[LA Times] A 78-year-old man declared dead and zipped into a body bag began moving and breathing when placed on a table inside a Lexington, Miss., funeral home. And the local coroner said he believes it's nothing short of a miracle from God.... ...or hasty Holmes County coroner work. You decide.
Walter Williams' family and hospice nurse called authorities Wednesday evening to report that the Lexington man had died. Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that he arrived and checked the body, which showed no signs of a pulse or heartbeat. Williams was zipped into a body bag, and transported to Porter & Sons Funeral Home, where he was placed on a table for embalming.
"Once we got to the funeral home ... and got him on the table, he began to move and his legs began to kick and he began to take long, deep breaths," Howard said. Williams was then rushed to a local hospital and stunned family members were notified. Kicking, cursing, and rapid eye movement.... dead giveaways, so to speak. So either an incompetent coroner or a religious miracle. Hmmm, what to think, what to think...
You drive while Kennedy and not suffer consequences. Kerry Kennedy is free to save Ugandan gayz.
Kerry Kennedy gave herself a hearty round of applause as jurors Friday found her not guilty of drugged driving.
Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, began clapping minutes after Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary dismissed the six-person panel from his Westchester County courtroom around 10:15 am.
Her lawyers, mom Ethel Kennedy and a squad of Kennedy cheerleaders joined in the ovation.
"I'm happy that justice was done," Kennedy said before leaving the courtroom. Strange definition of 'justice' in that one...
#9
Seems to be an outbreak of affluenza on the east coast. Shit lady, you just bought yourself out of trouble which would have had me in jail, lost license, strain on my vocation to say the least, and fines fees and stigma - at least have the decency to not give yourself yappy applause until your fifth scotch in private.
With the deadline for registering "assault rifles" passed, Connecticut is proceeding with its second phase: confiscation. After being harangued by the local newspaper to round up those who failed to register their guns, Connecticut has prepared letters to be sent out to the 300 or so scofflaws who registered their weapons but whose forms were mailed in too late. Give Connecticut credit, at least they didn't keep the checks. The letters have yet to go out, apparently.
Connecticut state officials did their serfs a favor by mailing out letters recommending the owners get rid of their rifles, rather than turn the information over to prosecutors. Nice of them, huh? You mean that Connecticut prosecutors can't prosecute an unconstitutional law using information that amounts of a tainted confession?
I read a comment over at Sipsey Street Irregulars that said Connecticut is banking that after few high profile seizures and prosecutions the other firearms owners, a number about five times those who actually registered, will fall in line. Connecticut police have got to be aware that their force may kill or detain a "scofflaw" or two, but they don't have the manpower or replacement programs to make good on losses in any attempt to confiscate guns.
A number of arguments about the Connecticut law exist about why the law is unconstitutional, but now it doesn't matter. Connecticut is planning to shear away the rights of their citizens in the state.
Loads
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Prices for pistol ammunition were mixed, while prices for rifle ammunition were unchanged.
Prices for used pistols were mixed while prices for used rifles were mostly higher..
Pistol Ammo
.45 Caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (+.04 Each over two weeks
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Today's Ammo, Tulammo, steel cased, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Jack Ross Ammunition, RNL, reloaded, .32 per round (No change (Three Weeks))
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each (Unchanged 4 of 7 previous weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, BVAC, reloaded, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store Brand, reloaded, .27 per round (From Last Week: +.03 (Each over three weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: +.02 each (+.04 over two weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Munire USA, Tulammo, steel case, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Jack Ross Ammunition, Store brand, reloaded, .24 per round
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, CCI Speer, JHP, .44 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 500 Rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store Brand, .41 per round (-.01 Each (-.16 Each over previous three weeks(!))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (Three weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Tulammo, steel cased, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf, steel cased, .29 per round (+.01 Each (-.05 Each over four weeks))
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (After -.07 Each previous four weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Prvi Partizan, steel cased, .58 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: The Sportsman Guide, MFS, steel cased, .56 per round (Unchanged)
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (Three weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: FireArms for Sale, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 600 rounds: Sportsman Outdoor Superstore, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .21 per round (-.01 Each from previous week )
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: +.01 Each (Unchanged previous week)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Munire USA, Federal, .14 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Limited, Federal, .17 per round (+.01 from previous week)
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $855 Last Week Avg: $849(+)
California: Palmetto State Armory: $850
Texas: DPMS: $725
New York: Smith & Wesson M&P 15): $1,300
Virgina: DPMS (Pink Trimming): $800
Florida: Palmetto State Armory: $600
.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,362 Last Week Avg: $1,113 (+)
California: Smith and Wesson M&P 10: $1,320
Texas: DPMS: $1,200
New York: None Available
Virginia: Mixed Build: $1,600
Florida: Ruger SR-762: $1,325
.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $520 Last Week Avg: $476 (+)
California: Auto Ordnance: $550 (Same Gun)
Texas: Auto Ordnance: $550
New York: Unknown: $550 (Same Gun)
Virginia: Rock Island Armory: $550
Florida: Rock Island Armory: $400
9mm Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic Average Price: $380 Last Week Avg: $413 (-)
California: Kahr CW-9: $359
Texas: Smith & Wesson SD9VE: $319
New York: Kahr CW-9: $425
Virginia: Kahr CM-9: $350
Florida: Glock 19: $450
.40 caliber S&W (Glock and other semiautomatic) Average Price: $425 Last Week Avg: $409 (+)
California: Glock 27: $450
Texas: Glock 23: $450
New York: Kahr: $350 (Same Gun)
Virginia: Smith & Wesson M&P: $425
Florida: Glock 22: $450
#1
The Hartford, Conn. Courant News Paper ran an editorial recently that they still would not even have suggested armed security guards at Sandy Hook to protect the children. Their reasoning was that the shooter could have targeted the security guards first. These people believe even the most innocent of society should not be protected what so ever.
Djiboutis Defense Minister Hassan Darar Houffaneh has appealed for more military cooperation between his country and China to reinforce the operational capacity of the Djibouti Armed Forces and contribute to the consolidation of peace and security in the sub-region.
Appealing to China and not to Obama, eh...
Houffaneh was speaking during a visit of Chinas Defense Minister Chang Wanquan who was visiting Djibouti between Monday and Tuesday. The minister thanked China for continuously supporting Djibouti, especially during very difficult times.
Its particularly true that in the sub-region, and especially in Djibouti, most infrastructure projects are being funded by China, he said, adding that the projects will reinforce regional integration.
Chinese defense minister said the two countries had began discussions on reinforcement of military cooperation.
The Peoples Republic of China is ready to support Djibouti to reinforce its military capacities and guarantee its security, Chang said.
Houffaneh insisted on a particularly unstable security context in the sub-region which is characterized by piracy, terrorism and illegal immigration. The minister emphasized his countrys commitment on the Somali pacification missions where it has a contingent of 1,000 troops participating in the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) to eradicate Al-Shabaab terrorists.
In 2014, Djibouti intends to deploy additional 1,000 soldiers to Somalia.
He said Djibouti was ready to allow Chinese military ships to access its ports and urged his Chinese counterpart to concretize the military cooperation between the two countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
"What exactly were we going to do about it?"
..considering who/what we now have in D.C., nothing. I doubt that a Reagan would have conveyed <THIS>..
[An Nahar] North Korea's launch of Scud missiles violated U.N. resolutions barring the firing of ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The Defense Department initially said that the missile launch on Thursday was legal, but now says that was incorrect.
"Yesterday, I erroneously noted that these resolutions allow for North Korea to fire short range Scud missiles. That is not the case," Pentagon front man Colonel Steven Warren said in a statement.
U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874 prohibit North Korea "from launching any ballistic missile, and this includes any Scud missile," he said.
The resolutions were adopted unanimously by the Security Council in 2006 and 2009 after nuclear tests carried out by Pyongyang.
The firing of the four short-range missiles off the east coast of North Korea coincided with U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#2
the 2 USN assets, the Mount Whitney is a surveillance ship, hardly a combatant and the Taylor's most recent action was the grounding a couple weeks ago during a refueling event.
Time for Champ to take off for the links somewhere.
[An Nahar] Russia said Friday that it would fast-track passports for members of Ukraine's elite Berkut riot police force after the unit was disbanded by Kiev's new authorities, and issue them in the main Crimean city of Simferopol.
"The Russian consulate in Simferopol has been tasked with taking all the necessary measures to urgently start issuing Russian passports to Berkut officers," the Russian foreign ministry said on its Facebook page."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey, no proooblem comrade. You are one of us now.
[An Nahar] Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych insisted Friday in his first public appearance since fleeing to Russia that he had not been tossed and would continue to fight for the future of Ukraine.
Yanukovych told news hounds in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don that he had been "compelled to leave" Ukraine after he received threats to his security.
"I have not been tossed by anyone, I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to an immediate threat to my life and the life of those close to me," he said, sitting at a desk alongside a senior editor from the ITAR-TASS news agency in front of three Ukrainian flags.
"I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who try to saddle it with fear and terror."
Yanukovych, who fled after being impeached by parliament on Saturday, savaged the anti-Kremlin and pro-EU forces who have now taken power.
"Power in Ukraine has been taken by nationalist, pro-fascist young people who represent the absolute minority of people in Ukraine."
"This is anarchy, terror and chaos," he added.
But Yanukovych, 63, speaking in Russian, said he wanted to apologize for leaving Ukraine in its current state.
"I am ashamed. I want to say I apologize to the Ukrainian people for what happened in Ukraine and that I did not have the strength to keep stability."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
..as I've heard from a few barkeeps, "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.."
#2
Sevastopol, naval infantry from the base perhaps. Bad, aren't 2s3 are 155mm SPArty? Usually a regimental level asset from what I remember.
Based on the number and spacing of the road wheels and tracks in the pic, those are 2s1 122mm SPArty. Naval infantry more likely to use those,they have a pt76 amphib chassis (hence the road wheel config as a giveaway). Saw/killed some of those back in GW1 that belonged to Tawakalna division.
Ukraine operates those too, they have a few hundred of them. So how does CNN they know they're Russian? Not enough detail in the photo where I could see that, and I don't exactly trust the military acumen of CNN reporters (tanks? snort).
#4
Sevastopol has amphib ships tthere along with a naval infantry brigade and an independent NI battalion, so 2s1 battery in the pic could come from there.
#5
My guess is the Russians will be acting fast in the hours and days to come. I suspect the Ukrainians are on their own, with the rest of the FSU satellites taking copious notes and securing their own defenses. The EU will shrug and say nothing. Champ has "more flexibility" to do nothing, now that the election is long over. Besides, he needs a calm Romania and Black Sea air corridor for his AFG pullout.
#8
Tanks; CNN says so. You can tell by the large capacity AK47 assault shotguns - even have bayonet pistol grips. They could be uncontested Russian tourists or Tea Party laying seige to women.
(not making light of the situation; the lack of serious reporting. Bring up the subject of braised duck and the sobs are on point)
#9
A part of me is aghast nothing is being done in Washington. The other part is hoping we don't get involved, since Ukraine has good example of how to run an insurgency in...well, yeah.
Anyway it was obvious from Champs statement that he'd do nothing. Turkey is more likely to do something, or Poland. This might also be the start of an entirely new regional block aimed at defense against Russian Incursion.
More importantly I see this as the dissolving of the treaties and alliances left over from the Cold War, and the forming of new ones. With the US left out in the open with few allies worth a damn.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/01/2014 10:57 Comments ||
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#10
Bonehead commentator:"not sure if they are Russian"
We'll, FFS what else would they be? Siberian tourists?
#12
Mojo, the Ukranians uniforms and equipment are nearly identical to the Russians, so I am suspect of any troop identification by any nonprofessional. Let's see a good war correspondent report, that will give us something. In all likelihood, the insignias should indicate Russian. But the photo posted in the article link, there is only enough info to identify the vehicles, not the nationality. The 2s1 122 SP in that pic are operated by both sides (per Janes Ukraine has 400+) and they are from common stock of the former Soviet Union.
#13
Beavis, Exactly! To the captive press, this isn't about principle, liberty, foreign policy, national security or national prestige. It's all about how this affects Obama. After all Obama is what matters, to his cult of personality.
CNN: "Is Putin is bullying Obama?" Roflmao, what next playing the race card? What useless pieces of sh** these so called "journalists" are.
[An Nahar] Russian aircraft carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops have landed at a military air base near the regional capital of the restive Crimean peninsula, a top Ukrainian official said Friday, accusing Moscow of an "armed invasion."
"Thirteen Russian aircraft landed at the airport of Gvardeyskoye (near Simferopol) with 150 people in each one," Sergiy Kunitsyn, the Ukrainian president's special representative in Crimea, told the local ATR television channel, adding the air space had been closed.
It was not immediately clear if Russia had the right to use the base or send additional troops there under its agreements with Ukraine.
In the wake of the development, Ukraine's new interim president Oleksandr Turchynov asked Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... to stop what he called the "naked aggression" against his country and to withdraw from the flashpoint Crimea peninsula.
"I personally appeal to President Putin to immediately stop military provocation and to withdraw from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea... It's a naked aggression against Ukraine," he told news hounds.
Earlier on Friday, Ukraine accused Russia of staging an "armed invasion" of Crimea and appealed to the West to guarantee its territorial integrity after pro-Kremlin gunnies seized control of the peninsula's main airport.
Unidentified gunnies in full combat gear were patrolling outside Crimea's main airport while gunnies were also reported to have seized another airfield on the southwest of the peninsula where ethnic Russians are a majority and where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.
Ukraine's parliament immediately appealed to the U.S. and Britannia to uphold a 1994 pact with Russia that guaranteed the country's illusory sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arms.
Both politicians and U.N. Security Council chair Lithuania said they would ask the world body to address the Crimea crisis at its next session -- a request that would need to gain support from veto-wielding members such as Russia.
Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov meanwhile attempted to regain control over unraveling security in the vast nation of 46 million by sacking the armed forces chief appointed by Yanukovych at the height of deadly protests last week.
Ukraine's general prosecutor also said Kiev would ask Moscow to extradite Yanukovych -- accused of mass murder over the protests -- if his presence is confirmed in Russia.
Western governments have been been watching with increasing alarm as Kiev's new pro-EU rulers grapple with dual threats of economic collapse and secession by Russian-speaking southern and eastern regions that had backed Yanukovych.
Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near its border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... attempted to relieve diplomatic pressure in a crisis that has increasingly assumed Cold War overtones by announcing that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had assured him Moscow "will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine".
Putin also appeared to take a more conciliatory approach Thursday by vowing to work on improving trade ties and promising to support international efforts to provide Kiev with funds that could keep it from declaring a debt default as early as next week.
But tensions were soaring by the hour in Russian-speaking Crimea -- a scenic Black Sea peninsula that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years and was handed to Ukraine as a symbolic gift by a Soviet leader in 1954.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The Crimea will be Russian, the Ukraine is fracturing along ethnic lines. The time to fix this was weeks ago at the latest.. Obama and state completely blew any chance at settling this the easy way.
[Egypt Independent] A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said on Friday that more than 80 helicopters of the types Mi-24 and Mi-8 were moved from military bases in the west of the country to emergency airports.
The front man also said that military air defense units are being re-deployment to the west 500 kilometers away from their permanent bases to test their combat readiness, as per the instructions of President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... .
These preparations come amid European tension regarding the political crisis in Ukraine.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials said Friday that President Barack Obama may scrap plans to attend an international summit in Russia this summer and could also halt discussions on deepening trade ties with Moscow, raising specific possible consequences if Russia should intervene in Ukraine.
Yes, it would be a tad awkward for Champ to bow to Putin right about now...
Obama himself bluntly warned of unspecified "costs" for Russia.
"Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing," Obama declared. Such action by Russia would represent a "profound interference" in matters that must be decided by the Ukrainian people, he said.
While the president spoke only of "reports" of military movements inside Ukraine, the officials said the U.S does believe that Russia is intervening.
But if we acknowledge it openly we have to do something about it, and Champ is all about doing nothing, be it Ukraine, Benghazi or anything else...
Separately, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he would not address specific U.S. options, "but this could be a very dangerous situation if this continues in a provocative way." Asked about options in a CBS News interview, he said that "we're trying to deal with a diplomatic focus, that's the appropriate, responsible approach."
Since we don't have any other viable approach...
As Obama prepared to speak late Friday, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service said eight Russian transport planes had landed with unknown cargo in Crimea. Serhiy Astakhov told The Associated Press that the Il-76 planes arrived unexpectedly and were given permission to land, one after the other, at Gvardeiskoye air base. The State Department urged U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel plans in the country because of "the potential for instability."
In Washington, it was unclear whether the administration's threats to pull trade talks or cancel presidential travel might have any impact on Russia's calculations. Obama canceled a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin last year after Russia granted asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, though Obama still attended a separate international meeting in Russia.
Putin is scheduled to host the Group of Eight economic summit in June in Sochi, the site of the recently completed Winter Olympics. The U.S. is in discussions about the summit with European partners and it is difficult to see how some of those leaders would attend the summit if Russia has forces in Crimea, according to the administration officials.
They'll change their minds if Vlad turns off the natural gas...
The administration's warning that trade talks could be halted came as Russian officials were in Washington for economic discussions with Obama advisers.
For the U.S., levying punishments on Russia is complicated by the myriad of issues on which the White House needs Moscow's help. Among them: ending the bloodshed in Syria, negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran, and transporting U.S. military troops and equipment out of Afghanistan through Russian supply routes.
Nice box you built for us, Champ. Thanks...
At the White House, a somber Obama decried the situation in Ukraine and warned about deeper outside intervention.
"Just days after the world came to Russia for the Olympic Games, that would invite the condemnation of nations around the world," he said. "The United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH FREEREPUBLIC > KRAUTHAMMER'S TAKE: OBAMA TELLS THE WORLD WE [USA] AREN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE INVASION [Russia's] OF UKRAINE.
Not good news again for Japan + PHIL + ... + espec for me Guam-WESTPAC.
Lest we fergit, 1960's-70's GUAM TAOTAMONAS > UNILATERAL US STRATEGIC PULLOUT/ROLLBACK BACK TO EASTPAC + CONUS = US SINKS GUAM + KEY PACIFIC ISLES [ala Earthquake/Tectonic Bombs] TO DENY TO ENEMIES I.E. CHINA + PLA.
As part of MilPol = Geopol so-called "A2/Area-Denial".
D *** NG IT, ITS ONLY BEEN 40-PLUS YEARS - WHATS THE HOLD-UP!?
The good news for OWG Amerika is that HAWAII may naturally sink on its own - no EMP Bombs need apply.
* FYI TOPIX > THE US MUST NOT WEAKEN ITS [National, Global] MILITARY STRATEGY.
* REUTERS > JOHN KERRY: US "BEGINNING TO BEHAVE LIKE [weak?] POOR NATION", as due to newfound "New Isolationism".
"New"??? See the above - clearly Jaawhn hasn't talked to God, Madonna andor my Ancestors.
versus
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Maritime Executive] THE FUTURE OF CHINESE EXPEDITIONARY OPERATIONS.
Artic must mean besides Rising China desiring control of Guam-Westpac + Hawaii, espec iff the US' Cold War, post-Cold War, + post-9-11 "2/2-1/2 Ocean War-Navy" strategem has now devol to "2/2-1/2 Brush Wars" [UN = Limited Police Actions/MOOTW] strategy.
* REUTERS > RUSSIA PLANS TO ADD MILITARY BASES IN NICARAGUA, VENEZUELA, OTHER COUNTRIES.
Mama Russia gets revenge agz Reagan-Bush 41, Iran-Contra, Bruce Springstein + that Guy from Guam.
#9
Hungary, 1956 - No one does anything.
Czech, 1968 - No one does anything.
Poland, 1980 - No one does anything.
Georgia, 2008 - No one does anything.
Ukrain, 2014 -
After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next.
For those comments, she was mocked by the high-brow Foreign Policy magazine and its editor Blake Hounshell, who now is one of the editors of Politico magazine.
In light of recent events in Ukraine and concerns that Russia is getting its troops ready to cross the border into the neighboring nation, nobody seems to be laughing at or dismissing those comments now.
Hounshell wrote then that Palin's comments were "strange" and "this is an extremely far-fetched scenario."
"And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine's pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don't see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel," Hounshell dismissively wrote.
Palin made her remarks on the stump after Obama's running mate Joe Biden warned Obama supporters to "gird your loins" if Obama is elected because international leaders may test or try to take advantage of him.
#2
You know what would win America's wars ? Have Obama DECREE that the US Marines get "sensitivity " training and that the US Army Rangers get twerking lessons.
You don't have to be an Oracle to know how the US military feel about Obama and Biden, do you?
#3
Obama's true believers don't give a damn about issues like this. Just keep their bennies flowing and have something on the tube/cable, and they'll be happy - forever!
#5
The only enemies Obama sees are domestic political opposition. His blindness in this pursuit is that external black swan events can impact internal economics and stability to the point that everything only spirals down and out of control in his centralization of power.
#7
You can't drive a car while drinking. You can't carry a firearm in many states if have been drinking. You can vote without identification and if you're dumb as a box of rocks about our political process and country. You can probably vote if you if you have been drinking or high or drugs. Something is wrong with that.
#10
Yes, I've never figured out the rationale for closing alcoholic beverage sales on election day considering how 'tight' they are on who's stuffing the ballot box anyway.
#2
We'd better hope and pray the Russians don't parachute into Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase. That's what we better pray for. Imagine a few hundred or thousand US soldiers being "detained" in a captured Romanian airfield ?
#4
Imagine a few hundred or thousand US soldiers being "detained" in a captured Romanian airfield ?
Yeah?
The American people wouldn't DO a damn thing. Ask Bruce and Dwayne. Who would follow the US who was a US citizen anyplace except to watch the democrats twerking for votes by passing out free stuff?
The US is incapable of fighting a real enemy who believes in something...because clue you..WHAT does the US believe in anymore? What is worth fighting for in the US...free stuff and no jobs and selling your wife's engagement ring to keep the heat turned on in the trailer while you look for a job that isn't there ?
Obamacare and your cancellation letter ? What American VALUES are worth more than a used Condom ? Anybody been to Church lately? Be sure and lock your doors and get tested for AIDS, Hero.
#5
The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie has been utterly forgotten and rightly so. The US gov't violated it wholesale by 1877, and the US Supreme Court by 1980 did hold that the treaty had been violated, yet did not order a restoration of the terms, only assessed a monetary settlement, which the other party - the Indians - refused, wanting their land BACK.
Let this Ukrainian defense treaty be handled the exact same way. Give the Ukrainians a few $million and tell them to get lost. It'll be all nice & legal.
#7
Don't recall the Senate ratifying said 'treaty'. Of course if dear leader doesn't feel compelled to follow the Constitution, why would he feel compelled by any 'treaty'.
4.The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council (Home of the Strongly Worded Letter TM) action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.
...
6.The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will consult in the event a situation arises which raises a question concerning these commitments.
#11
But let's just say Obama has recovered from Happy Hour, he has a Bloody Mary and a targets list and he's ready to show he an ass kickin cock knocker, that the reason he wears mom jeans is that the hotties are in his pants so often his has shredded. I think he runs into a couple problems.
1. His base is kinda big fans of Mother Russia. I would love to see a split between the Loyalists and the Communists.
2. Totally unprepared. He has had this issue so successfully ignored that the media is sporting regional maps with f'n Czechoslovakia intact. People went to sleep glowing that President Peace Prize was learning the samba and playing footsie with the boys it was a bit shocking to turn on the TV and see Tomahawks streaking into Libya. Actually set a case before an action for Syria and couldn't pull that one off, so now he would be able to convince the US public to take the Bear head-on? Doubtful.
3. So a week after big publicity about gutting the military, is he going to order a counter-attack against Russia at Russia's doorstep?
#12
Russia could invade Alaska and the only impact to Obama would be a delayed tee time. Nothing to see hear and I suspect a main stream media to stop showing any Ukraine footage.
#13
swksvoiff, your point 2 is what has me so angry. If a Cold War relic like me saw this coming a mile away, then where the hell have the intel people bee? Where is the press, who should be crowing about this being covered in their back issues a long time ago, and harshly holding the administration accountable for being asleep at the wheel?
Our unfree press needs to be broken up, demolished, and rebuilt from the bottom up. If anarchy comes, editors and compliant reporters should be hung from lamp posts, or else shot on sight as the enablers of those politicians who will have caused the downfall.
#17
Putin holds all the cards, from gas to Afghanistan.
It looks at the moment like Ukraine won't resist militarily, but if they do, this will get very ugly.
The only possible card the West holds is to persuade the Turks to close the Bosphorus to the Russian Navy, and while the Turks have no love for the Russians, I think it very unlikely the Turks would agree.
[DAWN] GUJRANWALA: The police on Friday sent former MNA Mudassar Qayyum Nahra behind the bars moments after District and Sessions Judge Tariq Iftikhar sentenced him to one-year imprisonment in a bogus degree case.
The verdict (including a minor fine) sent the former MNA's supporters in frenzy.
Nahra contested the 2007 general elections for an NA-100 seat as an independent candidate and defeated PML-Q's Rana Bilal Ijaz, son of former MNA Rana Ijaz Ahmad, with a huge margin. Later, he expressed his confidence in the leadership of the PML-N.
His electoral rival challenged his graduation degree in an election tribunal of the Lahore High Court. Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh on June 21, 2010 disqualified him and ordered by-election in the constituency. Nahra filed an appeal in the Supreme Court a three-member bench (led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry) of which upheld the election tribunal's decision. The court also ordered registration of a case against him.
On the advice of the Election Commission of Pakistain, the Civil Lines police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against him on Aug 11, 2012 and also submitted charge-sheet in the sessions court.
The D&SJ recorded the statements of several witnesses during a year and a half and reserved the verdict two days ago after hearing arguments of both sides.
Friday's verdict created uproar in court as the police locked away Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! the convict amid resistance by his supporters who rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the law enforcers and rival politicians.
The PML-N had awarded ticket to his brother, Azhar Qayyum Nahra, for the same seat in the 2013 general elections and he defeated former PPP MNA Tassadaq Masood and other aspirants.
Nahra said he would move the Lahore High Court against the verdict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Wonder how that works for a bogus birth certificate?
[An Nahar] The Maronite Catholic Church in the United States has ordained a married Lebanese priest for the first time in nearly a century, after Pope Francis gave his permission.
A ceremony at the ornate St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis ordained Deacon Wissam Akiki on Thursday night.
Eastern Catholic churches in the Middle East and Europe ordain married men. However, the Vatican banned the practice in America in the 1920s after Latin-rite bishops complained it was confusing for parishioners. But Pope John Paul II called for greater acceptance of Eastern Catholic traditions. And over the years, popes have made exceptions on a case-by-case basis for married men to become Eastern Catholic priests in the U.S.
"Almost half of our priests in Lebanon are married, so it's not an unusual event in the life of the Maronite Church, though in the United States it is," Deacon Louis Peters, chancellor at St. Raymond's, said Thursday.
Peters said the pope's action does not lift the ban on married priests in the U.S. It is simply an exception.
Whether the decision would open the door for more married priests wasn't clear. Experts cautioned against reading too much into it.
"This is certainly not an automatic indication that the mandate of celibacy within Roman rite will be overturned," said Randy Rosenberg, a theological studies professor at Saint Louis University.
Akiki, 41, completed seminary studies at Holy Spirit University in Lebanon, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. He has been a deacon at St. Raymond's since 2009 and worked as the assistant to the bishop. He and his wife, Manal Kassab, have one daughter, Perla, 8.
Peters said that in the most recent Maronite Patriarchal Synod, the church reaffirmed its position in support of allowing married priests, a tradition that, worldwide, dates back centuries.
Peters said having married priests "does not in any way detract from the value that the church finds in the vocation to celibacy. The celibate priesthood continues to be highly esteemed."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I served as an altar boy once for a married Catholic priest (in good standing) in 1958. Byzantine Rite, visiting a local Latin Rite monsignor. I received a brief orientation to key points, but otherwise it was all Greek to me. Nothing confusing about that, unless you want to make something of it.
Hat tip Wapo.
BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping personally took charge of a new government body overseeing China's cybersecurity and vowed Thursday to turn China into a "cyber power," according to state-run media.
Xi's move to head up the new Central Internet Security and Informatization Leading Group comes amid increasing tensions between the United States and China over concerns about cyber-intrusions carried out by both governments. It also takes place on the heels of a crackdown by Chinese authorities on online dissent that has resulted in the arrest and suppression of numerous bloggers. All your data are belong to us!
[Fox News] There are "significant construction flaws" in some newer, double-walled storage tanks at Washington state's Hanford nuclear waste complex, which could lead to additional leaks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Those tanks hold some of the worst radioactive waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.
One of the 28 giant underground tanks was found to be leaking in 2012. But subsequent surveys of other double-walled tanks performed for the U.S. Department of Energy by one of its Hanford contractors found at least six shared defects with the leaking tank that could lead to future leaks, the documents said. Thirteen additional tanks also might be compromised, according to the documents.
Questions about the storage tanks jeopardize efforts to clean up radioactive waste at the southeastern Washington site. Those efforts already cost taxpayers about $2 billion a year. The contract that just keeps on giving and giving.
"It is time for the Department (of Energy) to stop hiding the ball and pretending that the situation at Hanford is being effectively managed," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote Friday in a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Notice if you will, no comment from Washington State politicians, only those downstream.
Energy Department officials in Richland said the agency continues to make thorough inspections of the tanks, and has increased the frequency of those inspections.
"They used to be reviewed every five to seven years," said Tom Fletcher, the Energy Department's assistant manager for tank farms. "Now we are moving to a three-year time frame."
The department is in the process of inspecting the final eight double-walled tanks at Hanford that have not been analyzed since the leak was detected in late 2012, Fletcher said Friday.
No new leaks have been found, he said. But the three-eyed catfish as still turning up in the Columbia River.
"If there are changes or improvements we need to make in the program, based on what we learn, to make sure we capture the risks that exist on the money tank farms, we will make them," Fletcher said.
He added the Energy Department continues to examine the benefits of building new storage tanks at Hanford.
How about we to the environmental terrorists to go to hell and go back to the original Yucca Mountain plan.
Tom Carpenter of the citizen watchdog group Hanford Challenge said he wasn't surprised that more of the double-walled tanks are in danger of leaking.
"These tanks have an engineered design life, and we are reaching the end," Carpenter said. "It's bad planning that they don't have new tanks up and running." What can one expect for a paltry $ 2 billion per year?
While new tanks are expensive, cleaning up a leak is more expensive, he added. "The price for cleaning up the environment once this stuff gets out there is incalculable."
Hanford contains some 53 million gallons of high-level radioactive wastes from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. They are stored in 177 underground storage tanks, many of which date back to World War II and are single-walled models that have leaked. The 28 double-walled tanks were built from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Current plans call for transferring wastes from leaking single-walled tanks to the newer and bigger double-walled tanks, where the waste will be stored while a $13 billion plant for treating the waste is constructed. But the treatment plant is plagued with design problems and construction has stalled.
The situation did not appear dire until the news in October 2012 that the oldest of the double-walled tanks, called AY-102, had leaked, becoming the first of those 28 tanks to do so.
At the time, the Energy Department blamed construction problems with this particular tank for the leak and said it "seems unlikely" that the other double-walled tanks would leak.
However, Wyden said engineering reviews of six other double-walled tanks "found significant construction flaws in those six tanks essentially similar to those at the leaking tank." Those six tanks contain about 5 million gallons of radioactive wastes, wrote Wyden, who until recently was chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
For instance, one tank was found to have bulging "in the primary and secondary bottoms," according to the documents obtained through Wyden's office. The tank also had a high number of welds that were rejected by inspectors and done again during its construction.
Additionally, a review of 13 other double-walled tanks found they were in better shape than the leaker. "But construction issues identified for these tanks, such as weld rejection rates, are cause for concern" and raise "uncertainty of long-term tank integrity," Wyden wrote.
That means that 20 of the 28 double-walled tanks at Hanford raise some level of concern. Placing the contractor offices, break areas, and day-care facilities below the tanks, would that help ? Wyden said the Energy Department should take a new look at proposals by the governors of Washington and Oregon to build new storage tanks at Hanford. Such tanks are likely to cost more than $100 million each.
The senator also criticized the Energy Department for releasing a "framework" for the cleanup of Hanford in September that did not mention the construction flaws in the double-walled tanks. He called that "indefensible." DOE response "indefensible?" What did he expect, honesty in a government agency response ?
"The citizens living along banks of the Columbia River deserve to know the full story of what is happening with the Hanford tanks," Wyden wrote. Residents are assuming the worst. Site employees have been LEAKING the truth for years.
Wyden asked the Energy Department to respond with an action plan in 45 days.
Hanford, located near Richland, The Atomic City
stores about two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste.
Officials have said the leaking materials pose no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take perhaps years for the chemicals to reach groundwater. A US Government assurance. I feel much better now.
The federal government built Hanford at the height of World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[LA Times] A 78-year-old man declared dead and zipped into a body bag began moving and breathing when placed on a table inside a Lexington, Miss., funeral home. And the local coroner said he believes it's nothing short of a miracle from God....
North Korea
[An Nahar] Russia said Friday that it would fast-track passports for members of Ukraine's elite Berkut riot police force after the unit was disbanded by Kiev's new authorities, and issue them in the main Crimean city of Simferopol.
[An Nahar] Deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych insisted Friday in his first public appearance since fleeing to Russia that he had not been 
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
U.S. Secretary of State 
[Egypt Independent] A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said on Friday that more than 80 helicopters of the types Mi-24 and Mi-8 were moved from military bases in the west of the country to emergency airports.
