[Stars and Stripes] A senior Navy intelligence official has been indicted on charges of theft and conspiracy as part of a long-running federal investigation into a secretive military operation featuring the Navy SEALs and untraceable weapons parts.
David W. Landersman, formerly the senior director for intelligence in an obscure Pentagon office that dabbled in covert programs, becomes the third person charged in a mysterious case that has already resulted in two convictions.
Prosecutors charge that Landersman helped arrange a sweetheart $1.6 million defense contract for his brother -- a bankrupt California hot-rod mechanic -- to manufacture untraceable rifle silencers that turned out to be junk and cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture. Very difficult to make it these days in the clandestine weapons and accessories small business arena.
The Linden, NJ, cop who drove head-on into a tractor trailer on the West Shore Expressway in Staten Island last March — killing his fellow cop and another pal — is now claiming he may have been drugged with a date-rape drug at the borough’s notorious Curves Gentleman’s Club.
The lawyer for allegedly drunken wrong-way driver and suspended cop Pedro Abad raised the Hail Mary defense during an appearance on his aggravated vehicular homicide indictment in Staten Island Supreme Court Thursday, the Staten Island Advance reported.
The blame-it-on-the-strippers gambit does not take into account Abad’s two prior DUI arrests or the tests showing he had a .24 blood alcohol level after the fatal crash — three times the legal limit.
Found an American democrat politician registry, did they?
This will make for interesting Thanksgiving dinner table conversations.
Violent protests erupted on November 24 last year, when it was decided that Wilson would not be indicted in connection with the shooting.
During the demonstrations KKK members warned protesters that 'lethal force' would be used against them.
Now ahead of the anniversary of the protests, Anonymous say they plan to unmask the identities of 1,000 members.
In a statement last week, the hacking group wrote: 'KKK it has came to our unfortunate attention that you have been interacting your racists motivations and potentially targeting people of different races.
'We are not attacking you because of what you believe in as we fight for freedom of speech,
'We are attacking you because of what you do to our brothers and sisters.
'Due to your actions we will be rearranging Operation KKK. We've gained access to yet another one of your KKK Twitter account.
'Using the info obtained, we will be revealing about 1000 of your klan member identities. The aim of our operation is nothing more than Cyber Warfare. Anything you upload will be taken down, anything you use to promote the KKK will be shut down.'
#3
I suspect they would all be known Klan members. Nobody famous would be dumb enough to have a klan connected twitter account. If famous names like Trump appear on the list its a clear political hit job.
#9
Unfortunately, the KKK is still around although not in the numbers of yore. I've had a couple of clown-robed members the last few years. Fortunately I was mounted on a War Horse and armed to the teeth.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/30/2015 8:04 Comments ||
Top||
#10
When can we expect the Black Panthers list? /rhet question
...but I'll settle for the SJW list which should be easy since they make the lists themselves, it shouldn't be that hard.
#11
Can we also have an exposure of Anonymous? Seems that Anonymous (whoever they are) and the Southern Poverty Law Center are about the only groups that think that the KKK exists. I wonder if the left-wing Democrats are on any of these lists as a hate group?
#12
Oh it still exists....there's a reason why people avoid certain small towns in Tennessee and other places. They aren't very active, less you walk on their lawn.
Sharing the weather system that has been causing havoc from Egypt through Israel and Lebanon.
One of the unexpected consequences of the downpour was the accidental detonation of what a senior officer in the Anbar operations command said were hundreds of bombs planted by the Islamic State group to defend the provincial capital of Ramadi.
[AnNahar] Torrential rain caused chaos across several parts of Iraq Thursday, with flood waters sweeping a toddler to her death and damaging camps for displaced people.
The storm that hit Baghdad Wednesday evening was unusually violent and the first after a long, dry summer.
According to a front man for the meteorological department, 54 millimeters (2.1 inches) of rain fell on the Baghdad region in 24 hours, causing thigh-high flooding on some streets.
Continued on Page 49
This is a great article about a fellow from Portland, Oregon who had an idea of buying a B-17 Bomber from an Army Air Force depot in 1947 and mounting it on display at his gas station. What follows is one hilarious and ingenious adventure. Hat tip: Blackfive. Enjoy!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/30/2015 11:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
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#1
Guessing the secret is how to read the article.
Posted by: Mike Mann ||
10/30/2015 6:22 Comments ||
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#2
click the title - it's hyperlinked
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2015 9:19 Comments ||
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#3
I was expecting to read scotchguarding the inside of their uniforms so that the sweat runs out the pants legs without soaking through.
Maybe that is an army airborne DI trick.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/30/2015 11:38 Comments ||
Top||
#4
click the title - it's hyperlinked
All of Rantburg's articles are hyperlinked so that readers can go to the source by clicking on the title, Mr. Mann. This enables the reader to check the original text against Mr. Pruitt's translations -- not a journalist in the world would write "Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason," nor would a single editor allow it -- to see if there is more to the article than the key bits shown here, and to explore the news source for yourself to judge its trustworthiness.
#7
You mock me now, but when I buy Netscape and reactivate Navigator, look out!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/30/2015 14:35 Comments ||
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#8
You see des footprints?
My Uncle Jim was a high ranking ACL d00d but an enlisted Marine. He made the train stop at Beauford every damn time in the middle of the the night. You see these footprints? Once we saw the process begin. It scared the p00p outa me.
Venezuela is running out of money fast and has started selling its gold. The cash-strapped country could default by next year when lots of debt payments are due. Venezuela's reserves, which are mostly made up of gold, have fallen sharply this year as the country needs cash to pay off debt and tries to maintain its social welfare programs.
Nick the Mad has to keep paying off his cronies, his backers, and the poor just to keep his head attached to his neck. It won't last and neither will he. But in the end the country will be destitute. Republicans will be blamed, of course...
Venezuela owes about $15.8 billion in debt payments between now and the end of 2016. But it doesn't have enough to make good on its payments. Venezuela only has $15.2 billion in foreign reserves -- the lowest amount since 2003. A lot of those reserves are in gold. Less than $1 billion of Venezuela's reserves are in cash, and it has a couple billion in reserves at the IMF.
Its government won't say how much gold it currently has. In May, Venezuela had $11.7 billion -- nearly 70% -- of its reserves in gold and it was fast dwindling. In February, it had $14 billion in gold reserves. Both these figures are from the most recent government data.
"It'll have to sell some of its gold reserves to make the debt payments," says Edward Glossop, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. "[Cash] reserves are almost virtually zero."
Venezuela overwhelmingly relies on oil to drive its economy and pay its debts. But with oil prices still low, Venezuela is making little on its oil sales. It has no choice but to dive into its gold reserves to pay some of its bills, experts say.
It's another sign that Venezuela -- despite having the world's largest oil reserves -- could be the worst economy on the planet now. Its currency has plummeted, inflation has skyrocketed over 100% and it can't pay for basic imports like french fries or even napkins. Venezuela's economy is expected to shrink 10% this year, according to the IMF.
Meanwhile its government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, continues to ramp up public spending to beef up pensions, subsidize grocery stores and provide free health care. Those policies are nearly impossible to maintain when oil prices plummet.
"Nearly"?
"The bottom line is that the spending is unsustainable with oil below $50 and needs to be reined in," says Win Thin, global head of emerging markets at Brown Brothers Harriman. Thin believes Venezuela will eventually cut spending to avoid default, but he points out that financial markets overall are predicting a default.
You might think the rest of Venezuela's reserves are all in cash. But they're not. After its gold reserves, its backup fund of $2.3 billion is with the IMF, leaving Venezuela with a paltry sum of actual cash reserves, now under $1 billion.
Experts say there are two possible lifesavers for Venezuela now:
(1) A rally in oil prices could help Venezuela get more money in its coffers. But that's not looking too likely in the short-term.
(2) China or Russia, its key allies, can volunteer to pay its debts. But Russia has its own economic problems and appears unlikely to bail out Venezuela, experts say. China did give Venezuela billions last year, and it could come to the rescue again. But relying on China at a time when its own economy is slowing is unsustainable, experts say.
"It's likely that they get some financing from China," says Alejandro Arreaza, an economist at Barclays, who is from Venezuela.
If anything, some say that the falling reserves are just another example of how poorly mismanaged Venezuela is under Maduro.
"What kind of government does it take to bring a country with the largest oil reserves in the world to the brink of bankruptcy?" says Russ Dallen, managing partner at LatInvest, a Miami-based firm that invests in Venezuela.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/30/2015 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[4 views]
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#1
As the saying goes:
What happens if commies take over the Sahara desert. It will run out of sand.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/30/2015 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
"What kind of government does it take to bring a country with the largest oil reserves in the world to the brink of bankruptcy?" says Russ Dallen,
I'm gonna go with "Socialist" for that one, Russ. The amusing part, if tragedy on a national scale can be funny, is that this isn't the first time a country has done this.
Someone once explained to me that socialism works, the problem is nobody has done it right yet. Hey, maybe next time they'll get it right.
#4
"What kind of government does it take to bring a country with the largest oil reserves in the world to the brink of bankruptcy?" says Russ Dallen, managing partner at LatInvest, a Miami-based firm that invests in Venezuela.
This is comedy gold; I hope that 'investment firm' loses every god damned dime in their Venezuelan 'investments'.
#5
...When the money does run out and they default, I'd love to see every multinational that Venezuela tried to extort/steal their property line up in front of a Federal court politely requesting immediate confiscation of their assets in the US...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/30/2015 5:44 Comments ||
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#6
The last gold delivery will be hand delivered by president Nic himself as he picks out his asylum condo.
#8
Oil isn't going to rebound to its high, ever, now.
The extremely high prices over the past few years served bad actors like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and the Blue State model rent-seekers in the alternative energy scam industry. High fossil fuel prices gave a false sense of economic solvency to wind, solar, etc., that bore no resemblance to reality.
We all owe the oil companies a great debt of gratitude for building all of those fracking wells the over the past few years. Yes, they are sitting idle right now and producing nothing because the price of oil is so low.
But the minute it gets to $70.00 per barrel, they will be running again. It only take ten days or so to restart a fracking well. So if there appears to be a major upswing, the fracking wells get turned on, and oil will now probably never get above $80.00 per barrel.
This effectively caps the ability of the Saudis to mess with the market. It insures that our energy costs at home now have a practical upper limit. It forces the alternative energy industry to either make it in a real market environment or be overt in terms of only existing due to subsidies and take the political flak for doing so.
It also limits the abilities of evil regimes like Venezuela to persist and be solvent.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/30/2015 7:04 Comments ||
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#9
Blue State model rent-seekers in the alternative energy scam industry.
Excellent term of reference :-) Higher crude prices will return. When we will again see $80. oil, who knows. It was $3.75 pb before the oil embargo of the 70's so I suppose anything is possible.
#11
"What kind of government does it take to bring a country with the largest oil reserves in the world to the brink of bankruptcy?" says Russ Dallen, managing partner at LatInvest, a Miami-based firm that invests in Venezuela.
Venezuela's oil is a high sulfur type oil that takes an expensive and complex refinement process to remove it, unlike the light sweet crude from the ME or Northern Europe (or fracking). There isn't a huge demand for it since it has to be shipped as crude to the US (which is the only major country in the world that can refine there shitty oil) and then sold as gasoline. So even though Venezuela has oil, not many people want it when the world is awash in better and cheaper to refine crude types.
So not only the socialist policies are killing the country, the fracking revolution is as well.
#12
This is what happens when the wrong type of socialists are in charge! It'll all be OK as soon as the right type of socialists take charge, just you wait and see!
It's all Bush's fault anyway!
#13
Socialism used to work. It was called the nuclear family. Dad worked to provide wealth and income. Together with Mom, they would budget and redistribute that wealth to the areas of the family which were in need. Things like housing, general welfare, maintenance, healthcare, food, safety, etc. even charity was important. Let's not forget education for the kiddies. Alas that model only worked within a capitalist system.
#14
Venezuela may still be #1 in terms of proven oil reserves, but looking at actual production, the U.S. tops the list, while Venezuela languishes down at number twelve. As I recall from discussions here, after Hugo Chavez nationalized the oil complanies, driving out the foreign staff, the equipment quickly began breaking down. And then there's the fact that he sold a good portion of Venezuela's future annual oil output to China at a price considerably under the market price at the time in exchange for a large infusion of cash. (It now occurs to me to wonder if that price is still below market, and what China might do if it is not.)
#15
...depends on how they agreed to pay. Remember that was the time everyone was attacking the Yankee dollar and looking to use other currency. If the 'deal' was in Chinese currency, remember that in the last year the Chinese devalued theirs, which would mean they're already getting the effects of cheaper level of return on the payments.
#16
TW Venezuela nationalized their oil company PDVSA many years ago. It was the pride of their country, a professional, non corrupt arm of the pueblo. This died in 2002'after the general strike. Some day day I will go back and send pictures, I hope.
[Defense News] HELSINKI -- The critical importance placed by Finnish and Swedish forces on sharpening their land and amphibious combat readiness was underlined by their participation in the NATO-led BALTOPS 2015 exercises focused on defending strategic positions and territories in the Baltic region.
BALTOPS gave Finnish and Swedish ground and amphibious units the opportunity to test equipment and hone mission skills as part of larger-scale forces that included units from nearby NATO states Denmark, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The combined land and amphibious operations were concentrated along the coastlines of Sweden and Poland, including locations in the northern and southern areas of the Baltic Sea, with several exercises taking place close to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the gulf area sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.
BALTOPS, which included a large US multibranch force among the 5,600 troops and 17 nations participating, carried a special significance for Finland and Sweden against a backdrop of unceasing tensions in the region ignited by Moscow's intervention in Ukraine.
Harassment by Russian forces in the region has also increased, including mock missile attacks and suspected submarine incursions to test the readiness of Finland's and Sweden's armed forces.
#2
It is what the Swedes and Fins are mental picturing. :-)
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/30/2015 11:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
What do they think Moscow is going to do, espec given ...
* TOPIX, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > RUSSIA IS NO LONGER A SUPERPOWER: WHITE HOUSE.
WH PressSec Josh Stuart.
Russia is ranked #15 in the World, wid an economy "somewhere behind Spain's"???
VERSUS
1960's-1970's Guam Taotamonas = 2015, Ex-Sole-Superpower-Soon-to-Be-One-of-Many-OWG-Co-Superpowers Amerika may NOT be that far behind???
* LUCIANNE > [IBD.com] AMERICA'S WEAKENING MILITARY STRENGTH IS TERRIFYING.
* TOPIX > [Heritage Fdn.] REPORT: US MILITARY STRENGTH IN DEEP DECLINE AS THREATS RISE.
Iff people think that the Pert, MSM-Net verified
"weak/declining" USA can't or won't use Advanced Miltechs to sink GUAM + OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDS in "A2/AD" = "ANTI-ACCESS/AREA-DENIAL" indignation as it retreats or falls back across the Pacific + World in order to deny the Islands' utility to China + PLA, andor Nuclear Islam, but espec vee China, HAD BETTER THINK AGAIN.
#4
OOOOOPPPPSIES, my bad, forgot to add DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US MUST ACCOMODATE CHINA'S POWER IN THE ISLANDS DISPUTE - OR BE WILLING TO PAY A HIGH PRICE | HUGH WHITE - HUFFINGTON POST.
* IIRC FREEREPUBLIC, TOPIX > [Why] SHOULD WE [US] FIGHT[China] FOR THE SPRATLYS???
Which do OWG Amerikans prefer - US AS SOLE WORLD SUPERPOWER, OR THE US AS ONE OF SEVERAL OR MANY JOINT OR CO-SUPERPOWERS???
PRE-WW2 SOLE SUPERPOWER GREAT BRITAIN + WORLD-DOMINATING ROYAL NAVY; OR POST-WW2, POST-COLD WAR IN-THE-PROCESS-OF-BREAKING-UP GREAT BRITAIN + ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON/LOCAL COAST GUARD FKA EX-WORLD-DOMINATING ROYAL NAVY???
By Andrea Noble - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 29, 2015
Two top senators are probing use by the Internal Revenue Service of secret cellphone tracking systems that are more often utilized by federal or local law enforcement agencies.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen admitted this week that the agency does use the technology, known as cell-site simulators, or StingRays. The admission came after a report by The Guardian that indicated the IRS has spent more than $71,000 to upgrade a version of the device and to receive training from a company that manufactures the devices.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Patrick Leahy on Thursday sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew demanding answers about the use of the technology by the IRS.
#7
I have a problem with the IRS being politically corrupt. How can the donks be so short sighted? E.g., you think that Trump wouldn't counter-punch?
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/30/2015 13:53 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Nothing to worry about...
unless you are a member of the 'other party' or make contributions. See - Joe Doe investigation Wisconsin (which by the way has links to you know who).
Self-driving buses are coming to America. The Bishop Ranch business park in San Ramon, California will be the first place in the U.S. to use French robo-buses to ferry passengers around.
Perhaps the best place for autonomous vehicles to start out is in this kind of training ground, although given the safety record of Google’s self-driving cars, the training might be for us humans in getting used to them. It’s hard to argue that preset routes and low speeds aren’t ideal for an introduction to driverless vehicles, and that’s just what the Easymile company specializes in.
The EZ10 is a driverless bus designed for short hops. It has been deployed in Europe—in Finland, France, and is just about to launch in Spain. The electric vehicles carry up to ten passengers, and have ramps for wheelchairs and strollers. The idea is that they carry you the "last mile" of your journey, and one of their main uses is in theme parks.
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.
[Stars and Stripes] A senior Navy intelligence official has been indicted on charges of theft and conspiracy as part of a long-running federal investigation into a secretive military operation featuring the Navy SEALs and untraceable weapons parts.
Venezuela is running out of money fast and has started selling its gold. The cash-strapped country could default by next year when lots of debt payments are due. Venezuela's reserves, which are mostly made up of gold, have fallen sharply this year as the country needs cash to pay off debt and tries to maintain its social welfare programs.
By Andrea Noble - The Washington Times - Thursday, October 29, 2015
