:30 a.m. last Thursday. The streets are silent, but then the man walks toward another man on the sidewalk. In the video, you see that less than 10 seconds goes by before the first man shoots the other. The assailant shot 23-year-old Everett Beauregard in the neck and severed his spinal cord. Beauregard died from his injuries.
While the video is upsetting, it is significant because it shows there was no time for an altercation or a robbery; Beauregard was shot and killed for no apparent reason. The shooter remains on the loose; Philadelphia police have offered a $20,000 reward for his arrest and conviction.
Murder by (Extreme) Politics. Political extremism was blamed for two recent fatal incidents in the United States. On Sep. 13, Michigan resident Igor Lanis shot and killed his wife and critically injured one of his daughters. He also fatally shot the family dog. Not long after the incident, his other daughter, who was not at home when the shooting happened, blamed her dad’s murderous rampage on an unhealthy obsession with political conspiracy theories.
“He became a different person after 2020 when Trump lost,” Rebecca Lanis told a reporter. She said her father became obsessed with QAnon and would grow agitated about the dangers of 5G and electromagnetic fields. No other information about Igor Landis’ political leanings have been reported beyond what his daughter claimed.
Ten days later, a North Dakota man fatally struck a teenager with his car after he said they had a political argument. The driver of the car, Shannon Brandt, 41, admitted to running over Cayler Ellingson, 18, because he was a “Republican extremist” and Brandt feared for his life after the two argued about politics. Ellingson’s Twitter account is still active. While it shows the teen had very strong ideas about politics and favored right or far-right ideologies, nothing seems to indicate that he was capable of violent behavior that might have frightened Brandt enough to run him over with his car. Brandt posted bail and was released from police custody.
Pipeline Sabotage? Two underwater blasts on the Nord Stream pipeline, which travels the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany, were acts of sabotage, according to officials in Sweden and Denmark. Neither country came right out and said Russia was responsible for the incidents, which have resulted in gas leaking into the sea, but Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki came close, saying the blasts represented "the next stage in the escalation of the situation we are facing in Ukraine."
Just a day later, the new Baltic Pipe opened. Natural gas from the Norwegian shelf will travel from Denmark and through the Baltic to Poland. This is a key part of Poland’s plan to lessen its dependency on Russian oil. "The era of Russian domination in the field of gas is coming to an end, the era that was marked by blackmail, threats and extortion," Prime Minister Morawiecki said during the ceremony.
Is there a connection between the Nord Stream leaks and the Baltic Pipe opening? That remains to be seen.