#2
$555M contract just awarded for Missouri NG facilities upgrade... awarded a $555,000,000 firm-fixed-price, multiple award task order contract (37 contracts, $15 million each) for maintenance, repair, construction, and design and building services for the Mississippi National Guard. Funding and work location will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 14, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with 49 received. National Guard Bureau, Jackson, Mississippi, is the contracting activity.
[CBSNEWS] NASCAR added a rule Friday barring its drivers from approaching the track or moving cars after accidents, less than a week after driver Kevin Ward Jr. was struck and killed during a dirt-track race in New York.
If a car is involved in an accident and can no longer keep going - and no extenuating circumstances exist such as smoke in the cockpit or fire - the driver should not loosen any personal safety equipment until directed to do so by safety personnel or a NASCAR or track official. After being told to exit the car, the driver should proceed to an emergency vehicle or as otherwise directed.
The rule takes effect immediately and applies to all of NASCAR's series.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
They already have a law for that, Darwin's law.
[THEGUARDIAN] The most prestigious international tournament in chess, at which the world's top players compete alongside amateurs to win honours for their country, has ended on a sombre note after two players died suddenly within hours of each other, one while he was in the middle of a match.
Hundreds of spectators attending the 41st Chess Olympiad in Troms, Norway, and countless others watching live TV coverage on Norway's state broadcaster, reacted with shock after Kurt Meier, 67, a Swiss-born member of the Seychelles team, collapsed on Thursday afternoon, during his final match of the marathon two-week contest. Despite immediate medical attention at the scene he died later in hospital.
Hours later, a player from Uzbekistan who has not yet been named was found dead in his hotel room in central Troms. Norwegian police and the event's organisers said on Friday they were not treating the deaths as suspicious.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#4
Ah, yes Shipman. From the film "The Seventh Seal." My favorite when I was in college. The knight plays chess with Death while others get away.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/16/2014 14:09 Comments ||
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#5
Look again AP, that ain't a knight, that's Bobby. Bobby forced so many odd match rules on Death that he quit in frustration trailing 4-2-2. He insisted that Bobby was "looking at him funny".
A US Federal Judge pounded the last nails in the coffin of freedom in Maryland when she ruled that AR-15s are dangerous and unusual. I can't go into the details because I believe the federal judiciary will not and cannot rule favorably for the 2nd Amendment until Congress tells them to. Until then, expect more rulings such as this. Federal judges now have an excuse to ban ARs.
Last week Missouri voters decided to provide their state judiciary with the tools needed to protect the right to keep and bear arms. While not nullifying local or state gun laws, the Missouri state Constitution was amended to provide judges with the basis for ruling on challenges to gun laws. Oklahoma has a similar initiative on the ballot for the November general election. The measure in Missouri passed by nearly a two to one margin.
Prices for both rifle and pistol ammunition were mostly lower. Prices for used rifles and used pistols were mixed.
Pistol Ammo
.45 Caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: O.D. Green Supply, Tulammo, steel cased, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Browning Ammo and More, American Quality, reloaded, .30 per round (From Last Week: +.02 Each)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: I.Q. Metals, HSM, FMJ, Factory Seconds .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Store Brand, reloaded, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged)
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (5 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, Steel Cased, FMJ, .20 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store Brand, Reloaded, RN, .19 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged)
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Today's Ammo, Prvi Partizan, SJHP, .38 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 250: LAX Ammunition, Store Brand, Reloaded, .34 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: LV Ammo, Wartak, steel cased, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Munire USA, Tulammo, steel cased, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged)
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (7 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Barnaul, steel cased, .41 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Silver Bear, steel cased, .45 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammunition Depot, Wolf, steel case, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Brown Bear, steel case, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds (2 box limit): O.D. Green Supply, CCI Blazer, Brass, .08 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Outdoor Unlimited, Aquila, .10 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 weeks))
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $565 Last Week Avg: $595 (+)
California (216, 208): Smith & Wesson M&P15): $400 (!!)
Texas (300, 304): Palmetto State Armory: $599
Pennsylvania (151, 155): DPMS Carbine: $600
Virgina (208, 216): Anderson Arms: $625
Florida (409, 404): Palmetto State Armory (M4 pattern): $600 (Prolly Same Gun)
.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,005 Last Week Avg: $1,025 (-)
California (51, 53): DPMS LR308: $925
Texas (52, 55): DPMS LAR308: $1,000
Pennsylvania (25, 22): Bushmaster: $1,100 (Same Gun)
Virginia (46, 44): DPMS LR308: $900 (!)
Florida (78, 82): DPMS: $1,100 (Same Gun)
7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $570 Last Week Avg: $610 (-)
California (42, 39): Zastava PAP M-92 (Krinkov Pattern) : $625
Texas (69, 63): CAI (Tricked Out) : $650
Pennsylvania (49, 51): Zastava: $450 (!!)
Virginia (74, 73): Czech VZ58: $525 (!)
Florida (132, 135): Romak (Underfold Stock) : $600
7.62x54mm (Dragunov Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,000 Last Week Avg: $1,000 ()
California (0): None Available
Texas (0): None Available
Pennsylvania (0): None Available
Virginia (1, 1): Romak PSL: $1,200 (Same Gun)
Florida (7, 7): Romak PSL: $800 (Same Gun) (!)
Pistols
.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $447 Last Week Avg: $411 (+)
California (186, 175): Auto Ordnance: $460
Texas (234, 232): Tisas: $400 (Same Gun)
Pennsylvania (176, 176): Rock Island Armory: $425
Virginia (189, 184): Wilson Combat: $550
Florida (394, 378): American Tactical Imports: $400
9mm (Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic) Average Price: $424 Last Week Avg: $430 (-)
California (155, 147): Glock 19: $450 (Same Gun)
Texas (328, 307): Glock 19: $450
Pennsylvania (220, 215): Sig Sauer P250C: $400
Virginia (251, 262): Beretta Storm Px4: $400 (Same Gun)
Florida (492, 468): Glock 17: $420
.40 caliber S&W (Glock and other semiautomatic) Average Price: $399 Last Week Avg: $398 (+)
California (105, 103): Springfield XD40: $420
Texas (161, 146): Springfield XD40: $450
Pennsylvania (132, 124): Glock 22: $375 (!) (Same Gun)
Virginia (125, 123): Glock 22: $350 (!)
Florida (235, 249): Smith & Wesson M&P40CPx4: $400
ERGEANT KOLLIE TOWN, Liberia -- Rubber gloves were nearly as scarce as doctors in this part of rural Liberia, so Melvin Korkor would swaddle his hands in plastic grocery bags to deliver babies.
His staff didn't bother even with those when a woman in her 30s stopped by complaining of a headache. Five nurses, a lab technician -- then a local woman who was helping out -- cared for her with their bare hands.
Within weeks, all of them died. The woman with a headache, they learned too late, had Ebola.
On July 3, the staff realized that the woman they had been treating with bare hands wasn't a local villager with a headache. She was an Ebola patient who had broken out of a hospital about 100 miles away under circumstances that are still unclear. By July 15, the woman had died.
So had three nurses.
Somewhere in the workplace exchange of handshakes and sweat, Dr. Korkor caught the virus, too.
Days later, Dr. Korkor felt a chill rush through his body. He locked himself in a bedroom away from his family until a blood test returned -- positive for Ebola. A car took him to an Ebola ward in the capital.
For five days, he read the Bible on a cot in an Ebola ward, watching his colleagues bleed to death from a disease they weren't equipped or trained to treat.
The room smelled of bleach, blood and vomit, he said. Most of the roughly 15 patients inside appeared to be health workers, including the man dying next to him in their two-cot cubicle.
One morning, Dr. Korkor realized he was lying across from the chief doctor at the country's top hospital, Samuel Brisbane, under whom he had done his residency. "He said, 'My son, you're here?'" Dr. Korkor recalled. "I said, 'Yes, Doc.'"
Dr. Brisbane died the next day, his obituary displayed prominently on front pages of the country's newspapers. He probably contracted Ebola giving a patient cardiopulmonary resuscitation without a pair of gloves, said Wvanne McDonald, chief executive officer of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center, where Dr. Brisbane worked.
For the next three days, Dr. Korkor forced down balls of rice and, by his count, drank 24 bottles of water -- one every hour. Finally, he felt his chills disappear and his hunger rebound with ferocity. After a blood test and four showers in bleach-spiked water, the staff let him leave.
On a recent Tuesday morning, chickens were clucking in the yard at his home as he sat in a chair under a tree. "Ebola-free!" he laughed over the phone to a friend.
The ordeal, though, has left him torn. He can stay in Liberia and risk his life to fight the outbreak -- on a $1,000-a-month paycheck -- or try to move his family to America, to work his way up a hospital system that hasn't collapsed.
He glanced at the porch, where his wife, daughter, two sons, mother-in-law, niece and niece's daughter were hanging about. "If I'm going to die, God forbid, who's going to take care of them?" he asked.
If he stays in Liberia, Dr. Korkor said, he is going to need a great deal more supplies. He isn't going back to work until he gets them. "This time around," he said, "we're not going to improvise."
----
As of Tuesday, at least 36 health workers in Liberia had died from the disease, according to health ministry records. Many who have caught but survived the virus are traumatized, as are colleagues, and may prove difficult to coax back to work.
Their absence is deeply felt. Even before Ebola, Liberia -- with just 51 doctors for four million people -- had the second-fewest physicians per person on Earth, after Tanzania, according to the WHO.
Hospital staff members throughout Liberia, including at Dr. Korkor's Phebe Hospital, have gone on strike until the government meets their demands. They want rubber gloves, safety goggles, protective suits, life insurance and a fivefold pay increase for the hazardous work. The government has said it plans to meet those requests.
In the meantime, because doctors aren't at work, other diseases besides Ebola are going untreated. As a result, those ailments -- chiefly typhoid and dysentery -- may be killing more West Africans than Ebola, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.
Hospitals across the region have closed at the peak of malaria season. Meningitis, measles and polio vaccinations are on hold, said Liberia's information minister, Lewis Brown.
A Liberian clinic called Dolo Town Health Center shut down last month when it ran out of gloves and left staff members to choose between treating Ebola patients bare-handed or leaving, said MacFarland Keraulah, a physician's assistant. The clinic had received only one glove delivery since April, and it was a single box of 50 pairs.
Since the staff walked off, 37 people have died of Ebola in that area, two hours outside the Liberian capital of Monrovia. Seven were health workers at another now-closed health center, according to workers.
Both clinics are in a 200-square-mile forest of rubber trees. "We are sitting inside one of the world's largest rubber plantations, and people are dying because we don't have gloves," Mr. Keraulah said.
[AnNahar] The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... is to step up food aid to reach up to a million people affected by the Ebola outbreak wreaking havoc in west Africa, the World Food Program (WFP) said Friday.
A lovely idea. But 1) where is the funding to come from, and 2) how will these people be reached without exposing WFP personnel to the infection?
With states of emergency and severe restrictions on movement imposed in the three worst-hit countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the U.N. agency is bringing in its own aircraft to transport its personnel.
"The restrictions on movement in the most affected areas threatens food security," WFP spokeswoman Fabienne Pompey said. "Commerce is affected, people cannot get to their fields, and prices rise at the markets so the poorest have trouble feeding themselves."
The WFP is already feeding several thousand people in the worst affected areas, including the families of victims who have been quarantined, orphans and old people and hunters hit by the ban on the sale of bushmeat.
With several commercial carriers suspending flights to the region because of the epidemic, she said the agency is starting up a special line on Saturday with an aircraft based in the Guinean capital Conakry to link the capitals of the three countries.
She said two helicopters will also be brought in to help staff reach the most isolated areas.
#1
I start in to comment, check the source, and realize it's likely either BS or somebody's buddy's press release, from the home of wishful thinking and easy condemnation.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/16/2014 8:05 Comments ||
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[AAWSAT.NET] Japan "strongly protested" on Wednesday against Russian military exercises on Pacific islands that it also claims and which have been at the root of strained relations between the two countries since the end of the Second World War.
The exercises on the disputed islands are a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to court resource-rich Russia and keep the door open to dialogue, despite the Ukraine crisis.
Russia seized the islands from Japan in the waning days of the Second World War and the dispute over them has prevented the neighbors from signing a formal peace treaty.
The islands are known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.
"Carrying out this sort of exercises in the Northern Territories is totally unacceptable," Abe told news hounds.
Japan lodged a "strong protest" at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling the exercises "extremely regrettable."
Japan had already protested at the beginning of the military exercises but reiterated its objections on Wednesday.
Colonel Alexander Gordeyev, a front man for Russia's Eastern Military District, told the Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday that the exercises had begun, involving military units in the region deployed to the islands.
Gordeyev said more than 1,000 troops, five Mi-8AMTSh attack helicopters and 100 other pieces of military hardware would be involved in the maneuvers.
The exercises included Etorofu and Kunashiri islands, which Japan claims. It also claims Shikotan island and the Habomai islet group.
Russia is at odds with Western powers over what NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... says is its massing of military forces along the border with Ukraine for a possible invasion to boost pro-Russian separatists in the country's east. Russia denies any such intent.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Ironically, JAPAN = GUAM = Russian flybys may help deter China + PLA.
FYI there are renewed fears of un-intended or accidental China-Japan mil clash or major war breaking out after 3 China CG ships allegedly once again violated Japan's territorial waters in and around the China-claimed Senkakus/Diaoyu Islands + Okinawa.
* TOPIX > [SCMP] BEIJING WARNS ALL OUTSIDE ASEAN AGZ INVOLVEMENT IN SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTES.
* SAME > [USNI] PANEL: TAIWAN FACING INCREASING CHINESE PRESSURE.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [The Diplomat] NAVAL FORTRESSES. AN OLD CONCEPT FOR A NEW ERA? AS US NAVAL DOMINANCE WANES, FORTRESSES MAY ONCE AGAIN BECOME A VIABLE STRATEGIC DEFENSE.
* SAME > [Business Spectator] CHINA'S MILITARY PROVOCATIONS IN THE PACIFIC IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN.
* SAME > [Defence One] APPRECIATING CHINA'S BIG NEW SEAPLANE.
Don't dismiss the poten decisive value or utility of Old MilTech in Modern or Advanced Warfare just because its "old".
Lest we fergit, CHINA IS PLANNING TO EMABRK ON A BUILDING SPREE OF MASSIVE NEW FLEET OF LR AIR TRANSPORT/CARGO PLANES.
ALL THOSE WHOM BELIEVE THAT CHINA + PLA DON'T POSSESS ENOUGH STRATEGIC AIRLIFT FOR ITS AIRBORNE FORCES + SPECOPS TO ATTACK GUAM-WESTPAC ARE ABOUT TO BE PROVEN WRONG.
* REUTERS > MULTINATIONAL "GUAMEX" FOCUSES ON ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE [ASW].
h/t Gates of Vienna
...The French economy showed zero growth for the second consecutive quarter of 2014 forcing the government to immediately revise its growth forecasts for the year and accept defeat in its attempt to meet deficit reduction targets set by Brussels. Antisemitism is not an economic activity? It was counter-balanced by the riots...
...However shock figures which showed the German economy had actually contracted in the second quarter by 0.2 percent, confirmed to some economists that the heart of the problem lies within the eurozone and not just France.
..."We can't call France the 'sick child' of Europe," Eric Heyer, from the French Economic Observatory tells The Local. It's completely different from the old Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Anyone can see that...
"The whole of the eurozone is extremely ill". And soon to be Judenfrei---that'll really help
#1
In the US, we just have to wait for various 'revisions' of the numbers, four months, six months after the government's press release lies to get the news.
#2
We can fault the Eurozone and poke fun, but I'll wager events such as those in Ferguson, Missouri wouldn't last long in Germany, and the Polizei wouldn't be wearing military style uniforms either.
[DAWN] MANSEHRA: A robber was killed and two copperswere maimed in an 'encounter' in Lada Malli forest of Kaghan valley on Friday.
"A robber was killed and two copperswere maimed during an encounter occurred after a group of bandidosshot up police in the forested area of the valley," said Malik Asif, Sub-Inspector of Kaghan cop shoppe.
He said that the incident happened during a search operation which was started following a robbery incident in the area. "When a group of four to five robbers saw the police party, they opened indiscriminate fire on them, injuring two police men, Inyatur Rehman and Iqlakh Ahmad," he added.
The official said that the police retaliated and fired on the robbers, killing one of them on the spot. The dead robber was later identified as Afsar Khan of Dasu area of Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... district.
Mr Asif said that all the other robbers managed to escape the area and that police were making efforts to arrest them.
"We are sure that one of the fleeing robbers was also injured in retaliatory fire, but his aides helped him to fee with them.
But we are going after them and soon will be able to arrest them," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Research conducted among 1,300 Israelis during 2008 Israeli operation in Gazoo reveals that moderate 'social drinking' can reduce depression related to terror and war.
Moderate consumption of alcohol can reduce anxiety and depression related to terror and war, according to an American-Israeli study which explored this link among Israelis during the 2008 Operation Cast Lead in Gazoo.
The researchers also found that the level of depression among those who drank regularly was significantly lower about a year after the operation, compared to those who did not consume alcohol.
"This may be a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy," says the study's Israeli researcher, Prof. Daphna Canetti of the University of Haifa's School of Political Science. "Whoever drinks alcohol is more open in social settings, thereby allowing friends and family members to strengthen him and reduce the levels of depression."
Previous studies have focused on the negative aspects of alcohol consumption. This time, the researchers asked universities in the United States and the University of Haifa to look into the link between social support from family and friends, alcohol consumption and a state of depression, in light of Operation Cast Lead.
Some 1,300 Israeli adults, Jews and Arabs who are dealing intensively with terror and war, participated in the study, which was funded by the American National Institute on Mental Health.
The respondents were asked about their exposure to terror or rocket fire, financial damage in light of acts of terror or bombings, their ability to turn to friends and relative in order to deal with the situation, consumption of alcohol — mainly wine and beer, and their political views.
The participants answered these questions twice: Once during Operation Cast Lead, and again about 10 months later. The researchers neutralized different variables which could have affected the results, such as demography, political ideology and health issues, and examined only the influence of alcohol consumption.
The findings pointed to a higher level of social support among all the respondents, both from their family members and from their friends, which led to a drop in depression. Among those who consumed alcohol at least once a week, the level of depression was much lower compared to those who rarely or never consumed alcohol.
The researchers also found lower levels of depression after 10 months among those who consumed alcohol regularly, pointing to a long-term and permanent effect.
"Those who drank alcohol at least once a week benefitted more from the social support," explains Prof. Canetti. "In other words, alcohol consumption made the social support more efficient in terms of reducing the depression level."
According to the researchers, a possible explanation of this phenomenon stems from the theory that people consume alcohol expecting to make gains, mainly social ones. Therefore, it's likely that during a crisis like the rocket fire from Gazoo they tend to engage in "social drinking" with friends and family, and will be more open to the calming influence of social support.
The researchers stress that previous studies point to the negative effects of heavy alcohol consumption, and so they assume that the positive effects are linked to low levels of controlled alcohol consumption.
"We have no doubt that there is a certain level in which alcohol consumption no longer has a positive effect on the social support," they concluded. "Additional research is warranted to determine exactly where this borderline passes. It's important to note, however, that the new finding about the positive link between regular alcohol consumption and reduced depression is highly important both from a research aspect and from a therapeutic level."
#3
Humphrey Bogart once said "The problem is the whole world is one drink behind."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/16/2014 8:16 Comments ||
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#4
Well, golly, some 4000 years of drinking and whoring for those who butcher each other all day had to have some evolutionary effect till modern man invented psychotropic drugs and psychology as a wholesome substitute.
#6
As Chesty Puller said: "Our country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any America—because some foreign soldiery will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race." Of course, if it does become wussified, it might not be worth fighting for.
#8
They banned that too. Unless, it's gay. Then like illegals, it become a 'protected' group outside the rule of law (they never repealed Article 125).
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.
[CBSNEWS] NASCAR added a rule Friday barring its drivers from approaching the track or moving cars after accidents, less than a week after driver Kevin Ward Jr. was struck and killed during a dirt-track race in New York.
"Those who drank alcohol at least once a week benefitted more from the social support," 
