[YouTube] Meet Sandy Grimes, a former CIA Operative in the Agency's Clandestine Service, and hear how she and her fellow operative Jeanne Vertefeuille used their determination, hard work, and cunning to enable the capture and conviction of their former colleague and infamous CIA officer-turned traitor: Aldrich Ames. Dated, but most interesting.
#1
One of my favorite segments was Grime's relating the segment on the Russian source deception. The exfiltration "no show". One must wonder how many of these operations went on for years, totally undetected.
Returning to my soapbox, I continue to be haunted by the funding source(s) for the Tsarniev bros. globe trotting. Their round-trip airline tickets to Chechnya (not to mention per diem and walking around money) must have been expensive.
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.—According to anonymous sources, the CIA has replaced enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding with something even more torturous and effective: 12-hour academic lectures on intersectional feminism.
"Waterboarding has been shown to be very effective," said the anonymous source. "But that's been replaced now. Now we just pop in a tape of Robin DiAngelo, Stacey Abrams, or Joy Behar. Sometimes we'll really ramp things up and make them watch Coca-Cola's diversity training on a 12-hour loop."
Terror suspects will be subjected to lengthy lectures about cis-male privilege, heteronormative patriarchy, and microaggressive mansplaining. Sources say these lectures are 1,282% more effective than regular old waterboarding.
Critics have criticized the new interrogation method, saying that such cruel torture should be limited only to American universities.
#6
Judging by the recruitment video that went viral last week the CIA just wants to recruit their enemies and may not be aware that Intersectional Feminism is not as appealing as they think.
#7
Dis is all a disinformation campaign, interwoven with a counter-counterintelligence operation targeting demented democrats who are still worried Geo. Bush is out to change the direction of the Patriot Act of 2004
[Yubanet.com] CORVALLIS, Ore. April 28, 2021— Socially just policies aimed at limiting the Earth’s human population hold tremendous potential for advancing equity while simultaneously helping to mitigate the effects of climate change, Oregon State University researchers say.
In a paper published this week in Sustainability Science, William Ripple and Christopher Wolf of the OSU College of Forestry also note that fertility rates are a dramatically understudied and overlooked aspect of the climate emergency. That’s especially true relative to the attention devoted to other climate-related topics including energy, short-lived pollutants and nature-based solutions, they say.
"More than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries have come together to warn that if we continue with business as usual, the result will be untold human suffering from climate change," Ripple said. "We have listed six areas, including curbing population growth in the context of social justice, as a framework for action.
"Since 1997, there have been more than 200 articles published in Nature and Science on climate mitigation, but just four of those discussed social justice, and only two considered population," he added. "Clearly social justice and population policy are not getting the attention they deserve in the struggle against the climate emergency."
The Earth’s 7.7 billion people contribute to climate change in a variety of ways, primarily through the consumption of natural resources, including non-renewable energy sources, and the greenhouse gas emissions that result from industrial processes and transportation. The more people there are on the planet, the more potential they have for affecting climate.
[Summit] The Who legend Roger Daltrey says the ’woke’ generation is creating a miserable world that serves to stifle the kind of creative freedom he enjoyed in the 60s.
The iconic frontman made the comments during a recent appearance on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music 1 podcast.
"I don’t know, we might get somewhere because it’s becoming so absurd now with AI, all the tricks it can do, and the woke generation," said Daltrey.
"It’s terrifying, the miserable world they’re going to create for themselves. I mean, anyone who’s lived a life and you see what they’re doing, you just know that it’s a route to nowhere," he added.
The singer noted how he was lucky to have lived through an era where freedom of speech was encouraged, not silenced.
"Especially when you’ve lived through the periods of a life that we’ve had the privilege to. I mean, we’ve had the golden era. There’s no doubt about that," he said.
[The Federalist] On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering of The Theology of Home join Executive Editor Joy Pullmann to discuss the importance of home life and share their secrets to flourishing.
"We have this blaring message coming from the culture that is telling us things like the patriarchy is the problem, my body my choice, and children are our enemy, are a real obstacle to our success and our happiness. And these are the things that the left has been telling us for 50 years and I think a lot of us, you know, in our bones know that there’s just something wrong with this framework," Gress said.
Both Gress and Mering said what happens in the home is "vital" and "life-altering" but needs to be cultivated.
The home impacts "the future society but also just the human beings that we’re having to lead the next generations." Mering said.
"The eternal life and the interior life of those souls is actually where all of the other things emanate from either for better or for worse," she said. "Our capacity as women to affect the culture and society in ways that are extraordinarily powerful starts in the home life."
Mering is the author of "Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response To The Cult Of Progressive Ideology."
[Burning Platform] In 1949, sometime after the publication of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World (1931), who was then living in California, wrote to Orwell. Huxley had briefly taught French to Orwell as a student in high school at Eton.
Huxley generally praises Orwell’s novel, which to many seemed very similar to Brave New World in its dystopian view of a possible future. Huxley politely voices his opinion that his own version of what might come to pass would be truer than Orwell’s. Huxley observed that the philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is sadism, whereas his own version is more likely, that controlling an ignorant and unsuspecting public would be less arduous, less wasteful by other means. Huxley’s masses are seduced by a mind-numbing drug, Orwell’s with sadism and fear.
The most powerful quote In Huxley’s letter to Orwell is this:
Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.
[PJ] Fourteen very long months ago, Americans were told we needed "two weeks to flatten the curve" to beat the coronavirus that originated from Wuhan, China.
Since that time the curve has been flattened and broken back on itself. Hospitalizations and deaths are way down from their peak. Common sense 14 months ago was right, and locking the country down wasn’t a good idea.
We have vaccines and they’re widely available to anyone who wants them. Arizona, Florida, Texas, and several other states are more or less fully open and even Pennsylvania is opening in mid-May. California’s Disneyland has been reopened long enough to face a woke controversy over Sleeping Beauty.
Why, then, are we not farther along in the fight, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci?
[Red State] A federal judge (a Trump judge, if you are keeping score, even though Chief Justice John Robers tells us that there is no such thing as Trump or Obama judges) has issued a nationwide injunction against the enforcement of a ban on evictions that was imposed, allegedly, as a means to contain the spread of the Wuhan virus.
The CDC, citing public health grounds, had implemented the temporary halt on evictions, extending protections for millions of tenants who have fallen behind on their rent during the pandemic. But a series of conflicting lower court rulings has called into question the legality of the moratorium, creating uncertainty for landlords and tenants alike.
Wednesday’s ruling from Judge Dabney Friedrich, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the first to set aside the moratorium on a nationwide basis. The Justice Department had requested that any ruling only apply narrowly to the housing providers and Realtors associations who brought the case.
Judge Friedrich, a Trump appointee, said that while it was the role of the political branches of government to address the pandemic, current federal law on public health didn’t give the CDC broad authority to impose the moratorium.
When the first whiff of the China virus hit the United States, the first reaction reminded me of the old Army tradition of dealing with an emergency:
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/06/2021 14:38 Comments ||
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#2
it was the role of the political branches of government to address the pandemic They couldn't be bothered to even try to address the pandemic. 2020 was an election year after all. Now that it's 2021, the political branches of government have other fish to fry. How does it feel to be a fried fish?
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
05/06/2021 15:30 Comments ||
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[ZERO] The rate of seniors collecting Social Security benefits has plunged to the lowest level in a decade, which Bloomberg suggests may be due to the disproportionate number of COVID-19 deaths among the elderly.
According to the Social Security Administration, the number of people who took retirement benefits rose by just 900,000 to 46.4 million in March, the smallest year-over-year gain since April 2009.
More via Bloomberg:
While the Office of the Chief Actuary at the government agency said it is still too early to assess the impact from Covid-19, the year-over-year change appears to reflect excess deaths. About 447,000 people who died from the virus were 65 or older, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or about 80% of total deaths.
The number of Social Security beneficiaries has risen in the past decade as baby boomers -- the large cohort born between 1946 and 1964 -- started to reach retirement age. Usually, during economic downturns, many are forced into retirement due to job losses, which adds to the retiree pool.
According to the CDC, there were 660,200 excess deaths from all causes between January 26, 2020 and February 27, 2021, mostly associated with COVID.
#4
I think the mortality statistics over the next couple of years will confirm that in most cases, people who died with “covid” on their death certificates would have died, in any event, in a matter of months or perhaps a year or two. This is why we are now seeing mortality dip below demographic norms: people who otherwise would have died in April 2021 died in, say, October 2020 instead. If this is the case, it will expose the irrationality of devastating the lives of younger and healthy people through shutdowns, school closings and mask mandates, while those who were at meaningful risk were almost exclusively those who, as one doctor put it, had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/06/2021 7:52 Comments ||
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#5
expose the irrationality of devastating the lives of younger and healthy people through shutdowns, school closings and mask mandates
Polls show that is the exact cohort that is all too ready for lockdown4evah and have happily continued to collect "emergency" unemployment benefits in a starved labor market.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/06/2021 8:10 Comments ||
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#6
expose the irrationality of devastating the lives of younger and healthy people through shutdowns, school closings and mask mandates
Many feel, a classic case of crisis exploitation and power grab. Yes, Monet's The Rue Montorgueil. You must have cleverly spotted the key indicators as well.
#8
This is why we are now seeing mortality dip below demographic norms: people who otherwise would have died in April 2021 died in, say, October 2020 instead.
Distraught person was talking to me the other day, said Uncle died of the Covid even though he had the two jabs.
I know person is just over 60, so that makes Uncle...how old?
Must not forget the complications caused by too much stress; blood pressure, anxiety, abuse of coping methods such as drinking or what seems to be popular among the older generation is pain pills/opioids, lack of movement leading to immobility issues, delay or cancellation of check-ups and/or ongoing health issues, and straight up depression.
#9
in most cases, people who died with “covid” on their death certificates would have died, in any event, in a matter of months or perhaps a year or two.
It seems so. There was a paper posted on the Johns Hopkins University website that looked at total deaths overall. Normally, people die of the usual things like heart disease or flu at fairly constant rates. The specific numbers may vary, but the category ranks, the popularity of various diseases if you will, remains the same. One would expect that Covid deaths would be an increase to overall deaths, an addition to the totals.
What the paper showed was that while Covid deaths went up, the numbers for other causes like heart problems fell drastically. Deaths From All Causes was constant. It appears the deaths from other causes were being drawn forward. in time, so to speak.
tl;dr: If you are old and sickly, you are more likely to die from the first thing that comes along.
The paper was taking down after a few days because people were "drawing the wrong conclusions" from the data.
#10
The paper was taking down after a few days because people were "drawing the wrong conclusions" from the data.
However this data is still out there and is not likely to disappear. Any competent medical writer should be able to make the same case and draw the same conclusions as the Johns Hopkins writers did. Not that anyone will ever wind up considering this.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
05/06/2021 15:45 Comments ||
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#11
Deaths From All Causes was constant. It would be clearer to have written there were no 'excess deaths' after all. Irony is wasted on me.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
05/06/2021 15:53 Comments ||
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[American Thinker] American leftists use the same tactics as their Soviet and Chinese comrades. The law has the same outward form as in civilized countries, but it is subverted to political ends. Common criminals, according to Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, were considered social allies of the regime. In the prison system, they were treated much better than political prisoners. In the U.S. in leftist areas, criminals are treated gently. An active criminal element aids the leftist state by making the citizens beholden to the state for protection. Citizens possessed by fear of crime have less energy for political protest. It is in the regime's interest to pamper criminals. They help the regime to keep the citizens cowed.
The federal Department of Justice and state-level law enforcement in jurisdictions taken over by the left are lenient with common criminals but savagely oppressive against political protesters when an excuse can be found, or manufactured, to charge them with a crime. That fate fell on many allies of Trump. Rudy Giuliani was visited by a gang of FBI agents at 6 A.M. equipped with dubious search warrants.
Vote-stealing activities during the last election were ignored and not even investigated because they helped the left. In San Francisco, thefts of less than $950 are not prosecuted, giving criminals a free pass to terrorize small businesses and respectable people.
Big Business is easily recruited by the left for nefarious ends. In Hitler's Germany, IBM was an enthusiastic helper of the Holocaust, eagerly mobilizing its punched card accounting to keep track of Jews. We see the same in the U.S., where numerous large enterprises have joined the Democrats in propagating outrageous lies about Georgia's new voting law. In China, big enterprises, even if not actually owned by the government, are rabid supporters of the regime. It is now common for U.S. big companies to fire employees who are singled out for having bad political opinions. Any employee of Google, Apple, or Twitter must keep his mouth shut rather than criticize the left, or even the Chinese communists.
#2
The Right could have done this as well, if they weren't comprised of men and women who cannot cross some imaginary lines. If they didn't all value some archetype of propriety over their calling. They saw the signs [or should have], but they stuck to debates and courts and legislation and Fox News.
To ensure the survival and dignity of life of your subjects at any cost; to absolutely kill kill kill all threats to your society that puts their trust in you; to institute a machine of selective tyranny crushing outliers and recidivists, empowering loyal citizens over deviants... these are the obligations of a ruler. Anything else is pretentious, self-righteous, limp dick lollygagging.
The criminal is a high energy, highly motivated individual not bound by any rules, least of all the metaphysical inanities like equality, sanctity of life and inherent goodness of mankind. The criminal has clear targets toward which he/she works compulsively until they are achieved. And a collective of criminals followed by the maladjusted outliers who fawn over them, is what makes up the modern 'Left'.
#4
Seems the communist system would work better in an authoritarian state. In the US the victims of high crime can and should blame their local politicians and police.
At some point they will vote with their feet (already seeing that) for idiot policies or vote out the scoundrels.
[Townhall] When it comes to technology, I’m an early adapter. I usually get the newest tech that interests me as soon as it is available, unless the upgrade is so minimal it’s not worth it. (I skipped the iPhone 11, for example, since the only upgrade was minimal and mostly to the camera). So I’m not afraid of new things or averse to change. But when it comes to putting something in my body, I have no desire to be Neil Armstrong on that. As far as the COVID 19 vaccines go, I’m willing to wait a while.
I should preface this by admitting that I don’t really miss socializing. My wife and I have two kids, ages 3 and 2, so it’s not like we were living the jet-set life anyway. Staying at home is my preferred mode. When I was single, I was out almost every night. But I’m not single, so having friends over is a much more appealing option, and we have exercised that option.
But it’s not just by lack of desire to hit the bars or the fear of some doorknob licking fetish returning that has me waiting to get the COVID 19 vaccine, it’s that it is so new.
Operation Warp Speed was a miracle, and one we desperately needed. It makes me proud to be an American that our country did it and it yielded multiple vaccines that work. And I have no doubt that they work. I just don’t know what else, if anything, they do.
Emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration is different from FDA approval. For the elderly, like my father (80), it makes perfect sense to get the shots. He has lung cancer (currently under control, thankfully) and got the shots. He had no adverse reactions and no hesitation about doing it. If my wife and I decide to have another kid, what would having an mRNA vaccine in our veins do to that baby? Nothing? Probably. But we don’t know yet.
What will having mRNA vaccines in us do to us in the future? We don’t know. They trigger our immune systems to be ready to destroy the coronavirus should it come in contact with it, which is great, but we don’t really know if that’s all it will do.
Personally, I think it will be fine. But I see no problem in waiting a while. It hasn’t even been a year since it’s been injected into human beings. I don’t think it’s crazy or paranoid to take a little while to see how that works out.
#2
At 78 and my wife at 75 with numerous serious medical issues (acute kidney failure. vaculitus and compromised immune system ) we do not think she can with stand the vaccine without having a significant medical event. CDC stated last January there just is not enough data and those with compromised immune systems should be aware of that. For me where she goes I go and I'm waiting for more data.
Finally, I just do not know what criteria her doctors used to pre-screen and authorize her for the vaccine.
#4
Ref #2: ....we do not think she can with stand the vaccine without having a significant medical event.
The mathematical formula escapes me, but perhaps we should think of the 'virus' as a North bound movement from the Airy Transit Circle at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The vaccination, a South bound movement from the the ATC. At various speeds, both movements eventually converge creating the desired "event".
#8
#4 perhaps we should think of the 'virus' as a North bound movement from the Airy Transit Circle at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The vaccination, a South bound movement from the the ATC. At various speeds, both movements eventually converge creating the desired "event".
Inspector, you are not wrong in your assessment of The Secret Agent. Joseph Conrad would agree.
#9
I grow weary of hearing about it. Take the shot or don't take the shot. It's you're choice. You're a grown up, you can assess the risks for yourself and I don't care. I took mine so can I please remove this silly mask?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/06/2021 13:38 Comments ||
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#10
The only problem is that some states (and Dr. Fauci) won't open up until EVERYONE is vaccinated.
And there are no more COVID19 deaths. And no more cases.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/06/2021 14:24 Comments ||
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#12
There's no fucking reason for healthy people (and especially kids) to get this so-called vaccine. Even if one should contract COVID, there are plenty of treatments out there. The mean average of a healthy person dying is absurdly low.
At best, talk to me when the FDA or other competent Leviathan-run approving authority officially approves this absurd cocktail.
#13
The mean average of a healthy person dying is absurdly low. This logic is similar to that of "correcting for inflation". People who wind up dying, all have something very, very wrong with their health at that moment. Circular and deceptive pseudo-logic.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
05/06/2021 15:09 Comments ||
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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.