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DR Congo sentences 51 accused of killing UN staff
Today's Headlines
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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
COVID test kits delayed as Chinese cargo jet skids off runway at ORD
[MAIL] Video has emerged of the terrifying moment a large cargo jet skid off the runway and crashed into cargo bins at Chicago's O'Hare Airport as a storm began pummeling the Northeast and New England, grounding thousands of flights and creating extreme hazards for road travel.

The shocking video, captured by CCTV at the O'Hare Airport on Saturday, shows the China Airlines Cargo 747 sliding on the snow covered ground as it loses control and swerves into cargo on the runway.

One of the cargo bins can be seen getting sucked into the left engine. It's immediately shredded into pieces and damages the engine, which erupts into smoke.

The plane is shaken by the crash and finally comes to a halt.

The Chicago Fire Department responded to the scene, and no injuries were reported.

On Saturday morning, snow was falling furiously at a rate of one to two inches per hour in New York City, which was saw eight inches, with up to 18 inches expected on the eastern end of Long Island.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2022 08:29 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Saw the video and while I don’t agree with the term ‘skidding,’ I would say that the heavy snowfall likely caused the crew to become disoriented and took a couple of wrong turns, as confirmed by ground track radar.
The vision of those bins getting sucked into and through the engines was pretty wild. Amazing no one was hurt by all that shrapnel.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 01/30/2022 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Covid home test kits need to be kept above freezing. Are they transported In heated holds? Are they being stored in heated warehouses?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2022 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 Covid home test kits need to be kept above freezing. Are they transported In heated holds? Are they being stored in heated warehouses?
Posted by: trailing wife 2022-01-30 09:52


Ma'am,

My understanding is that dedicated cargo aircraft (which I understand this one to be) have heated and non heated holds. In theory, the ground crews on the starting end should have known where to put what...though I'm not hopeful.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/30/2022 11:23 Comments || Top||

#4  CCP made test kits made in CCP LAB's in towns the CCP will not even provide real C-19 infection data?

Will the test kits be QA/QC by a trusted collection independent US LAB's? To make sure the CCP only Mmade them to test for c-19 and nothing eles.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 01/30/2022 18:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Going way too fast for being “disoriented”.
Posted by: KBK || 01/30/2022 22:53 Comments || Top||

#6  A paranoid, suspicious person would think sabotage.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2022 23:06 Comments || Top||


Incredible video shows Nantucket UNDERWATER as winter storm Kenan barrels through New England: More than 30 inches of snow could fall in parts of Massachusetts
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Parts of Nantucket were seen to be underwater on Saturday as a winter storm lashed the region

  • Winds gusted as high as 70mph on Nantucket and over 60mph elsewhere in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island

  • More than 4,500 flights were cancelled across the US, while Amtrak cancelled all of its high-speed Acela trains between Boston and Washington

  • More than 89,000 customers remained in the dark in Massachusetts

  • The worst of the storm was expected to blow over by Sunday morning into Canada, where several provinces are now under warnings


Moment a jumbo jet skids off the runway in Chicago blizzard as storm Kenan batters the East Coast cancelling 3,500 flights in travel chaos

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • A China Airlines Cargo jet slid off the runway and crashed into cargo bins on Saturday morning

  • Footage of the crash shows a cargo bin getting sucked into the engine, damaging the plane

  • The Nor'easter slammed into New York City on Friday and Saturday and has blanketed the region with snow

  • Up to eight to 12 inches of snow are expected in the area with blizzard warnings in place for 10 million

  • More than 3,500 US flights were cancelled on Saturday with more than 1,000 cancellations in NYC area

  • National Weather Service reports snowfall of 1 to 2 inches per hours in NYC on Saturday morning

  • 'Travel is not recommended,' the service advised. 'If you must travel, use extreme caution'

  • Boston could get up to two feet of snow and is bracing for strong gusts and coastal flooding

  • In Massachusetts more than 78,000 lost power; Amtrak cancelled all train service to Northeast cities

  • Freeze alerts in place as far south as Florida, where NWS warned of 'isolated falling iguanas from trees'
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 06:43 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Greta was unavailable for comment.
Posted by: Matt || 01/30/2022 8:28 Comments || Top||

#2  So, did it reduce crime for a night? Not enough prey vics out and about?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2022 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Power on and off here every few minutes. I finally disconnected my IT gear from the wall until they sort it out.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/30/2022 9:17 Comments || Top||

#4  16" to 18" of global warming in Quincy MA; Round 2 of snow removal in an hour or so.
Posted by: Raj || 01/30/2022 9:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Logan Airport (official Boston recording station) had 26.6" for the calendar day 1/29 and 26.8" for the storm total.

The former tied the calendar day record.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/30/2022 12:27 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Virginia attorney general says public universities can't mandate COVID-19 vaccines
[Washington Examiner] New Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a legal opinion that public universities in the commonwealth could not mandate that students receive coronavirus vaccines or booster shots in order to attend in-person classes.

Miyares, who took office earlier this month, issued the memo Wednesday at the request of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned on ending mask and vaccine mandates.

"Although the General Assembly specifically authorized public institutions of higher education to assist the Department of Health and local health departments in the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, the legislation did not grant such institutions power to impose vaccine requirements," Miyares wrote.

The opinion cited a Virginia law that specifically states against what diseases students at public universities must be vaccinated. Miyares said that because of the clarity of the statute, it was unlawful to require COVID-19 vaccinations because of its absence in the statute.

"’[T]here is no question that the General Assembly could enact a statute requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for in-person school attendance,’" Miyares wrote. "As of this writing, it has not done so."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2022 08:17 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If they've mandated it then give them no immunity for the negative consequences some student suffers. Suddenly if their livelihood and pensions are placed in jeopardy, it'll be a wake up call. Put consequences into their life and they're pay attention.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2022 8:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Afraid they'll be sued when one or more of the school's boys receiving the jab presents with myocarditis -- as four boys now have at Monte Vista, a Christian academy in Watsonville CA.

Monte Vista has about 900 students and fewer than 500 boys. Myocarditis is a severe illness that can cause death and that usually results in long-term damage to the heart.

It is not "mild." It is not a "rare" adverse effect of the mRNA gene therapy "vaccines."

The FDA and CDC have again and again fudged their numbers, conflated different groups in the denominators, tried to suppress the Pfizer trial data and tried to squelch or even doctor the appalling evidence of horrific adverse effects based on the 3 million person DoD evidence that showed a 3x to 11x increase in cancer, mulyocarxitis, other heart damage, pulmonary and neurological damage, increased female infertility etc etc.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/30/2022 9:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Vaccine mandates are explicitly prohibited by federal law, but that hasn't stopped anyone.
Posted by: Angstrom || 01/30/2022 13:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Serious question, what law or statute might that be?
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Jones4656 || 01/30/2022 14:34 Comments || Top||


-War on Police-
New York City actress sparks outrage and gets fired after posting - and later deleting - a rant about street closures during the funeral of NYPD police officer Jason Rivera shot in the line of duty
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Jacqueline Guzman, who has no relation to the reporter, was met with swift backlash for posting a now-deleted TikTok ranting about street closures

  • Some streets were shut down in Lower Manhattan on Friday for fallen NYPD Officer Jason Rivera's funeral

  • Thousands of officers flooded the streets of New York to honor the officer

  • Guzman said it was 'f**king ridiculous' to 'shut down most of Lower Manhattan because one cop died probably doing his job incorrectly'

  • The Cuban American actress was let go from her NYC theater company Face to Face Films after her 'insensitive' comments

  • She was also met with backlash from cops who called her comments 'disrespectful'

  • Guzman has since deleted all of her social media accounts
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 06:09 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Mob Rule

#1  An actress being a piece of shit, who woulda thunk it?
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2022 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  I have no idea who Jacqueline Guzman is--never heard of her. Certainly is a self-absorbed twit.
Posted by: JonhQC || 01/30/2022 12:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Comment of the day.
Posted by: dacama || 01/30/2022 13:27 Comments || Top||

#4  #2, I have no idea who she is, either. And I intend to keep it that way.
Posted by: Tom || 01/30/2022 14:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Alec Baldwin in drag? Does she have a pistol?
Posted by: magpie || 01/30/2022 14:36 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
French FM accuses Russian mercenaries of ‘despoiling' Mali
[Aljazeera] France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has accused Russian private military contractor Wagner Group of plundering Mali’s resources amid heightened tensions between Paris and the country’s military government in recent weeks, including over the fate of European forces deployed in the region to fight armed groups.

The US army last week estimated hundreds of Wagner personnel were in the Sahel state, but the country’s ruling army has denied this.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since Mali’s army led by Colonel Assimi Goita staged a coup in August 2020.

Former colonial power France has thousands of troops deployed in the Sahel state, which has been struggling to contain a rebellion that first emerged in 2012.

The Wagner mercenaries are "former Russian soldiers, armed by Russia and accompanied by Russian logistics", Le Drian said.

"They are already at the moment helping themselves to the country’s resources in exchange for protecting the junta. They are despoiling Mali," he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in remarks published on Sunday.

The United Nations, France and local groups say the Wagner Group is also present in the Central African Republic.

"Wagner uses the weakness of certain states to implant itself... to reinforce Russia’s influence in Africa," Le Drian added, though he said it did not seek to replace the Europeans in the region.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2022 08:39 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "This is our country to despoil! How dare you encroach on our turf!"

Say, did you know the French franc still exists? Yup! But only in Africa. France takes the proceeds from several African countries and sells it back to them using French money. One of the "rules" of the currency is that the central banks of all of the nations involved have to keep at least 50% of their foreign assets in the French Treasury. It makes them dependent on France and unable to get away and pursue policies that are in their own interests. What a scam! No wonder France is getting snippy about outsiders, they might take this hugely profitable grift away!
Posted by: Sheter the Lesser9291 || 01/30/2022 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Given the robber baron approach of so many who overthrow African governments, keeping a portion of the treasury in French hands increases the possibility that at least some of the nation’s wealth will be used for the benefit of the citizenry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2022 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  yeah they closed all the animal brothels!
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/30/2022 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  How can you tell?
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/30/2022 19:07 Comments || Top||

#5  It's not used for the benefit of the citizenry. It's used for the benefit of France. Why do you think they defend their possessions so fiercely? France would go broke without robbing Africa.
Posted by: Sheter the Lesser9291 || 01/30/2022 20:34 Comments || Top||


Stray Bullet Kills University Student As Police Clash With Suspected Cult Members In Kwara


A student of Kwara State Polytechnic has allegedly been killed by stray bullet as suspected cult members clashed with police in Lajolo community in Ilorin, the state capital.

A police sergeant also sustained gunshot injury on his head at the incident that started in the early hours of Saturday.

Spokesperson for the police in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the incident, said, "The pandemonium experienced today within the area arose as a result of the attack unleashed on a team of police detectives from the Special Tactical Squad, FIB, Abuja, who came on the trail of some cultists in the area.

"Some suspected cult members had on Friday last week attacked and killed a student of Kwara State University, Malete, four of the cultists were arrested and dangerous weapons were recovered from the suspects.

"Information available to the STS team indicated that some of the cultists were hiding at Lajolo area of Kwara Polytechnic Ilorin, where a similar attack was unleashed on one student named Idris Aderemi by same cultists around 6:00am on Saturday in the same area.

"This prompted the visit to the area by the STS team. Surprisingly, the cultists who were already in ambush, attacked the police team damaging the police Hummer bus and inflicting a gunshot injury on the head of one police sergeant, Adebayo Abdulahi attached to the STS team.

"In the ensuing inbroglio, students in their numbers came out to block the road and prevented free flow of traffic and burning tyres on the road.

"The Commissioner of Police Kwara State, Tuesday Assayomo, immediately dispatched teams of coppers to the area to restore peace.

"However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
two cultists, one Ahmed surname unknown and one Musibau A.K.A Shaban were arrested with one fabricated English pistol with three live ammunition, two live cartridges and one pistol magazine.

"The injured policeman and the suspects have been taken to the hospital for treatment."

The polytechnic spokesperson, Yunus Abdulkadir, absolved the students from the fracas, adding that the incident did not happen at the polytechnic’s gate.

He said, "The incident that occurred at Lajolo community early this morning was between the police and Lajolo community and has nothing to do with the polytechnic students or the campus, as first semester CBT examinations are going on the campus without any disturbance.

"However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
the management of the polytechnic has magnanimously accepted the plea of the students who could not make it to the campus before the blockage at Oyun, to reschedule their examinations on another date to be communicated to them via their heads of the department."
Posted by: badanov || 01/30/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


DR Congo sentences 51 accused of killing UN staff
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] A military tribunal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has sentenced 51 people to death in connection with the 2017 murder of two UN employees. This was reported on January 29 by Agence France-Presse.

In March 2017, two UN experts, US citizen Michael Sharp and Swedish citizen Zaida Catalan, were abducted and killed in the Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . According to the official version, they were killed by local rebels.

There were 54 defendants in the case of the kidnapping and murder of UN employees. Of these, two were acquitted, one was sentenced to ten years in prison. The rest of the defendants were sentenced to death. Since the DR Congo has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2003, all those sentenced to it will serve life imprisonment.
Posted by: badanov || 01/30/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
COKE-onuts! Colombian cops discover 20,000 shells filled with liquid cocaine in shipment heading for Europe
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Colombian anti-drug police have found liquid cocaine inside thousands of coconuts

  • The find was made in the port of Cartagena on the north coast

  • The shipment of cocaine was destined to be received in Genoa, Italy

  • No arrests have been made as yet but officials are investigating
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Institute for the Studay of War - Putin's Potential Course of Action in the Eukraine
Comments from an old friend and former Intelligence Threat Analysis Center (ITAC) hand.
This is a good analysis of the possible Russian courses of action against Ukraine.

The Russians are constrained by certain natural and political factors. They need the ground to be frozen to facilitate mechanized operations. This will last until early march, thereafter, as the Germans discovered the spring thaw turns everything into a sea of mud.

Putin is not likely to disrupt China’s Genocide Games which will end on 20 Feb and which Putin will be attending. For those of you who were in Germay with me, you will notice our old friends, the 8th Guards Combined Army (the heroes of Stalingrad) would carry the ball if the Russians attacked into the Donbass of eastern Ukraine.

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2022 02:14 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Historically, only the Germans needed frozen ground for mobile operations.

Remember, Russia is on the defense, on its own ground. They are not going to give in to hysteria, but they will defend Russian soil with everything they have, if needed.
Posted by: badanov || 01/30/2022 6:27 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Remember, Russia is on the defense, on its own ground.

Yes, for right now anyway. "Historically"....? Who bothers to reference or research history ?

My opinion means nothing of course, but I still recommend we stay out of it.

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/30/2022 6:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Agreed, it's time for the U.S. to mind it's own business and handle some stuff at home for once.
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2022 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  HAH! 2008 summer Olympics opening day in China.
Posted by: jefe101 || 01/30/2022 13:29 Comments || Top||


Is Ukraine ready for a big military operation?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Aleksandr Kots

[KP] This was told to kp.ru by Kirill Vyshinsky, a former Ukrainian journalist who served 413 days in prison for his work, and now is the executive director of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

"PEOPLE ARE CLOSE TO PANIC"
- How would you assess the psychological state of today's Ukraine?


- In the minds of people close to panic. If I talk to someone in Ukraine on the phone, they will definitely ask me if there will be a war and when.

- Have you read British newspapers?

- Not only. Poroshenko and all his entourage, who are drawn to the channels of Akhmetov, they pump up military hysteria. And despite Zelensky's reassurance, people are more inclined to believe not him. Plus, the Americans said. Matches and salt may not be bought up yet, but money has already begun to be withdrawn from banks. This is a demonstration that the people are psychologically very excited. They know how to do it in Ukraine.

To what extent is this excitement justified? Military-psychological exacerbations have happened before.

- The difference is that Ukrainian units in the Donbass have begun to saturate American weapons. Americans need to do something that confirms the military escalation.

I'm not sure that the Ukrainian military is seriously ready to fight. They have no positive combat experience. No win experience. There are only defeats - Ilovaisk, Debaltseve. They understand what can happen if they are covered with volley fire. Where would they have to go then? There are two directions. The closest is towards the Russian border. Or, like the famous Transcarpathia battalion, which made a "heroic" march. During the day they traveled 800 kilometers, however, in the direction of the rear - to Ivano-Frankivsk.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IN FIGHTING SPIRIT"
- Well, there are those who want to make war?


- Everyone is ready to make money on the front line when you are sitting in a dugout, and you are still dripping to your salary for the “first line”. It's no secret that mostly contractors get there.

First of all, they are recruited from Western Ukraine. They have two motivations - ideological and material. Some people are too lazy to go to Poland. And here you are sitting in a trench. The previous rotations have already dug everything for you. Volunteers bring you canned goods. You are all set. And plus money is dripping. Yes, they shoot. And you shoot.

A strange positional war, like Remarque's - "All Quiet on the Western Front." They sit, smoke, shoot, drink. People got used to it. And not many people want to worsen anything cardinally with their own hands.

Although I understand that there are people with broken heads, with twisted brains. There is also the "Right Sector", the Volunteer Corps, there is the "Azov" regiment, which is not clear to whom it is subordinate. But in the general mass, I do not really believe in the high morale of the Ukrainian army in the Donbass. It is unlikely that anyone will go to large-scale military operations there. And for some provocations, clashes - I do not rule it out.

- And what about the morale of the inhabitants of the eastern regions?

- I follow my contacts and publications. For people, any war is a change in their current life. Nobody wants tomorrow to be different. It is clear that there will be no carpet bombing, as in the Great Patriotic War. But people do not want to adapt to new circumstances either.

"PASSIONARIANS - IN THE CRIMEA AND DONBASS"
- Will they not join the partisans?


- In the southeast, the terrain is not suitable for this. You won't be particularly partisan there. There are people who simply forgot how to do something in this life, while they were immersed in this story for 7 years, saturated with adrenaline and blood. This is 6-8 percent of the population in the large cities of the southeast. Maximum.

How many of them are specific passionaries who will take up arms? If we talk about Ukrainians, all the passionaries whom life has forced to be like this are Crimea and Donbass. They are no longer in Ukraine. There are also passionaries by the type of thinking - these are Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk. Ternopil is already to a lesser extent. And the people living in Kharkov, in Odessa, in Nikolaev, well, what kind of war, what kind of partisan movement?

- Will they meet with flowers?

- Hardly, for one simple reason. These people are wary. As soon as something changes, they will first look, and then they will go with flowers. The main thing is that the usual way of life does not change. People really don't want this.

- How do you assess the informational hysteria fueled by the American and British media?

- It seems that it is caused by a large complex of internal American problems. They received a powerful and tough position of Russia. Do you want to negotiate? Okay, let's start simple. 1997, NATO within these limits. This is a serious story for Americans. They need to strengthen their negotiating position.

One way is economic pressure. They believe that this will weaken the position of Russia. For the Americans, two options would be good. The first is the disruption of negotiations by the outbreak of hostilities. Who should start them? Definitely not Russia. But since the information background has been created, if something starts there, they will say: you see, we said, Russia was preparing, and please.

The second option is to force Ukraine to carry out Minsk with all its might. But, in any case, the main goal of the Americans today is to undermine us in negotiations, to create the appearance that Russia is preparing a war and putting the world on the brink of World War III.

And any outcome for the Americans is good. Provocation? We said that Russia was preparing a war. No, everything will be resolved, there will be no war? Well, we are peacekeepers! Biden saved the world. Win-win situation.

- How real is the war between Ukraine and Russia?

- I'm more afraid of those recruited under a contract in Western Ukraine, who just want to get their hands on the same "Jevelins" and sneer towards the Muscovites. I do not really believe in a conscious readiness for some kind of military operation on the part of Ukraine. It must come from the Americans. Moreover, their instructors should stand behind and play the role of detachments.

Aleksandr Kots is prior service Russian airborne and a writer for Komsomol Pravda
Posted by: badanov || 01/30/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  any outcome for the Americans is good. Provocation? We said that Russia was preparing a war. No, everything will be resolved, there will be no war? Well, we are peacekeepers! Biden saved the world. Win-win situation.

Exactly so. Brandon and American Pravda are pushing this, full throttle, because their narrative suits their political ends in 2022.

Biden's support from his own base is collapsing. The suburban soccer moms, GOP NeverTrumpers and other cross-party elements of his coalition have abandoned the Democrats as well.

They are failing at literally everything they touch. They're in free fall.

Their knee jerk response is to Wave the Bloody COVID Shirt and scream, OrangeMan! Terrorists!

It worked beautifully last fall for Gov. Newsom in CA: he was such a despised and blithering fool that Californians put up a recall petition that got nearly 2 million signatures in record time... and then Newsom screamed Trump! COVID! TrumpCOVID TrumpCOVID COVID OVID TrumpTrump.

And Newsom turned defeat into a landslide victory. He was expected to lose, and won by a 2:1 margin. Two to one! Exit polls showed that the state's Asian voters, most of whom supported the recall petition, were easily convinced to change their minds by the specter of TrumpCOVID.

Conclusion: Putin is Brandon's 2022 version of Newsom's 2021 TrumpCOVID hysteria campaign.

But this won't end well for Brandon. Americans generally are not gullible little mask-worshipping sheep (as most of California's Asians are).
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/30/2022 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  yep merrick, the majority of voters are idiots.
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2022 9:49 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea conducts most powerful missile test since 2017: Weapon reaches altitude of 1,200 miles [?] and travels 500 miles before landing in sea off Japan in country's seventh launch this month
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 06:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  1200 miles up is definitely in the low earth orbit territory
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/30/2022 9:31 Comments || Top||


FCC revokes China Unicom's authorization to operate in US
[FoxBusinessNews] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday voted to revoke the authorization for China Unicom's U.S. unit to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns.

The 4-0 vote to revoke the authority that had been granted in 2002 is the latest move by the American regulator to bar Chinese telecommunications carriers from the United States because of national security concerns.

The order requires China Unicom Americas to end domestic interstate and international telecommunications services in the United States within 60 days of the order's publication.

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

The FCC said China Unicom Americas is ultimately owned and controlled by the Chinese government and provides mobile virtual network operator services and international private leased circuit and Ethernet private line services along with IP transit, cloud and resold services in the United States.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said since the approval "the national security landscape has shifted and there has been mounting evidence - and with it, a growing concern - that Chinese state-owned carriers pose a real threat to the security of our telecommunications networks."

The FCC said China Unicom's "responses were incomplete, misleading, or incorrect."

Rosenworcel noted that last year the FCC published the first-ever list of communications equipment and services that pose an unacceptable risk to national security. This month, she wrote to the Commerce Department, the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other agencies in order to update that list.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said China Unicom "can continue to offer data center services to American consumers" despite the revocation.

He said the FCC and Congress should examine this issue and determine whether the commission needed broader authority to address security concerns posed by the centers.

The FCC began making efforts in March to revoke the authorization for China Unicom, Pacific Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet.

In October, the FCC revoked the U.S. authorization for China Telecom (Americas), saying it "is subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government." The Chinese failed to win an appeal of the decision.

In 2019, the FCC rejected China Mobile Ltd's bid to provide U.S. telecommunications services, citing national security risks.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 06:15 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies


In message to US, North Korea appears to test longest-range missile since 2017
Pudge must be running out of Hennessy and caviar again.
[IsraelTimes] With frenzy of launches, 7 in one month, Pyongyang is believed to be trying to pressure Washington to resume stalled negotiations over its nuclear program

North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since US President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2022 01:45 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Europe
EU commits 657 m. euro to first step in connecting Israel to European power grid
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 08:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh great. Now we're going to have to start *another* war to stop this. Remember: Europe is our client state, nobody must be allowed to supply them with energy except us.
Posted by: Sheter the Lesser9291 || 01/30/2022 9:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The EU is so desperate for juice that they will buy it from the Juice. Talk about a statement against interest! That is how you know it is serious.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2022 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like new terrorist targets to me.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/30/2022 11:46 Comments || Top||

#4  The cable would connect Israel to Turkey first(!?!) according to the map and then Cyprus to Greece. Adding Erdogan to the mix seems ...unwise.
Posted by: magpie || 01/30/2022 15:12 Comments || Top||

#5  think CANAL LNG!
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/30/2022 15:18 Comments || Top||


Europe can only partially replace Russian gas
[AlAhram] Russia furnishes over 40 percent of the natural gas Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
imports and in the event it invades Ukraine again those supplies could be at risk, throwing into question European countries's ability to keep the heat on in the dead of winter.

Europe, which imports around two-thirds of its natural gas, has alternatives to replace some of what it currently buys from Russia.

Moreover, experts judge it highly unlikely there would be a complete halt to Russian gas deliveries.

THE ALTERNATIVES
"There are pipelines from Norway, Algeria and Azerbaijan, but these countries don't have additional production capacity," said Thierry Bros, a specialist on the European gas market at Sciences Po university in Gay Paree.

That means Europe will need to turn to liquefied natural gas (LNG), which can be delivered by huge sea tankers from suppliers anywhere in the world.

Washington is helping Europe find alternative supplies to cover a majority of Russian imports, and US President Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run. On the other hand, he did abandon Afghanistan...
will host Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
's ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the White House next week.

For LNG supplies, "the three giants today are Qatar, Australia and the United States," said Vincent Demoury, head of the GIIGNL international trade association of gas import firms.

"So it's mostly these three countries which have the flexibility to produce more, or to switch to Europe volumes which traditionally go to other markets," he said.

LNG ONLY A PARTIAL SOLUTION
"We can't replace all the Russian gas with LNG," noted Thierry Bros.

That is because the ports and regasification facilities in Europe (UK included) can only handle 19 billion cubic meters (bcm) per month.

The are currently handling about 8 bcm per month, which means they could take another 11 bcm per month.

That would be able to compensate for most of the 14 bcm per month that Europe is currently receiving from Russia.

But Demoury said it is one thing to look at capacity on an annual basis, and another to look at it in the middle of winter when the utilisation rate of LNG terminals is much higher.

If Spain and Britannia LNG terminals currently have sufficient spare capacity, said Demoury, French terminals are saturated.

UNLIKELY RUSSIA TURNS OFF TAPS
Europe's gas reserves are weak for winter and imports from Russia are at historic lows for the month of January.

But would Russia completely cut off supplies?

"A full suspension of gas exports remains the least likely scenario," said analysts at Eurasia Group.

Such a move "would carry severe long-term risks to Russia's financial stability and its political leverage in Europe as the EU would likely respond by aggressively diversifying its energy supplies," they added.

Thierry Bros said "the Russians don't have any interest in halting deliveries" completely.

Other than Moscow's interest in having money continue to flow into its coffers, maintaining some deliveries "would allow it to create divisions in Europe" as it could continue to supply certain countries like Germany while cutting off others such as Poland and Lithuania.

While that would create political problems for Europe to manage, it would help it get by with additional LNG shipments.

Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2022 00:11 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  About that Israeli - Greek pipeline......
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/30/2022 8:38 Comments || Top||

#2  And the US imported close to 9% of our oil from Russia
Posted by: Spats Phereque4037 || 01/30/2022 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  we shouldn't be importing any
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2022 9:47 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Erdogan threatens to punish Turkish media over 'harmful content'
[AlAhram] Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
threatened Ottoman Turkish media with legal action over content "incompatible with national and moral values," in a move seen by critics as an attempt to stifle dissent.

In a circular posted Saturday on the Official Gazette, Erdogan said the decision aims to eliminate the harmful effects of television programs with foreign content that have been adapted in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
and to protect Ottoman Turkish culture.

All precautions would be taken against productions that negatively affect the family, children and youth, through Ottoman Turkish laws and the constitution. Children and youth will be protected from "messages conveyed through certain symbols,'' the decision stated, without elaborating.

Turkey's media watchdog, the Supreme Council of Radio and Television, already has wide-ranging powers, and can fine media or order temporary blackouts for television channels that are mostly critical of the government for violating Ottoman Turkish values.

Ilhan Tasci, a member of the media watchdog from the main opposition party, called the move "the censorship circular'' and said it violates the constitution that promises to protect press freedom.

The majority of media companies in Turkey are already owned by businesses close to the conservative and nationalist government and closely follow government lines.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey at 153 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index of 2021. At least 34 media employees are currently behind bars, according to Turkey's Journalists Union.

Critics said it was another bid to crackdown on freedom of speech in the run-up to elections next year.

Faruk Bildirici, veteran journalist and media ombudsman, on Twitter, accused Erdogan of declaring a "state of emergency against the media".

Rights groups routinely accuse Turkey of undermining media freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets, especially since Erdogan survived a failed coup attempt in July 2016.

INFLATION ANGER
In an earlier decree on Saturday, Erdogan sacked state statistics agency chief Sait Erdal Dincer.

It was just the latest in a series of economic dismissals by Erdogan, who has fired three central bank governors since July 2019.

Erdogan has railed against high-interest rates, which he believes cause inflation -- the exact opposition of conventional economic thinking.

The 2021 inflation figure of 36.1 percent released by Dincer angered both the pro-government and opposition camps.

The opposition said the number was underreported, claiming that the real cost of living increases was at least twice as high.

Erdogan meanwhile reportedly criticised the statistics agency in private for publishing data that he felt overstated the scale of Turkey's economic malaise.

Dincer seemed to sense his impending fate.

"I sit in this office now, tomorrow it will be someone else," he said in an interview with the business newspaper Dunya earlier this month.

"Never mind who is the chairman. Can you imagine that hundreds of my colleagues could stomach or remain quiet about publishing an inflation rate very different from what they had established?"

Erdogan did not explain his decision to appoint Erhan Cetinkaya, who had served as vice-chair of Turkey's banking regulator, as the new state statistics chief.

"This will just increase concern about the reliability of the data, in addition to major concerns about economic policy settings," Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management said in a note to clients.

The agency is due to publish January's inflation data on February 3.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/30/2022 01:14 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  As horrible as this is, is it really any different than what is going on world-wide? Even western countries "free press" is actively working to suppress information and opinions that are contrary to the official story.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/30/2022 3:03 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Not really. Reading this, I thought Erdogan's phrase about "violating national and moral values" could have been written by our own cultural Marxists.

Their cancel culture and Not-Who-We-Are-ism is of a piece with authoritarian governments' campaigns to stamp out dangerous foreign cultural influence.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/30/2022 7:30 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Justin Trudeau and his family flee Canadian capital Ottawa as up to 50,000 'Freedom Convoy' anti-vaccine mandate truckers arrive at his office - days after he dismissed them as a 'small fringe minority'
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Justin Trudeau and his family have left their Ottawa home amid security concerns as demonstrators marched up and down the streets in front the Prime Minister's office to rally against the vaccine mandate

  • Days earlier, he had called the truckers headed for the city a 'small fringe minority' before the convoy of hundreds of vehicles grew up to 45 miles long as it made its way to the capital .

  • Protestors could be seen carrying copies of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, while others carried signs reading 'God keep our land glorious and free,' 'Make Canada great again,' and 'we are here for our freedom'

  • The convoy set out from British Columbia on Sunday and was cheered by hundreds of Canadians as it made its 2,000-mile journey to protest vaccine mandates
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 07:41 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is a Small Fringe Group of disagreers until it knocks at your door.

So will the media tell the truth, or just take a few videos from carefully selective viewpoints and blow it off to kill the story?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 01/30/2022 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I haven't really seen the media on Tv say anything about it anyway.
Posted by: Chris || 01/30/2022 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Jolson Trudeau's line: he was "exposed" to COVID -- not ill, mind you -- therefore must "quarantine" for five days.

We Are Ruled By Clownishly Craven Morons
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/30/2022 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  American Pravda grudgingly covered it yesterday, using their favorite predatory verb, "DESCENDS," in the headline:
Canadian Trucker Convoy Descends on Ottawa to Protest Vaccine Mandates

These media assholes are beyond incapable of shame, impervious to ridicule.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/30/2022 9:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Let's Go Brandeau!
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 || 01/30/2022 10:12 Comments || Top||

#6  The media's lack of coverage is quite telling, the threat of such an event in the US would be catastrophic for the rapidly fragmenting Potemkin Administration.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/30/2022 11:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Brave Sir Justin chickened oot...
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 01/30/2022 15:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Amidst rumors that Trudeau has fled to Berlin, wags have dubbed the nation Truckistan.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 01/30/2022 21:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Interesting, the ruling elite are frightened by the unclean masses. Canada now has it's own deplorables.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 01/30/2022 21:56 Comments || Top||

#10  Well that didn't take long. Trudeau Downfall parody video out now.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 01/30/2022 22:02 Comments || Top||

#11  Berlin? I'd have bet Havana.
Posted by: Elmaigum Sneang6624 || 01/30/2022 23:42 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Watch: Sikorsky-Boeing Conduct First Army Air Assault Mission With Very Unusual Helicopter
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Given the rapid advances in DRONE attack technology. I suspect human-operated Helicopters will eventually become cargo and human haulers and not attackers.


Even then using larger Drones as ammo haulers and medivacs from FO positions presents a 1/10th size smaller and a 100x's less costly target.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 01/30/2022 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Given the rapid advances in DRONE attack technology.

Yep.
Pretty much well underway.

[2017] China Unveils Unmanned Attack Helicopter
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/30/2022 13:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Somebody please explain how the two rotor airfoils do not interfere - you know - aerodynamically. Like a two-stage compressor?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/30/2022 15:18 Comments || Top||

#4  no idea on the air mechanics/principles, but it seems to provide a stealth (noise) feature.

Now just keep Roy Scheider out of it?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/30/2022 15:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Wiki on 'Coaxial' rotor systems.

Many benefits for this system apparently, but it is more complex.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/30/2022 17:36 Comments || Top||

#6  The Russian Navy has been flying co-axial rotor helos for some time now. (Helix in NATOese). With dual, counter-rotating props, you don't need a tail rotor to keep from spinning around.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/30/2022 17:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2022-01-30
  DR Congo sentences 51 accused of killing UN staff
Sat 2022-01-29
  Russia insists ‘we don’t want wars’ as it ponders Ukraine-NATO answer
Fri 2022-01-28
  Fighting Rages on Between Libyan Army and ISIS
Thu 2022-01-27
  SDF declare victory in week-long ISIS stand off in northeast Syrian prison, 181 dead thus far
Wed 2022-01-26
  Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Announces Retirement
Tue 2022-01-25
  Over 120 Killed After ISIS Mass Prison Break In US-Occupied Northeast Syri, 140+ as of Monday
Mon 2022-01-24
  Egyptian court sentences Mufti of Al-Qaeda affiliate 'Al-Nusra Front' to life in prison
Sun 2022-01-23
  56 IS terrorists killed in northeast Syria
Sat 2022-01-22
  Iran says in talks with Russia to build nuclear power units
Fri 2022-01-21
  Al Qaeda announces death of former Bin Laden associate
Thu 2022-01-20
  Indonesian Militant Linked to Bali Bombings Sentenced to 15 Years
Wed 2022-01-19
  Mohammed al-Houthi: Yemen's only goal is the end of aggression
Tue 2022-01-18
  The Houthis attack Abu Dhabi, Arabian coalition airstrikes Sanaa
Mon 2022-01-17
  Police recovers anti-aircraft guns, other arms from Karachi godown
Sun 2022-01-16
  Day 2: Armed man holding hostages at Colleyville, Texas, synagogue demands release of convicted terrorist 'sister'


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