UN demands prosecution for CIA officials who tortured al Qaeda suspects

The United Nations has said that officials who committed rights violations against terror suspects must be prosecuted. Several countries expressed outrage at a US Senate report on the CIA's counterterrorism program.

Deutsche Welle, 10 Dec 2014

The UN's special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, said on Wednesday that senior US officials who authorized and tortured prisoners in consonance with former President George W. Bush's security policy after the September 11, 2001 attacks should be made accountable for committing human rights violations.

"The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy ... must be brought to justice and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes," he said, according to the Associated Press.

International law prohibits granting immunity to government officials who allow the use of torture, Emmerson said, referring to the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects at secret overseas facilities.

The document, released on Tuesday claimed that the CIA's detention and interrogation program of al Qaeda suspects following the 9/11 attacks included harsh techniques such as waterboarding and "Russian roulette" to force detainees into admission.

'Gross violation of human rights'

The report sparked controversy all over the world, prompting US President Barack Obama to say that the CIA's rights violations "did significant damage to America's standing in the world."

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the CIA's activities as documented in the report, saying they amounted to a "gross violation of our liberal, democratic values" and that "what was then considered right and done in the fight against Islamic terrorism was unacceptable and a serious mistake."

In a statement on Wednesday, EU spokeswoman Catherine Ray also acknowledged that the report raised "serious questions about the violation of human rights by the US authorities," but that it was "a positive step in confronting publicly and critically the Central Intelligence Agency's detention and interrogation program."

Poland admits to hosting torture center

Although the EU's official statement did not comment on the CIA's overseas detention facilities, especially in EU countries, Poland's former President Aleksander Kwasniewski revealed on Wednesday that his country secretly hosted a CIA prison where al Qaeda suspects were tortured. Kwasniewski said that, as a member of NATO, Poland had enhanced intelligence cooperation with the United States after the 2001 September attacks, in which more than 2,000 people died.

Poland's former president said his country had allowed terror suspects on its soil under the condition that they be treated as prisoners of war.

Warsaw also put pressure on the US president in 2003 to end the brutal interrogations on its soil, but in July this year, Poland was slammed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for allowing the torture of a Palestinian and a Saudi terror suspect within its territory before the two were sent to Guantanamo Bay. The ECJ concluded that Poland had cooperated in the CIA's program.

Polish prosecutors have been investigating the secret prison since 2008 and media reports suggest that the CIA had secret prisons in Afghanistan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Thailand. The Senate report also mentions that US officials detained 119 suspects in so-called CIA "black sites," but the names of the countries participating have not been mentioned.

mg/sb (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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Israel partially lifts media gag on 'Prisoner X'

Move comes after global coverage of case of top-secret detainee, said to be Mossad agent, who died in Israeli prison 

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem and Alison Rourke in Sydney, 13 Feb. 2013

Ben Zygier, identified by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as an
 agent for Israel's Mossad, was reportedly locked in solitary confinement since
2010 in a high-security Israeli prison. Photograph: ABC TV

The Israeli authorities have partially lifted a gag order concerning a man known as "Prisoner X", following widespread international coverage of the case of the top-secret detainee who hanged himself in a high-security prison in Israel. The prisoner was revealed to be an Australian citizen.

According to Israel Radio, domestic media outlets were permitted to quote foreign reports on Prisoner X but not publish or broadcast original material.

The secret detainee was identified by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as BenZygier, from Melbourne, who it said had become an agent for the Mossad, Israel's spy agency. Zygier – also known as Ben Alon and Ben Allen – was reported to have been locked in solitary confinement under conditions of strict secrecy in 2010, and hanged himself in his cell later that year. ABC did not disclose the reason for his detention.

The allegations were reported on international news websites, but the Israeli media was forbidden from publishing or broadcasting details. Editors were called by the Israeli prime minister's office to an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon, at which their co-operation with the government and the withholding of sensitive information was demanded. Gag orders and military censorship are common in Israel.

Until the partial lifting of the gag order, the media were restricted to reporting questions asked under privilege in the Israeli parliament, which elicited no information beyond a statement by the justice minister that the matter should be examined.

In a front-page comment piece, Aluf Benn, the editor-in-chief of Haaretz, wrote: "Instead of hushing up the blunder, [gag orders] merely shine a spotlight on it. But [Mossad chief Tamir] Pardo and the others believe that if they just apply a little more pressure, the door will remain shut. In the meantime, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are awash with people forwarding the information, sharing links to foreign websites, expressing opinions – and utterly ignoring those who are making pathetic attempts to turn back the clock to a time before WikiLeaks, and before bloggers who don't give two hoots about the censor."

In the aftermath of the revelations, Australia's department of foreign affairs and trade (DFAT) has launched a review into how diplomats handled the case of Prisoner X.

The review was announced after it became known that department officials had been made aware in 2010 that Zygier was being held in jail in Israel, but had not passed on the information.

"DFAT had [originally] advised that it was unaware of Mr Allen's detention in Israel," a spokesman said. "DFAT has now advised that some officers of the department were made aware of Mr Allen's detention at the time in 2010 by another Australian agency."

Earlier, the foreign minister, Bob Carr, had said consul officials were not aware of Zygier's circumstances until his parents asked for help in repatriating his body to Australia. Under normal circumstances, foreign embassies are usually advised if one of their nationals is being held in prison.

The leader of the Australian Greens, Christine Milne, said she would pursue the case. "According to press reports, Prisoner X was a dual citizen whose body was returned to Melbourne under suspicious circumstances. Minister Carr must pursue this matter with the Israeli government as a matter of urgency," Milne said in a statement.

Zygier's family have declined to speak to the media.

According to ABC, Zygier was 34 at the time of his death in Ayalon prison. He was married to an Israeli woman, Maya, with whom he had two children. It is unknown whether they still live in Israel or have moved abroad.

A former colleague, Patrick Durkin, who trained as a lawyer with Zygier, wrote of his fond memories of the alleged Mossad spy in the Australian Financial Review. "I remember drinking with Ben one night in 2001 when he recounted his famous story about taking a bullet in the posterior during his military service in Israel which he served shortly before joining our group. He described in vivid detail serving on the front-line and backtracking across war-torn countryside while gun-fire peppered the ground.

"He was extremely proud of his time in the military … I remember passionately debating the finer points of the Israeli-Palestine conflict with Ben who was obviously deeply engaged with the issue."

The tombstone of Ben Zygier at the Chevra Kadisha Jewish

cemetery, Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Julian Smith/EPA

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(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

A Message From Eve - 1 Billion Rising (14 Feb 2013)

Eve extends her gratitude to the ONE BILLION of you who are practicing and preparing, organizing, singing, dancing, and writing for an end to violence against women.One week until we rise! (14 February 2013)

http://www.onebillionrising.org

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Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek 'executed in Saudi Arabia'

BBC News, 9 January 2013

The parents of Ms Nafeek had repeatedly appealed to King Abdullah
to pardon her

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Saudi Arabia has executed a Sri Lankan domestic worker for killing a baby in her care in 2005, a foreign ministry official in Colombo has told the BBC.

The maid, Rizana Nafeek, had denied killing the four-month-old boy.

Her supporters say she was only 17 at the time of the killing. They say her execution is a breach of international child rights.

The Sri Lankan parliament held a minute's silence on Wednesday in honour of Ms Nafeek.

An MP who campaigns for Sri Lankan workers abroad, Ranjan Ramanayake, described the Saudi government as "dictators" who would never execute Europeans or Americans, only Asians and Africans.

The parents of Ms Nafeek had repeatedly appealed to King Abdullah to pardon her.

She was convicted in 2007 of murdering a four-month-old baby she was caring for in 2005.

Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticised the Saudi authorities for their handling of the case, as have campaigners in Sri Lanka, who argue that there were serious translation problems at the time she confessed to the crime.

They also argue that they she did not always have access to a lawyer, and that her reported execution breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Saudi Arabia has ratified.

There has been no comment so far from Saudi Arabia.

Demonstrators hold up an image of Rizana Nafeek as they shout

 slogans during a protest against her execution, in Colombo January

11, 2013. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

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Obama says same-sex couples should be able to marry

BBC News, 9 May 2012

US Presidential Election 2012 

• Battlegrounds 2012
• Delegate counter
• Running for president?
• Campaign calendar

President Obama said in 2010 that
 his views on gay marriage were
"evolving"

US President Barack Obama has ended months of equivocation on the issue of gay marriage by saying he thinks same-sex couples should be able to wed.

He told ABC News: "It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

Mr Obama has become the first US president to back gay marriage.

In recent days, Vice-President Joe Biden and cabinet member Arne Duncan had expressed support for gay unions.

The interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts was apparently hastily arranged as Mr Obama came under mounting pressure to clarify his position on the issue.

During the ABC interview, which airs later on Wednesday, Mr Obama pointed to his administration's commitment to increasing rights for gay citizens.

He also cited the repeal of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy and said his administration had dropped support for the Defense of Marriage Act.

"I've stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," Mr Obama said.

"I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word 'marriage' evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbours, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage," Obama said.

"I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."

In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue were "evolving", a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.

His comments came a day after North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.

Before that vote, the Obama campaign had opposed the measure, which was passed with 61% in favour and 39% against.

While Mr Obama is the first US president to support gay marriage, correspondents said the president's views on gay marriage were likely to upset some voters.

Some African-American voters oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds.

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2 women share 1st kiss at US Navy ship's return

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(AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Brian J. Clark)

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President Barack Obama gestures as he talks about cutting the U.S. deficit
 by raising taxes, from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington
September 19, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing)

About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)

Mo. lawmaker says he is gay, denounces school bill

Associated Press, May 2, 2012

Missouri Representative

Zachary Wyatt

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Republican Missouri House member has publicly announced he's gay and is calling on GOP leaders to end legislation that would limit discussion of sexual orientation in public schools.

Rep. Zachary Wyatt held a Capitol news conference Wednesday at which he said he was disclosing his sexual orientation for the first time. Wyatt and several other lawmakers denounced a bill that would prohibit teaching, extracurricular activities or materials that discuss sexual orientation unless they relate to the scientific facts about human reproduction.

The bill appears unlikely to pass before the session ends, but has generated attention. Comedian Stephen Colbert mocked the Missouri proposal on his television show.

Republican Rep. Steve Cookson sponsored the bill and says he won't withdraw it.

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack)

“ ... You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.The only identity that has any fundamental or lasting relevance to your Soul is your Divinity. Any other way you may label or identify yourself is transitory. It changes from one incarnation to the next. ..."

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)


"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

US marines accused of war crimes

Video posted anonymously on YouTube claims to show American troops in Afghanistan urinating on dead bodies

The Guardian, Chris McGreal in Washington, Thursday 12 January 2012

This video allegedly shows US troops urinating on bodies of 

aliban fighters. Warning: graphic content 

US forces in Afghanistan are facing fresh accusations of war crimes after film emerged which appears to show American marines urinating on dead bodies and laughing.

The US military command in Kabul, which was severely embarrassed last year by revelations that Americans soldiers were running a "kill squad" murdering Afghan civilians, said it would investigate the undated video, and that if it proved to be authentic, desecration of corpses would be regarded as a serious crime. Despoiling of the dead is illegal under the Geneva conventions as well as under US military law.

In the graphic short video, four soldiers in combat gear and carrying weapons are seen acting in unison as they urinate on three bloodied corpses. One of the soldiers sighs with relief, another says "yeah" and a third laughs. One remarks: "Have a great day, buddy". Another says: "Golden, like a shower".

A fifth soldier films the incident.

The video was posted anonymously on Wednesday along with a caption that said: "scout sniper team 4 with 3rd battalion 2nd marines out of camp lejeune peeing on dead talibans".

Military officials confirmed that the soldiers appear to be carrying rifles of a kind issued to sniper teams in Afghanistan.

A US department of defence spokesman, Captain John Kirby, told CNN: "Regardless of the circumstances or who is in the video, this is egregious, disgusting behaviour. It's hideous. It turned my stomach."

The marine corps said in a statement: "While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated."

The promise of an investigation is unlikely to quiet concern at yet another revelation of abuses by American forces. Last year, 11 soldiers were convicted over the murders of three Afghan civilians by a "kill squad" and the subsequent cover up. It was revealed that some of them collected body parts, including fingers and skull parts, as trophies, and posed for photographs over the corpses of their victims.

The US military has also yet to live down the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and the use of waterboarding and other torture of alleged terrorists held at Guantánamo.

The US marines corps is also under scrutiny after the trial began this week of one of its soldiers, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, charged with the deaths of 24 Iraqis during an attack in 2005.

Wuterich was commanding a group of soldiers who burst into the victims' homes in Haditha and shot women, children and men in their nightclothes. He is accused of manslaughter. Seven other soldiers also charged were either acquitted or had the case against them dropped.

A US congressman compared the killings in Haditha to the infamous My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

The Haditha killings contributed to the Iraqi government's refusal to agree to immunity for US troops after the formal withdrawal of American forces at the end of last year.

Marines allegedly urinating on corpse

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Ex-CIA Agent: America creates its own enemies

"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

2 women share 1st kiss at US Navy ship's return

Associated Press, by Brock Vergakis, Dec 21, 2011

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, kisses her girlfriend of two years, 

Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek 

in Virginia Beach, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2011 after Gaeta's ship returned

 from 80 days at sea. It ís a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings - one 

lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved

 one. On Wednesday, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay.

(AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Brian J. Clark)

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the pier after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss in the rain with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. Gaeta, 23, wore her Navy dress uniform while Snell, 22, wore a black leather jacket, scarf and blue jeans. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

"It's something new, that's for sure," Gaeta told reporters after the kiss.

"It's nice to be able to be myself. It's been a long time coming."

For the historical significance of the kiss, there was little to differentiate it from countless others when a Navy ship pulls into its home port following a deployment. Neither the Navy nor the couple tried to draw attention to what was happening and many onlookers waiting for their loved ones to come off the ship were busy talking among themselves.

David Bauer, the commanding officer of the USS Oak Hill, said that Gaeta and Snell's kiss would largely be a non-event and the crew's reaction upon learning who was selected to have the first kiss was positive.

"It's going to happen and the crew's going to enjoy it. We're going to move on and it won't overshadow the great things that this crew has accomplished over the past three months," Bauer said.

The ship returned to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story following an 80-day deployment to Central America. The crew of more than 300 participated in exercises involving the militaries of Honduras, Guatemala Colombia and Panama as part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012.

Both women are Navy fire controlmen, who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships. They met at training school where they were roommates and have been dating for two years, which they said was difficult under "don't ask, don't tell."

"We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning," Snell said. "A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I'm happy."

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity. Gaeta said she bought $50 of tickets, a figure that she said pales in comparison to amounts that some other sailors and their loved ones had bought. The money was used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors.

Snell said she believes their experience won't be the last one for gays and lesbians in the military.

"I think that it's something that is going to open a lot of doors, for not just our relationship, but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military now," she said.

Snell is based on the USS Bainbridge, the guided missile destroyer that helped rescue cargo captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009.

Online: Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis

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President Barack Obama gestures as he talks about cutting the U.S. deficit
 by raising taxes, from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington
September 19, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing)

About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)