Better Believe It......Because They Actually Happen(ed) Collection 58
Girl, 8, makes contact with NASA’s International Space Station using dad’s ham radio – and gets a response: ‘Welcome to the International Space Station’


• Isabella Payne, eight, connect to the International Space Station using her father's ham radio
• SpaceX Crew-4 commander Kjell Lingren answered the call saying, 'Welcome to the International Space Station'
• The young girl told the NASA astronaut her name and age and in reply she was thanked for saying hello

By Stacy Liberatore


A young girl, eight, had her dreams come true when her father's ham radio connected to the International Space Station, allowing her to have a 45-second conversation with SpaceX Crew-4 commander Kjell Lingren who answered the call saying, 'Welcome to the International Space Station.'

Isabella Payne, from Kent, England, introduces herself and her age and then Lingren thanked the young space enthusiast for 'getting on the radio and saying hello.'

'Thank you, fly safe,' Isabella says before the two sign off and her father, Matt Payne, shared the audio clip for the world to hear.

The exchange was possible because of her father's hobby of using an armature radio station to speak with other operators across the world, but the father daughter duo made that one connection that is out of this world.'

Isabella Payne first fell in love with space when she was just two years old and now at the age of eight, she has spoke with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station


'It's a little bit of knowledge but mostly pure luck, Payne said when answering a question on Twitter about how his radio connected to the International Space Station (ISS).

'There's a very specific set of circumstances when you can actually talk with an astronaut onboard the ISS and on this occasion, it all came together.'

Isabella fell in love with space when she was just two years old, according to her father who shared the experience in a tweet thanking Lingren for speaking with his daughter.

Full story at Daily Mail (August 2022)



India teacher allegedly kills Dalit student over spelling mistake


The 15-year-old dies from his injuries at a hospital in northern Uttar Pradesh state, and the accused has fled the area.

The Dalit community sits at the lowest rung of India's caste system [File: Aijaz Rahi/AP]


Police in India are searching for a teacher accused of beating a Dalit student to death over a spelling mistake, officers said amid violent protests triggered by the incident.

Nikhil Dohre was struck with a rod and kicked until he fell unconscious by his high school teacher earlier this month after misspelling the word “social” in an exam, according to a police complaint by his father.

The superintendent’s letter echoes a statement published last week by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which said some are turning “toward racial or ethnic stereotypes” as fears of the virus spread globally.

The 15-year-old died from his injuries on Monday at a hospital in northern Uttar Pradesh state, and the accused has fled the area.

“He is on the run, but we will arrest him soon,” police officer Mahendra Pratap Singh told the AFP news agency.

The Dalit community – formerly known as the “untouchables” – sits at the lowest rung of India’s caste system and has been subject to prejudice and discrimination for centuries.

Reporting from New Delhi, Al Jazeera’s Pavni Mittal said violent protests broke out in Auraiya district, the location of the attack, demanding the teacher’s arrest before the cremation of the boy’s body.

Full story at Aljazeera (September 2022)



Ontario transgender teacher sparks controversy by wearing giant prosthetic breasts in class


In a recent letter to parents, the school confirmed the video’s authenticity, but implied that it’s illegal to even suggest that the garb may be inappropriate

By Tristin Hopper


An image from a video taken at Ontario’s Oakville Trafalgar High School showing a shop teacher wearing enormous silicone breasts with visible nipples while teaching class. Photo by Twitter


A video clip of an Ontario shop teacher wearing oversized prosthetic breasts to work has drawn international attention.

Last week, images emerged out of Ontario’s Oakville Trafalgar High School showing one of its shop teachers conducting class whilst clad in enormous silicone breasts with visible nipples that extend below the teacher’s waistline.

In a statement to Postmedia last week, Halton District School Board chair Margo Shuttleworth said the teacher portrayed in the images is an industrial arts instructor who began identifying as female last year.

Clandestinely recorded by students, images of the instructor quickly exploded across social media, easily making it one of the world’s most visible Canadian news stories of the past month.

One 20-second video in particular has received nearly one million views. Circulated by an American podcaster, it shows the teacher demonstrating the use of a chop saw while gingerly ensuring the large breasts do not get caught in the machinery. “I don’t remember my shop teacher looking like this,” reads a caption.

The images have circulated particularly quickly among conservative media, even scoring a mention on the American conservative talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight. “Children are being used as props in the sexual fantasies of adults,” host Tucker Carlson declared.

Full story at National Post (September 2022)



Thailand: Many children among dead in nursery attack


By Simon Fraser & Elsa Maishman


An ex-policeman has killed at least 37 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in north-east Thailand.

Police say he then killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery - police say the attacker mostly stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.

The former officer, aged 34, was sacked in June for drug use, police said.

It is not clear if there was a motive for the attack.

At least 23 children were among the dead in the mass killing in the town of Utthai Sawan. Some victims aged as young as two were attacked as they slept. A dozen people who were injured have been taken to Nong Bua Lamphu district hospital.

Headteacher Nanticha Panchum said the attacker's son attended the centre but had not been there for a month.

The man used to drop his child off, and was always polite and chatty, she said.

Ms Panchum said there were usually more than 90 children at the school, but just over 20 were present on Thursday due to bad weather and a school bus breakdown.

Police guard the centre as relatives of those killed gather


"The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first," a local official, Jidapa Boonsom, who was working nearby, told Reuters news agency. One of them was a teacher who was eight months pregnant.

"At first people thought it was fireworks," she said, adding that the man then forced entry to a locked room where children were sleeping.

Full story at BBC News (October 2022)



Arizona teacher, hubby lose jobs after filming OnlyFans videos in class


By Yaron Steinbuch


An eighth-grade teacher in Arizona and her husband have lost their school jobs after they recorded OnlyFans videos in her classroom — a side hustle she claimed was necessary to supplement their low salaries.

Using the alias “Khloe Karter,” Thunderbolt Middle School science teacher Samantha Peer uploaded the X-rated videos for her OnlyFans page, which her students found and shared among themselves, the Today’s News-Herald reported.

Her husband, Nautilus Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Dillon Peer, also took part in the adult productions inside the Lake Havasu Unified School District building, according to the report.

Samantha said she resigned “under pressure” Oct. 31 after being placed on paid administrative leave and probation. Dillon was let go four days later.

On Friday, she released a video explaining that she and her hubby resorted to creating X-rated videos because of their low salaries.

“My children are the most important thing to me, and I’m already spending countless hours outside of my contract time on extra school activities, and I don’t think it’s fair that I have to sacrifice my own children’s time because our professional salary did not pay enough,” she said, WFLA reported.

Samantha said she began creating the content at the beginning of the summer to help cover her needs. Source: Instagram/khloetheaccountant


Samantha said she began creating the content at the beginning of the summer to help cover her needs.

“It got to a point where our family was not able to survive on our two teachers’ income,” she said.

“I chose an anonymous name as well as blocking the entire state of Arizona on OnlyFans so it wasn’t accessible to anyone living in the state,” Samantha explained.

Full story at The New York Post (November 2022)



At least 3 people killed and 11 others injured in Brazil school shootings


By Duarte Mendonca


Police officers stand at the entrance of the Praia de Coqueiral Educational Center, one of two schools where a shooting took place.


CNN — At least three people were killed and 11 others injured Friday after a gunman opened fire at two schools in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, according to local authorities.

The attacks took place in the small town of Aracruz, 50 miles north of the state capital, Vitoria.

The alleged shooter – who was seen in security footage carrying a semi-automatic weapon, wearing military attire and a face covering – has been arrested by police. The suspect has not yet been identified by authorities, but local media, including CNN affiliate CNN Brasil, have reported the individual to be a 16-year-old.

Espirito Santo governor Renato Casagrande, in a Twitter post Friday, confirmed “security teams caught up with the attacker who, cowardly, attacked two schools in Aracruz. I declared three days of official mourning as a sign of grief for the irreparable losses. We will continue to investigate the reasons and, soon, we will have new clarifications.”

The governor said the attacks took place at the Primo Bitti school and the Praia de Coqueiral Educational Center.

Police officers on the scene at the Primo Bitti school on Friday.


Speaking to the media, Public Safety minister Marcio Celante said police believe the suspect acted alone based on security video, but acknowledged further investigation was needed to ascertain more details on the incidents.

Celante also revealed some of what the security video showed.

“The first criminal action was to access the school by breaking the padlock. He had access to the teachers’ room,” Celante said, adding that “afterwards, he moved to another school, where he shot more victims.”

Full story at CNN (November 2022)