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Iran Vows Revenge unless Trump Tried for Soleimani Killing
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
4 15:13 Besoeker [6] 
10 15:15 Besoeker [9] 
2 11:12 Tom [8] 
4 21:39 trailing wife [17] 
13 20:56 Merrick Ferret [27] 
8 22:24 Merrick Ferret [20] 
8 21:18 trailing wife [12] 
4 11:24 Skidmark [10] 
1 11:01 Skidmark [6] 
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18 23:17 Grusolet Peacock5728 [13] 
1 06:23 Mike Kozlowski [12] 
11 15:40 SteveS [11] 
3 11:01 trailing wife [11] 
6 13:16 Skidmark [5] 
6 17:26 Besoeker [11] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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5 09:56 Warthog [12]
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3 20:47 Canuckistan sniper [13]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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3 11:36 Lord Garth [7]
6 23:36 Grusolet Peacock5728 [36]
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Page 4: Opinion
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11 18:07 Shiva Protector of the Hohlraums [10]
1 05:34 Besoeker [10]
3 10:08 M. Murcek [3]
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11 15:38 swksvolFF [7]
Page 6: Politix
4 21:35 Rob Crawford [9]
6 13:53 M. Murcek [13]
15 15:02 swksvolFF [16]
5 18:51 Angstrom [12]
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1 10:58 Deacon Blues [7]
2 09:48 Rex Mundi [17]
6 11:26 M. Murcek [7]
2 15:51 swksvolFF [10]
6 14:02 M. Murcek [10]
2 06:19 Skidmark [8]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Inside the world of Elizabeth Holmes: How the disgraced Theranos founder styled herself on Steve Jobs, spoke in a fake baritone, told people her husky was a WOLF and captivated old, powerful men who invested millions before her empire collapsed
See also here.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • A jury has found Elizabeth Holmes guilty of four charges in fraud case that lasted 14 weeks

  • Holmes, 37, is the disgraced founder of Theranos, a 'breakthrough' blood-testing startup that defrauded investors of $9billion and patients with inaccurate and unreliable results

  • After the company went kaput in 2018, bizarre details of Holmes' life have been made public: like how she styled herself after Steve Jobs, spoke in a fake baritone voice and claimed that her Husky dog was a wolf

  • Former employees recalled how the office was overrun by the dog defecating and peeing in the boardroom

  • The trial also revealed steamy texts between Holmes and the company's COO Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani, with whom she had a secret affair and alleged that he abused her and forced her to have sex

  • Balwani famously got his employees to chant 'F***k you' to a rival competitor while dancing to MC Hammer in a rollicking staff meeting

  • From her Steve Jobs-inspired turtlenecks to claims that she doesn't blink her eyes, DailyMail.com recounts Elizabeth Holmes' long list of deceits and most outlandish moments below
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 06:12 || Comments || Link || [27 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...captivated old, powerful men."

Imagine that, if you will.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 6:36 Comments || Top||

#2  The test is, do any of them show up to give character testimony at her sentencing hearing.

My guess: No.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 6:57 Comments || Top||

#3  The powerful old men who were her board of directors had one job: to ensure the company was being properly run, making money by doing everything right. Each of them chose not to do any of the things necessary to reveal the scam. What is the punishment for completely failing in one’s fiduciary duty?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 10:59 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Since bankers stopped jumping out windows during stock-market crashes, the penalty is null.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5  According to the Daily Mail link posted by Skidmark in response to the other article today on the subject, they and a few others together lost over $300 million from their investment in the company.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  And where did they get that $300 million? From years of low-paying dedicated service to the public, no doubt.

/snark
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Long read: THE ROLE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN ENRON’S COLLAPSE
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 13:36 Comments || Top||

#8  WorldCom's Watchdogs Were Asleep
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 13:38 Comments || Top||

#9  The money-making machine scam
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 13:50 Comments || Top||

#10  if she would have filled out all paper work and claimed to be male and had a she wee it would never had seen a court room and she would have 1000 times the fourtune just look at all the tech and internet big wigs!
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/04/2022 14:08 Comments || Top||


#12  Some people will buy anything.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 14:58 Comments || Top||

#13  puttin' the F in NFTs
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/04/2022 20:56 Comments || Top||


Biden played big role in promoting convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos
See also here.
[Washington Examiner] Then-Vice President Joe Biden played a key role in helping further the billion-dollar con job perpetrated by Elizabeth Holmes, lavishing the disgraced Theranos founder with praise in 2015.

Holmes, whose company falsely claimed to be able to conduct wide-ranging and revolutionary life-saving tests using only tiny drops of blood, was found guilty on Monday on one federal charge of conspiracy to defraud investors and three counts of wire fraud. She faces up to 20 years in prison per count.

Holmes, now 37, and her longtime business partner Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani were indicted in June 2018 for two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud. The jury for Holmes did not reach a verdict on three of the wire fraud charges and found her not guilty of a conspiracy to defraud patients and not guilty on three of the other wire fraud charges. Another count against Holmes was dropped.

Balwani's trial is scheduled to begin later this month.

Theranos touted Biden’s July 23, 2015 visit to its headquarters in a lengthy press release, calling it "A New Era of Preventive Health Care" summit. Both the company and Biden repeatedly posted on Twitter about the event.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 05:54 || Comments || Link || [20 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did Biden's endorsement come with the usual fees ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 5:58 Comments || Top||


#3  Oooooooohhhhhh — in answer to the question I posed in another article on the subject posted today, Skidmark’s link reports that the generally-acknowledged-as-brilliant board members and clever, connected others between them lost over $300 million on their investment in the company, as sound a spanking short of jail time as I could hope for those who failed so spectacularly in their fiduciary duty to oversee the company.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 11:20 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Just puts them of a mind to look for a "sure thing" to recoup their losses on, i.e. another war to nowhere.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  the people on the Theranos board of directors may be safe from criminal prosecution by virtue of 'idiot defense', i.e., "I'm just a corporate director, how am I supposed to know that our documents are completely fraudulent"

but there is civil liability that won't work that way
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/04/2022 11:39 Comments || Top||

#6  What happened (penalty wise) to Enron board members? Worldcom board members? Not much, as I recall.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:47 Comments || Top||

#7  in the Enron case, only directors who were employees of Enron were charged (Enron collapsed in 2001)- officers outside employees were not charged (some testified as witnesses for the prosecution)

interestingly the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson was also convicted but the conviction was overturned on appeal based on incorrect direction to the jury. The outside officers also lost a lot of money as their compensation had been in shares of Enron.

civil suits proceeded for years after and the last settlements were, I think, completed in 2009 or so.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/04/2022 15:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Plugs the Pathological Liar recognized a kindred spirit.
Maybe he copped a free sniff or two as well
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/04/2022 22:24 Comments || Top||


Criminals out on bail for violent felonies killed 155 people in Texas
[PostMillennial] According to data gathered by the Crime Stoppers of Houston, which was then publicized by FOX26 Houston news hound Greg Googan, "no fewer than 113 defendants charged with capital murder have been inexplicably granted bond and released back onto our streets pending trial," specifically, "we are talking about capital murder — the most egregious offense in the criminal code — a conviction for which carries either life imprisonment or the death penalty
."

In Harris County, judges began approving low bonds to reduce the prison population in response to COVID-19 in early 2020. Despite the waning severity of the pandemic, the practice has continued unabated, resulting in a surge in violent mostly peaceful criminal activity throughout the county.

More than 50,000 accused felons have benefited from bail reform policies, advanced by Democrat judges, the station reported.

Houston attorney Charles Adams told the station that the progressive bond policies are an overreaction to past policies, which at times have resulted in non-violent mostly peaceful offenders going to jail as they waited for their trial dates. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
the new policy takes it too far and judges are "making decisions that sound better to movements as opposed to citizens," said Adams.

The move to enact progressive changes to bond policy in Harris County follows a nationwide move to enact low cash bail or eliminate bail entirely in an effort to provide "equitable" justice for those who can’t afford bail. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
such policies have endangered local communities, which are suffering from the consequence of violent mostly peaceful offenders roaming free as they await trial or sentencing for violent mostly peaceful offenses.

In Waukesha, Wisconsin, accused felon Darrell Brooks
...racist would-be rapper, actual wife beater and career criminal, responsible for the Waukesha Christmas parade massacre...
Jr. was awaiting trial after being arrested for allegedly running a woman over with his car. Brooks is accused of plowing his vehicle through a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens.

According to a pretrial risk assessment administered to Brooks on Nov. 5, ahead of the mass casualty event, Brooks scored a four out of six in Failure to Appear (FTA), and a six out of six in New Criminal Activity (NCA) but he was nonetheless released, The Post Millennial reported.
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [18 views] Top|| File under:


-Great Cultural Revolution
YouTube and Twitter delete Joe Rogan interview with scientist who helped invent mRNA vaccines: Dr Robert Malone claimed US is now like Nazi Germany with society 'hypnotized' to believe in vaccines and extreme pandemic measures
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • YouTube has removed Joe Rogan's three-hour and six-minute podcast episode with Dr Robert Malone, which was posted on New Year's Eve

  • Malone, 61, claimed to have invented the mRNA technology used in Covid-19 vaccines when he was just 28 years old

  • During the podcast, Malone drew parallels between the US and Nazi Germany with 'mass formation psychosis' and intelligent people 'barking mad'

  • Malone even questioned the effectiveness of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in a tweet posted the day before his account was suspended on December 30

  • Yet despite creating the technology, Malone said he still speaks out about getting jabbed simply 'because it's the right thing to do'

  • He told Rogan that government-imposed vaccine mandates are destroying the medical field 'for financial incentives (and) political a**-covering'

  • The episode was posted in full on an account not affiliated with Joe Rogan but was later removed. The audio-only version of the episode is still on Spotify

  • Despite Malone's claims on the podcast, 62 percent of the American population is vaccinated and another 73.3 percent have at least one dose of a vaccine
Related: The video was uploaded to Rumble here, all 3+ hours of it.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Mob Rule

#1  Interview is still on Spotify. For now. Best rundown on the state of affairs so far.
Posted by: Angstrom || 01/04/2022 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Streisand Effect in full force.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  From The Conservative Treehouse, for those who prefer to get their information from reading rather than watching: Transcript of Joe Rogan Interviewing Dr. Robert Malone
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 11:01 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
The rise of the AIRPOD bod! Big-breasted women coin new term for their body shape while comparing their figures to the top-heavy Apple headphones
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 01:48 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Daily Mail's Lillian Gissen,
Ironically, seems to be cissing,
Dismissing those men
Who are blessed like Big Ben
With a cleavage convenient for kissing.
Or perhaps motorboating on the Thames.
Posted by: Grusolet Peacock5728 || 01/04/2022 6:26 Comments || Top||

#2  One word - plastics

Remember in the end, gravity wins.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2022 6:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Airpod? I'll stick to airhead. It's worked for decades.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 01/04/2022 9:33 Comments || Top||

#4  So, it this in place of THOT, or in addition to?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 9:34 Comments || Top||

#5  An excuse for the Daily Mail to seine photos of busty women from the morass of the internet. The triangular body shape is small hips/broad shoulders, not, as they claim, flat bottom/large bosom.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 11:52 Comments || Top||

#6  the sleepy nite nite isolation ones?
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 01/04/2022 14:10 Comments || Top||

#7  TW, can you provide visual reminders, I seem to be forgetting.....
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/04/2022 14:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Silly Vespasian — you will learn more if you find examples yourself.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 21:18 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
A perfect storm! Biden gets SNOWED IN on Air Force One as he arrives in D.C. to disastrous poll numbers, rampant inflation, a stalled agenda, nation paralyzed by COVID, a lackluster VP, and the prospect of GOP landslide in the midterms
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] When Hell freezes over.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats


#2  Give some snow to Hunter. He can really put it away
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 01/03/2022 20:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Fuc&k that place
Posted by: newc || 01/04/2022 2:52 Comments || Top||

#4  ....Best part is that the Dems were going to do a political theater event at the Capitol on Thursday to commemorate the Riot That Was Totally An Insurrection And Has Doomed Our Democracy.

We should have a posting category for 'Divine Justice.'

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/04/2022 6:20 Comments || Top||

#5  The only way found to shut down the government.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2022 6:51 Comments || Top||

#6  #4- Amen, Mike
Posted by: Frank G || 01/04/2022 7:04 Comments || Top||


#8  #6 #4- Amen, Mike
Posted by: Frank G 2022-01-04 07:04


Frank,

Thank you, sir!

Also a bit of an update - as of 0700 EST, Interstate 95 from at least DC south to Fredericksburg is 'impassable', with hundreds of vehicles stranded. We have friends and family in NoVa and Tidewater - by all accounts it's remarkably ugly right now, and VDOT seems to be way behind the curve in getting things open. Some accounts say they've not seen ANY road crews since last evening, and many motorists are starting to run out of fuel.

I blame Gerbil Worming, but that's just me.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/04/2022 8:18 Comments || Top||

#9  The president was returning from his six-day New Year's holiday break in Wilmington, Delaware. He was originally scheduled to fly on Marine One from Delaware straight to the South Lawn of the White House. Instead of he took Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews and took the presidential motorcade back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Expensive vacation. Don't they have a basement in the White House?
Posted by: Bobby || 01/04/2022 9:07 Comments || Top||


#11  At the rate they are going, The Jan. 6 Anniversary Wankfest is going to be a Zoom call.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:20 Comments || Top||

#12  Zoom it at 2am, pick up an extra 30k viewers.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2022 12:06 Comments || Top||

#13  And the looney leftists are blaming Gov. Elect Youngkin, outraged he hasn't done anything. Hey, Bugwits! He isn't the governor yet.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/04/2022 14:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Bugwits!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/04/2022 14:17 Comments || Top||

#15  Some accounts say they've not seen ANY road crews since last evening, and many motorists are starting to run out of fuel.

You're F'd big time in a electric car. Put a little gas in the tank of a conventional car and you're moving again. T'aint going happen with a that zero emission status symbol unless you are somehow plugged in already (for a very long recharge).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2022 15:44 Comments || Top||

#16  ^ "I'm looking for an extension cord. Oh, about 25 miles long?"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/04/2022 16:22 Comments || Top||

#17  The Babylon Bee is reporting about the FBI To Host First Annual Jan 6 Reunion
I'm loving this snow storm just about now
Posted by: Jan || 01/04/2022 19:00 Comments || Top||

#18  In the future, once the kinks have been worked out, battery-powered planes will be able to airdrop fresh batteries. For now...

The stranded, diverse and eclectic:
"A traffic jam's so much less hectic!"
The comradely hordes
Simply join hands, and cords,
And connect to Potomac Electric.
[wolves circle drum circle around burning Tesla]
Posted by: Grusolet Peacock5728 || 01/04/2022 23:17 Comments || Top||


Hundreds of wild white-tailed deer in the US are infected with COVID
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wear masks & isolate for a week - problem solved.
Posted by: Raj || 01/04/2022 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  All the more reason to shoot them and eat them. It's us against them!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2022 0:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Well if your vaxxed..... What difference does it make?
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 01/04/2022 5:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Dr. Fauci joins me in insisting they all be captured, Jabbed, tagged, and appropriately masked.

Having recently returned to his workshop, Santa is hoping for....herd immunity.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 5:46 Comments || Top||

#5  https://www.wthr.com/article/news/verify/coronavirus-verify/covid-19-deer-humans/536-5433a215-0bc3-4d8c-ad86-a46f6ebd1f5c

Article says a lot (inadvertently) about the Wuhan Virus being man made.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 01/04/2022 5:57 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ Thanks for the link ! Yes, for those not cognitively impaired, "man made" appears to be a forgone conclusion.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 6:05 Comments || Top||

#7  I've read the Omicron is man made as well. But those stories sort of disappeared.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 01/04/2022 6:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Who in the fuck tested wild deer? These people are insane as fuck.
Posted by: Chris || 01/04/2022 13:13 Comments || Top||

#9  Deer are tested for all kinds of diseases. CWD, Chronic Wasting Disease comes to mind, bluetongue, EHD, lice and ticks. Hunters try not to shoot an unhealthy looking deer, but sometimes it happens. State fish and game agencies are helpful in such matters. I suppose someone threw C19 into the mix for the heck of it.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/04/2022 14:49 Comments || Top||

#10  There's funding in C19 testing.

It would be a surprise if they, uhem, didn't find any.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/04/2022 14:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Deer tuberculosis is a thing in Michigan. That is why you can put corn out for the squirrels but it is illegal to put corn out for the deer.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2022 15:40 Comments || Top||


Rhode Island went from firing unvaccinated health care workers to allowing the COVID-positive to work
[FoxNews] After implementing a coronavirus mandate for health care workers this fall, Rhode Island has now opened an option for COVID-positive health care workers to continue working if their facility is facing a staffing crisis.

"Also, facility administrators should be using their clinical judgment in making staffing decisions. For example, a facility may opt for a COVID-19 positive worker to only care for COVID-19 positive patients," Joseph Wendelken, a spokesperson from the department of health, told the Providence Journal on Saturday.

A memo was sent to employees of state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital on Friday explaining that "those who are exposed or have a positive Covid test but are asymptomatic" can continue reporting to work "in crisis situations for staffing" if they wear N95 masks.

The memo came after Rhode Island updated its isolation and quarantine guidance in December to reflect the CDC’s updated guidance.

"For the general public, the updated guidance (which shortens the isolation and quarantine period in some instances) is reflective of science that indicates that most SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness,'' Wendelken told the Providence Journal.

Workers at other hospitals and skilled nursing homes in the state who are "mildly symptomatic" can also continue working if the facilities are facing a staffing crisis, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health. Any hospital that needs to activate crisis staffing mode needs to notify the state Department of Health.

So far, the hospitals have not needed to call on COVID-positive workers to report to the job.

Like other states, Rhode Island required health care workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1 of last year. The mandate resulted in the termination of hundreds of health care workers in the state, NBC 10 News reported.

But in November, 32 unvaccinated employees at Eleanor Slater were allowed to remain on the job due to staffing shortages.

"The Department of Health and Eleanor Slater did the very best they could do. Sometimes when there's not a decision to be made, it's an easy one to make," Democratic Gov. Dan McKee told NBC 10 News at the time.

Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AKA 'You fucked up, Flounder - you trusted us.'
Posted by: Raj || 01/04/2022 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  The narrative is collapsing even in blue places now. I predict that instead of the drip-drip-drip end so many people expect, it will collapse suddenly, like the Soviet Union.

The question is, how will the GOPe squander the "Post-COVID" windfall?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  When the bubonic plague struck Geneva in 1530, everything was ready. They even opened a whole hospital for the plague victims. With doctors, paramedics and nurses. The traders contributed, the magistrate gave grants every month. The patients always gave money, and if one of them died alone, all the goods went to the hospital.

But then a disaster happened: the plague was dying out, while the subsidies depended on the number of patients. There was no question of right and wrong for the Geneva hospital staff in 1530. If the plague produces money, then the plague is good. And then the doctors got organized.
At first, they just poisoned patients to raise the mortality statistics, but they quickly realized that the statistics didn’t have to be just about mortality, but about mortality from plague. So they began to cut the boils from the bodies of the dead, dry them, grind them in a mortar and give them to other patients as medicine. Then they started dusting clothes, handkerchiefs and garters. But somehow the plague continued to abate. Apparently, the dried buboes didn’t work well. Doctors went into town and spread bubonic powder on door handles at night, selecting those homes where they could then profit. As an eyewitness wrote of these events, 220;this remained hidden for some time, but the devil is more concerned with increasing the number of sins than with hiding them.”

In short, one of the doctors became so impudent and lazy that he decided not to wander the city at night, but simply threw a bundle of dust into the crowd during the day. The stench rose to the sky and one of the girls, who by a lucky chance had recently come out of that hospital, discovered what that smell was.
The doctor was tied up and placed in the good hands of competent “craftsmen.” They tried to get as much information from him as possible. However, the execution lasted several days. The ingenious hippocrats were tied to poles on wagons and carried around the city. At each intersection the executioners used red-hot tongs to tear off pieces of meat. They were then taken to the public square, beheaded and quartered, and the pieces were taken to all the districts of Geneva.
The only exception was the hospital director’s son, who did not take part in the trial but blurted out that he knew how to make potions and how to prepare the powder without fear of contamination. He was simply beheaded 220;to prevent the spread of evil”.

François Bonivard, Chronicles of Geneva, second volume, pages 395 – 402
Notice any similarities? Will we see the same justice meted out this time round? I really don’t know. I do know TPTB will have learned from history but have we (the plebians)?
Interesting times………….
Posted by: Conservative Sphincters United || 01/04/2022 12:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Can't wait for Pope Fauxi I's turn.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I predict that Fauxi will seek asylum in the CCP when his crimes against humanity are broadcast outside the cloistered hall of the NIH and CDC

Never before in epidemiology has a program ignored treatment and focused on vaccination and quarantine
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/04/2022 16:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Ref #2: The question is, how will the GOPe squander the "Post-COVID" windfall?

The GOP will find a way, or a multiple series of ways.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 17:26 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
U.S. judge blocks Pentagon from punishing Navy SEALs who refused COVID-19 vaccine
Jan 3 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday barred the U.S. Department of Defense from punishing a group of Navy SEALs and other special forces members who refused COVID-19 vaccines on religious grounds.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, acting in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of 35 special forces service members, issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Navy and Defense Department from enforcing the mandate.

Reed, who was appointed to the federal bench in Texas by President George W. Bush, said the Navy had not granted a single religious exemption to the vaccine rule.

"The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms," the judge wrote in a 26-page decision.

The service members had faced a range of military discipline actions for refusing the vaccine.

First Liberty Institute, a legal organization dedicated to defending U.S. religious freedoms which represented the plaintiff service members, hailed the ruling as a victory.

"Forcing a service member to choose between their faith and serving their country is abhorrent to the Constitution and America’s values," said Mike Berry, the institute's general counsel, said in a written statement.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 14:40 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like this "mandate" BS may be headed up Biden's arse before too long.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 14:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Has the 9th Circuit ruled yet? SCOTUS?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/04/2022 14:58 Comments || Top||

#3  ...Keep in mind that even if these guys somehow manage to stay in, their careers are over, and that will be the same for anybody in any branch.

DoD is not fond of defiance, and even less fond of the defiant who win.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/04/2022 15:09 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ Same just about everywhere. If they wish to terminate your employment, they'll find a reason. Corporate loyalty and gold retirement watches died at about the same time.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 15:13 Comments || Top||


Idaho Could Be The Next State to Outlaw Abortion: Report
[Townhall] Idaho could be the next state to outlaw abortion, local outlet Idaho Statesman reported Sunday.

In the Statesman’s report, it claimed that abortion access in Idaho is at risk due to a Supreme Court case that could overturn Roe v. Wade and legislation pushed at the state level that chips away at abortion access.

"This year, women could see abortion access severely curtailed in Idaho," the report stated. "Some Idaho bills already have threatened to hamper access to the procedure, and more could be on the way."

"Neighboring states and abortion clinic staffers said they’re already preparing for an influx of Idaho patients who could stretch their clinics to capacity," it added.

The Supreme Court case that could alter the future of abortion laws in Idaho is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Dobbs surrounds the constitutionality of a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. The Court heard oral arguments for the case on Dec. 1. In an amicus brief, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the Supreme Court directly to overturn two landmark abortion cases — Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

"Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition," Fitch said in her brief. "So the question becomes whether this Court should overrule those decisions. It should."

Following the Dobbs oral arguments, reports indicated that the Supreme Court would be open to upholding Mississippi’s abortion law and possibly overturning Roe, as I covered. Several states would automatically outlaw abortion if Roe is overturned, including Idaho.

"Any ruling that returns abortion decisions to states could trigger laws in several states, including Idaho, that would essentially outlaw the procedures," the Statesman reported. "One Idaho law already on the books makes abortion a felony if Roe v. Wade is overturned."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 06:25 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Murder is already a felony.
Posted by: Sheter the Lesser9291 || 01/04/2022 8:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, I think of the 60+ million babies killed, roughly 30 million of them were girls who will never grow up to be women.

Isn't this bad for women?
Posted by: Tom || 01/04/2022 11:12 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Two Tunisian Soldiers Killed in Helicopter Crash
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
S. Africa Parliament Fire Restarts after Being Tamed
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Prob built on a coal seam.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 11:01 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
China's plot to 'take over' Latin America: Beijing inks new deal to share nuclear tech, build 5G networks, develop space programmes, and pump cheap loans into America's back yard in 'growing threat' to US
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Gotta kinda wonder why the US hasn't been doing this for decades.
  • China has put pen to paper on a new deal to deepen ties with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean

  • New deal will see Beijing share nuclear technology, build 5G and communications networks, help develop space programmes and pump cheap infrastructure loans into the region in attempt to buy influence

  • Comes off the back of years of Chinese investment and trade in the region, which has diminished US power

  • Beijing plans to 'take over' America's back yard and is a 'growing threat' to the US, analysts have warned
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  1) The Cartels will capture Chinese throughout these areas.
2) In response, China will bring large numbers of military troops South of the US border.
3) They will consolidate and hold that position of strength for decades.
Posted by: Blackbeard Barnsmell6454 || 01/04/2022 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  They'll be as successful as they've been in Venezuela.

Just build the damn wall.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/04/2022 7:50 Comments || Top||

#3  China will dump a ton of money into Latin America only to find the area is poor for a reason and that reason is not US Imperialsm despite what Universities want everyone to believe.
Posted by: ruprecht || 01/04/2022 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "Pleeze doan trow me in dat briar patch, Mr. Pooh!"

"Tar Baby ain't sayin' nuthin'"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 9:31 Comments || Top||

#5  ....Didn't John Kerry comment recently that the Monroe Doctrine was no longer in force?

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/04/2022 12:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Kerry declares the end of the Monroe Doctrine era
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/04/2022 13:16 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Army to receive 400 armor vehicles in 2022
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] Formations and military units of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Russia in 2022 will receive more than 400 units of armored vehicles. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, reports TASS.

"In 2022, more than 400 units of armored vehicles are planned to be delivered to the formations and military units of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the Defense Ministry said.

The ground forces will be transferred to modern and modernized models of armored vehicles, which have been repeatedly tested in different climatic conditions. Among them will be modern T-72B3M, T-80BVM, T-90M tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, modernized BMP-2 with a Berezhok fighting compartment, and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers.

Earlier it became known that in 2022 the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation will replenish missilesfor the promising S-500 Prometey air defense systems. Experts from China praised the characteristics of the Russiananti-aircraft missile system new generation.

Posted by: badanov || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Earlier it became known that in 2022 the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation will replenish missilesfor the promising S-500 Prometey air defense systems. Experts from China praised the characteristics of the Russian anti-aircraft missile system new generation.

A dear friend - lost him a year ago to the damned COVID - worked as a defense analyst, and he often said that for at least the last two or three iterations, the Russians simply jacked up the missiles and slid a new nameplate on them.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/04/2022 6:23 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Victoria man charged with arson over fire at Canberra's Old Parliament House
[THEGUARDIAN] A 30-year-old Victorian man has been charged with arson in relation to last week’s fire at Canberra’s Old Parliament House.

Australian Capital Territory police detectives arrested the man on Sunday night in the ACT suburb of Parkes.

Police allege the fire during a protest last week was deliberately lit, and have also charged the man with damaging commonwealth property.

He is due to face the ACT magistrates court on Tuesday.

Three other people faced court on Sunday.

Two were charged with assaulting a frontline service provider and the third was charged with hindering a territory official.

Old Parliament House was closed after the front doors of the heritage-listed building were burnt in Thursday’s fire, causing potentially irreparable damage.

Police confirmed officials had agreed a small smoking ceremony could take place as part of a peaceful protest but said it got "a little bit out of hand".

Posted by: Fred || 01/04/2022 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Apple becomes first company to reach $3 trillion market value
[Aljazeera] It’s official. Shares of Apple Inc rose as much as 3 percent on Monday to trade at $182.88 — enough to secure the iPhone maker the coveted crown of becoming the first publically traded company on the planet to cross the $3 trillion market capitalization mark.

To put that into perspective, Apple’s value now surpasses the nominal gross domestic products (GDPs) of six of the world’s top 10 economies including the United Kingdom, India, France, Italy, Canada and South Korea.

Apple’s rise has been relentless in recent years. Back in August 2018, it became the first United States firm to surpass $1 trillion in market value. It blew past the $2 trillion mark only two years later in August 2020. And thanks to the turbo-charged pandemic appetite for tech shares, it took roughly 17 months for Apple to reach the $3 trillion mark.

Since January 2007, when the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone, shares of the Silicon Valley giant have gained 5,800 percent.

The $3 trillion milestone is largely symbolic and indeed, other tech heavyweights outperformed Apple last year. Microsoft and Tesla shares gained about 50 percent each in 2021. Alphabet shares soared 65 percent and chipmaker Nvidia 125 percent. By contrast, Apple stock gained 34 percent in 2021.

But Apple’s sheer size does mean it has an outsized influence over stock markets. It accounts for roughly 7 percent of the S&P 500 Index.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 06:11 || Comments || Link || [17 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Android. I have an old flip phone I'd rather use than an iPhone that's made in China. Never liked Mac either.
Posted by: Jatle Sinatra9653 || 01/04/2022 11:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The Crapple ecosystem is designed by mental deficients for mental deficients. It sets my teeth on edge. For all its faults, Android is much more open. I'm running Microsoft Launcher as my front end, Office mobile apps, Outlook and Edge. I'm riding on top of the Gurgle mess, using a login to them for access to the Play Store only.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd rather wipe my ass with sandpaper than to ever buy or use a product from Apple. They're the Notre Dame of tech companies - pure institutional pretension and arrogance.
Posted by: Raj || 01/04/2022 17:05 Comments || Top||

#4  I really miss my Palm devices, but they went out of business. I got into Apple when my last Palm was dying because that’s what Mr. Wife’s employer supplied him, and that way we could more easily share apps and data. Stayed with them because it is such a pain to manually enter all the data not transferred when switching from Apple to Android ... and also in the opposite direction.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 21:39 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Five world powers issue pledge to prevent nuclear war
[DW] China, La Belle France, Russia, the UK and the US have agreed that a nuclear war "cannot be won and must never be fought."

The joint pledge was issued ahead of what was to be the latest review of the Treaty of the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
That’s nice. What impact will their solemn pledge have on the Mad Mullahs of Iran?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/04/2022 00:49 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  India, Pakistan, North Korea and possibly Israel have nukes too, wonder why they were not invited?
Posted by: BernardZ || 01/04/2022 5:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Given that Hiroshima is in much better shape today than Detroit suggests that a little nuke war may not be such a bad thing. Time to reread Herman Kahn's On Thermonuclear War.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2022 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Nice sentiments, but I seem to recall that the Kellogg-Briand treaty outlawing war in 1922 didn't work so well.
Posted by: Tom || 01/04/2022 11:18 Comments || Top||



Science & Technology
This Mysterious Fire in Australia Has Been Burning For at Least 6,000 Years
[Science Alert.com] In a national park a four-hour drive north of Sydney in Australia, a fire is smoldering out of control — and it's been doing so for at least 6,000 years.

Known as 'Burning Mountain', the mysterious underground blaze is the oldest known fire on the planet. And some scientists estimate it may be far more ancient than we currently think.

Located under Mount Wingen in the state of New South Wales (Wingen means 'fire' in the language of the local Wanaruah people, the traditional custodians of the land), this underground smolder is a coal seam fire — one of thousands burning at any one time around the globe.

Once ignited, these subterranean fires are almost impossible to put out. Slowly but intensely, they travel through the coal seam, a layer of coal that naturally occurs beneath Earth's surface.

"No one knows the size of the fire under Burning Mountain, you can only infer it," Guillermo Rein, a professor of fire science at Imperial College London in the UK, tells ScienceAlert.

"It's likely a ball of around 5 to 10 meters in diameter, reaching temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius [1,832 Fahrenheit]," he explains.

Rein visited Burning Mountain in 2014 — which was on his field trip bucket list.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 06:30 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems like it could be a model for a powerplant.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 10:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I blame global warming.
Posted by: Crusader || 01/04/2022 10:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Crusader, actually, it CAUSES global warming.
And, it's Trump's fault, of course.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/04/2022 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  To the eco-fanatic, Gaia is a conscious, living entity. So, either Gaia wants this, or can't do anything about it.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Where do such fires get their oxygen? I often need a bellows just to keep my trash fire burning.
And wouldn't the output gas be more CO than CO2? How does CO compare as a greenhouse gas?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/04/2022 11:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Pyrolytic combustion
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/04/2022 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  So just tow the whole country out to sea and submerge it briefly. It's an island, for cripe's sake!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/04/2022 14:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Put some tanks etc. on one side and it will tip over and put out the fire.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/04/2022 14:56 Comments || Top||

#9  It's hot it's damn hot;
Posted by: Dale || 01/04/2022 15:09 Comments || Top||

#10  /\ One of my personal fav's. That buck sergeant was having no problem enjoying the skit for sure.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/04/2022 15:15 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.

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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2022-01-04
  Iran Vows Revenge unless Trump Tried for Soleimani Killing
Mon 2022-01-03
  Bandits Kidnap 18, Kill One Along Kaduna Birnin Gwari Road
Sun 2022-01-02
  France: +800 carbecues on New Year's Eve
Sat 2022-01-01
  Arrests made in shooting death of Illinois police sergeant
Fri 2021-12-31
  U.S. Navy Seizes $4 Million Worth of Heroin in Arabian Sea
Thu 2021-12-30
  Hezbollah deploys air defense systems in Syria's Qalamoun mountains
Wed 2021-12-29
  France Orders Mosque Closed after 'Unacceptable' Preaching
Tue 2021-12-28
  Libya declares UK Ambassador persona non grata
Mon 2021-12-27
  DRC - Deadly bombing at restaurant packed for Christmas
Sun 2021-12-26
  Desmond Tutu aka 'The Red Arch' tango uniform at 90
Sat 2021-12-25
  Poland: Migrants Attacking Border with ‘Full Aggression’ Using ‘Stones, Logs, Metal Poles as Weapons’
Fri 2021-12-24
  Egypt’s border guards arrest over 2,000 irregular migrants, seize tons of drugs
Thu 2021-12-23
  Nigeria: Fulani Jihadists Kill 45 Christian Farmers in 'Barbaric' Attack
Wed 2021-12-22
  Sudan's Prime Minister Abadalla Hamdok to resign
Tue 2021-12-21
  Saudi Arabian 'potential terrorist' nabbed at US-Mexico border


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