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Today: 78 articles and 349 comments as of 4:02.
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Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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4 11:02 Lex [8]
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8 18:39 Glenmore [12]
8 19:52 Alaska Paul [14]
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8 12:03 Lex [5]
13 23:30 Woodrow [11]
15 23:32 Woodrow [14]
5 11:34 Iblis [7]
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3 05:21 Besoeker [8]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Florida teacher tried to get ‘8 ball’ of meth delivered at school
[NYPOST] A Florida teacher has been busted for trying to get drugs delivered to her while she taught at an elementary school, according to authorities.

First-grade teacher Valerie Lee Prince, 43, called a dealer to bring her an eight ball of meth at Jacksonville Heights Elementary School ‐ saying she was willing to abandon her class to collect it, according to Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

"You call me, I can just say I have to use the phone real quick ‐ I could step out and come right back in," she told the dealer, who was an informant who worked with police narcotics officers to record the call.

The call suggested that she planned to "consume some of the narcotics and return to the classroom," Lt. Domenic Paniccia told a presser, which shared audio of the teacher’s desperate call.

"The situation is disturbing," Paniccia said. "This is someone that was in charge of kids, first-grade kids, and it’s something that was a priority to us."

His colleague, Sgt. Vincent Hall, said it was "a pretty nonchalant request," saying, "The indication was that it was no big deal to the suspect."

An undercover officer later delivered her $85 of meth ‐ outside of school hours ‐ before Prince was arrested. She is charged with purchasing and possessing meth, a felony. She was still being held in Clay County Jail with an arraignment set for next month, court records show.

The teacher "admitted to the use of methamphetamine on multiple occasions in the last six months" and also confessed to the school-delivery deal, Hall told the presser.

Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Girls Can Do Math Meth
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn! I looked at her photo. Her poor first grade kids must be having nightmares about her. The school is criminally responsible for employing somebody who looks so obviously psycho to educate young children.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 1:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like a frequent occurrence for the school district:

It is always disappointing and disturbing whenever an educator is implicated in this type of activity,” a spokesperson said
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  "Alexa, I need a bump. Order me another 8-ball."
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2020 2:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Iron rice toilet bowl...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2020 8:49 Comments || Top||


Jackson State University President resigns after arrest in prostitution sting
[LOCALMEMPHIS] The president of Jackson State University resigned Monday after he was arrested in a prostitution sting in central Mississippi.

William Bynum Jr., 57, was among more than a dozen people arrested during the weekend in the Jackson suburb of Clinton, according to Clinton Police Chief Ford Hayman.

A news release from the Mississippi university system on Monday said Bynum submitted his resignation, and it took effect immediately.

Bynum is charged with procuring services of a hooker, false statement of identity and simple possession of marijuana.

Hayman said during a news conference Monday that the people arrested were responding to an online ad for prostitution services, and they were met by an undercover police officer at a chain hotel near Interstate 20.

The chief was asked if Bynum tried to convince police he was someone else.

"Without getting into particulars, yes, he was charged with that ‐ providing a false identity," Hayman said.

Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't Jackson State like Folsom State or Quentin State-- i.e. that school of dark arts known as a state prison?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  a prostitution sting

Thought that was a STD.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:54 Comments || Top||

#3  ... or a shock from Madame Sade's cattle prod
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 16:59 Comments || Top||


Feral Yout: B'Ballers at Shabazz HS in Newark attack, beat their own coach (video)
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Back to the future.
1972 all over again.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  An inability to plan more than one minute into the future.
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 8:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Police are working to identify the suspects.

I'll give you guys a hint or two - there are fifteen suspects and the coach has a list of their names.
Posted by: Raj || 02/11/2020 9:54 Comments || Top||

#4  There's gotta be some cultural appropriation going on here somewhere. Wasn't B-Ball invented by some white guy in Ma?
Posted by: AlanC || 02/11/2020 12:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Wasn't B-Ball invented by some white guy in Ma?

I don’t know who invented the game, but back before it was a Black thing, it was a Jewish thing — universally understood as belonging to ethnicities that were scrappy, quick thinking and intelligent, and ungentlemanly — sort of a physical version of chess. It is still popular with the menfolk in Jewish community centers around the country.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/11/2020 17:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Catholic schools have long dominated the sport
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 18:09 Comments || Top||

#7  James Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, sports coach, and innovator. He invented the game of basketball at age 30 in 1891. He wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program.

Pasty white dude
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2020 18:38 Comments || Top||

#8  That ball has a seam like a football! Dribbling must have been interesting.
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 23:41 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
'Mad Mike' Hoare, mercenary in Congo who later led a failed coup, dies at 100
[WaPo] To his legions of admirers, Mike Hoare was a poetry-reading soldier of fortune who led an army of white mercenaries in Congo, freed missionaries from certain death and beat back a growing communist threat.

He served with the British army in India and Myanmar, also known as Burma, during World War II, worked as an accountant in peacetime London and decamped to apartheid-era South Africa in search of ad­ven­ture. He organized safaris, embarked on motorcycle expeditions that spanned the continent and searched for a legendary lost city in the Kalahari Desert.

Mr. Hoare, who was 100 when he died Feb. 2, eventually found his calling as a mercenary, leading two 1960s campaigns in Congo. Covertly backed by the CIA, he and his men stifled a ragtag rebellion that U.S. policymakers deemed a Cold War menace. But while his soldiers were glamorized by the American press, other reports indicated they were little more than rifle-wielding thugs ‐ guilty of "serious excesses," as one CIA cable put it, that included "robbery, rape, murder and beatings."

Those accusations did little to damage the public image of Mr. Hoare, who sometimes went by the military rank of colonel and said he had little tolerance for war crimes, even as he likened African nationalists to animals. His mercenary career ended two decades later after he spearheaded a failed coup in the Seychelles that landed him in a South African prison.

"I think I’d like to have been born in the time of Sir Francis Drake," he once told The Washington Post. "Yes, out sailing, robbing the Spaniards, and when you brought the booty back to Queen Elizabeth, you knelt before her and she made you a knight. You were respectable ‐ even though you were a thief."

Along with Bob Denard of France and Jean Schramme of Belgium, Mr. Hoare was one of several white mercenaries who made international headlines in post-colonial Africa, selling their services to rebel factions and anti-communist regimes. His death was announced by his son and biographer, Chris Hoare, who said Mr. Hoare died at a care facility in Durban, South Africa, but did not give a cause.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2020 10:43 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They don't make 'em like that any more.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 10:59 Comments || Top||

#2  One less of the "Wild Geese".
Pax, de mortuitus.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/11/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Rus in verde oud soldier.

Short video found here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 14:54 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
A feel good post in case you want to stay at sea until the virus dies out...
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 02:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When Starlink rolls out later this year a Starlink base would go nice on a sailing yacht. Adding a cellular extender unit (like you put on a cable internet) would be interesting too. That would allow one to use their cellphone with their provider at sea.
Sort of Facetime from the middle of the Pacific on a normal cell call.....

Also, he needs a few more KWH worth of solar cells on the yacht.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 2:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Pretty cool
Posted by: newc || 02/11/2020 2:27 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't know a damn thing about viruses or sailing, but I would recommend he keep his batteries charged and monitor the first mate's shore leave scrupulously.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 6:07 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Especially if dressed as she is in that opening g scene of the vid.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I have 90 acres of nowhere, plenty of pigs and (poachable) deer. Water. Guess I can just hunker down for a while...
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2020 18:36 Comments || Top||


Hollywood’s soapboxing drags Oscars to all-time low ratings
[NYPOST] The biggest flop of the award show season? The award show itself.

The Oscars made history for the smallest audience the show has ever received after a night of predictable wins and polarizing acceptance speeches.

About 23.6 million people watched the 92nd installment of the show, which showered Bong Joon Ho with awards including Best Director and Best Picture for his widely acclaimed social horror film "Parasite."

And while it was the most-watched show of the awards season, even the promise of a hostless show couldn’t hoist up Hollywood’s big night amid repeat wins by actors who already took home Golden Globes, SAGs and BAFTAs.

The broadcast, which ran for 3 hours and 35 minutes, scored a 5.3 rating in the coveted adults 18-49 demo, based on Nielsen’s Live + Same Day Fast National ratings.

In 2019, the first year the show went on without a host, it saw an 11% overall viewership bump over the year prior, with 29.6 million viewers. It also scored a 7.7 rating among the 18-49 demographic. The 2018 awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, hit a then-all-time low of 26.5 million viewers and a 6.8 rating in the 18-49 demo. But even that was more than this year.

Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What's an "oscar"?
Hollywood's dead, right?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  There are way too many "award shows" on TV, one kinda get burned out watching self important people rant and pat themselves on the back.

I quit watching them a long time ago.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 02/11/2020 2:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm waiting for the "stroke of the pen" and all of the tax breaks for the entertainment industry will evaporate . "Sorry, all our positions at McDonalds have been filled by robots ."
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 02/11/2020 4:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Return copyright back to the original 28 years and all of the sudden the entertainment industry will shrink dramatically to its proper place in society.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 7:09 Comments || Top||

#5  They just can't help themselves.
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 8:40 Comments || Top||

#6  And they gave the biggets award (Best Directory, Best Picture) to a South Korean movie (and Best Foreign Language Film which was expected).

I'm not sure about the makeup of the Academy voters but that seems pretty significant and makes me wonder if the majority are older and sick of the shit as much as the rest of us.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/11/2020 10:07 Comments || Top||

#7  According to Wikipedia in 2018 "Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition."

It doesn't list the makeup of the remaining voters.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/11/2020 10:10 Comments || Top||

#8  I stopped caring about the Oscars when Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love. Don't get me wrong - Shakespeare in Love was a cute movie, but nowhere as good as Saving Private Ryan.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/11/2020 10:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Of course I have been forced to see some of it.

Jeff Dunham has a better delivery than the Martin/Rock bit.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/11/2020 10:46 Comments || Top||

#10  (1) Saving Private Ryan was flawed in that the narrator they wrapped the story around (Ryan) was not there for most of the events of the movie. (2) Also a lot of people had trouble telling if the German they let go was the one who killed Adam Goldman at the end. You can't leave people confused. (3) Gwyneth showed her boobies.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/11/2020 13:37 Comments || Top||

#11  The actor are there for each other. They could care less if the public is invited in any form or fashion. The speeches are directed at each other and not the public. Really, the only ones who give a damn about the ratings is the network broadcasting it.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/11/2020 13:56 Comments || Top||

#12  (3) Gwyneth showed her boobies.

Rather small potatoes, that
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 14:54 Comments || Top||

#13  A lonely old farmer of China
Reports to his pals at the diner:
"I planted those eggs..."
"And what happened?" they begs.
"Not one veggie, much less a vagina!"
Posted by: Guillibaldo and Tenille4557 || 02/11/2020 15:50 Comments || Top||


Rick and Ivy Kohn Reed learn all about searing volcanic ash and toxic gases
[NYP] A Massachusetts woman has posted a touching photograph of herself and her husband just moments before they were buried alive and suffered critical injuries in a New Zealand volcano eruption.

Rick and Ivy Kohn Reed, wearing yellow hardhats, are all smiles as steam rises from the crater behind them on Dec. 9 ‐ 15 minutes before the killer White Island eruption, which killed 21 tourists and injured 26 others.

The couple shared the image on a GoFundMe page that seeks donations to help pay for their treatment and rehab. As of Monday, it had raised almost $40,000 of its $50,000 goal.

"This is the last picture taken of us before our lives changed forever," Ivy wrote in an update on the site, describing how they were covered in searing volcanic ash and overcome by toxic gases.

"We survived, were rescued and spent almost 8 weeks in a New Zealand Hospital receiving critical care treatment. Our dream vacation turned into a nightmare that we are still trying to comprehend," she continued.

"The next year will be the hardest of our lives while we try to rehab and regain as much functionality as possible," she said, adding that they have returned to the US.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  buried alive and suffered critical injuries in a New Zealand volcano eruption.

That sort of thing doesn't happen here in America because we have warning labels on our volcanoes.
DANGER - Emits toxic gases
DANGER - Hot enough to melt rock
Not for indoor use.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/11/2020 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Volcano rejected the offering?

[Virgins are so damn hard to find these days though looking in single moms' basements for junior SJWs trolling on the net hasn't come up yet]
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 7:04 Comments || Top||

#3  This is very likely your last warning. Gaia hates selfie-seeking, helmeted onlookers. Next time there will be ear shattering blasts of molten lava, boiling rain, and fire.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 7:57 Comments || Top||

#4  But ... the hard hats!
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 8:44 Comments || Top||

#5  It's probably a low blow, but "The stupid - it burns. Literally!"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Shoulda worn ear muffs under the hard hats?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 11:11 Comments || Top||

#7  The next year will be the hardest of our lives while we try to hike around the Sun.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:11 Comments || Top||

#8  They dodged the coveted Darwin award...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/11/2020 16:47 Comments || Top||

#9  Charles D. HardHat Award for runners-up
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 17:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Pompei re-enactment society, Keeping it Real!
Posted by: flash91 || 02/11/2020 18:30 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Terrifying map reveals how thousands of Wuhan travellers could have spread coronavirus to 400 cities worldwide as global death toll tops 1,000
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:56 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's hear it for state secrecy! No wonder certain elements of our governments believes "Hacktivists and anti-secrecy groups like Anonymous and WikiLeaks 'pose as big a threat to the US as traditional espionage from ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah', government".
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 13:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Might be time for a long stay in Greenland.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 16:10 Comments || Top||

#3  If it was not contained in Wuhan (at least for the most part)it will not be contained, and what matters is how deadly it is. We will all be exposed, eventually - will 1% of us die or 50%?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2020 18:33 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus outbreak 'very grave threat' for rest of world: WHO
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:24 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other words, "Give Us More Money".
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 13:54 Comments || Top||


Virus has ‘attack rate’ of up to 80%
[The Guardian] Tuesday briefing: Two-thirds of people might catch coronavirus – expert
Other countries may need China-style lockdowns, says professor … urgent legislation to stop terror releases …

Wash your hands with soap every two hours, cough into your elbow, and don’t touch your T-zone (eyes, nose, mouth).
Hello, Warren Murray here with an open sandwich of news for your morning table.

The novel coronavirus epidemic could spread to two-thirds of the world’s population if it cannot be controlled, according to Hong Kong’s leading public health epidemiologist. The number of confirmed cases in the UK has doubled from four to eight – two healthcare workers are among them – as the government announced new powers to detain people suspected of having the virus.

Prof Gabriel Leung, the Hong Kong expert, said that if the drastic containment measures adopted by China proved successful, other countries should consider adopting them – but questions remained to be answered. “Have these massive public health interventions, social distancing, and mobility restrictions worked in China?” said Leung, en route to an expert meeting at the WHO in Geneva. “If so, how can we roll them out, or is it not possible?” Most experts thought that each person infected would go on to transmit the virus to around 2.5 other people. That gave a potential “attack rate” of 60 to 80%. “Is 60-80% of the world’s population going to get infected? Maybe not. Maybe this will come in waves. Maybe the virus is going to attenuate its lethality because it certainly doesn’t help it if it kills everybody in its path, because it will get killed as well,” he said.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 08:10 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  An in-depth analysis of Coronavirus, specifically the s-protein and n-protein, the study of which could bring about a successful treatment. Link

Status of WHO's work, they are meeting again today and tomorrow to update their plans: Link
Posted by: Phomoper Lumplump4826 || 02/11/2020 10:56 Comments || Top||

#2  as of earlier today 99% of infections (over 40k officially) are in China

also, all but two deaths (out of 1000+) in China

mortality rate is pretty high for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems but not otherwise
Posted by: lord garth || 02/11/2020 11:47 Comments || Top||

#3  How does their mortality rate compare to our flu mortality rate?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 12:05 Comments || Top||

#4  How does their mortality rate compare to our flu mortality rate?

Flu season deaths top 80,000 last year, CDC says
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:34 Comments || Top||

#5  seasonal flu vs Coronavirus 2019

Seasonal flu infects tens of millions of Americans, probably about 50M. Hospitalization approaches 1M in some years and as noted, deaths from 50k to 100k or so. It would be worse if people were not vaccinated. Also some people who were infected in earlier years are to some extent immunized. Finally, there are pretty well developed treatments for infected persons in the US (bed rest, acetaminophen, drink fluids).

We do not have a vaccine for Coronavirus 2019. Some people may have been immunized from related infections but this is not really known. As far as the mortality various estimates are between 1 and 5 percent of the infected. But for the elderly in China (over 60) it is estimated as 10% to 50%. Some of this high rate may be due to improper treatment (or to no treatment).
Posted by: lord garth || 02/11/2020 12:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Thx. IOW, at least 10x our flu mortality rate.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  If it was not contained in Wuhan (at least for the most part)it will not be contained, and what matters is how deadly it is. We will all be exposed, eventually - will 1% of us die or 50%?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2020 18:34 Comments || Top||


Frigid temperatures break records in Turkey's east, dropping to minus 40 degrees Celsius
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Global warming strikes again.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course -40C == -40F == temp that mercury freezes at.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Snowfalls just a thing of the past.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 2:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Al Gore visiting?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 7:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Fools! Record cold temps means global warming is real!
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 8:33 Comments || Top||


China's coronavirus death toll surpasses 1,000 as optimism over disease control measures fades
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


All suspected coronavirus cases in Turkey turn out to be influenza
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now, if I just knew how many "Gillenists" have been replaced in Turkish labs by Yappy's loyalists, I could rate this news item.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  In Turkey, it would have to bird flu.
(cue sad trombones)
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/11/2020 12:39 Comments || Top||

#3  So they say.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 21:28 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus infects 66 more passengers on Diamond Princess, bringing total to 130
[FOXNEWS] Japan may test every person aboard the Diamond Princess for the coronavirus after it was determined Monday that there were 66 new cases on the quarantined ship docked at a Yokohama port.

The Japan Times, which first reported the increase, said the passengers will be able to disembark after test results become available. Princess Cruises confirmed to Fox News the number of new cases.

The passengers have been confined on the ship for six days with limited outdoor activities. The New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

reported that the ship is "host to the highest concentration of the coronavirus cases outside China." The report said 2,600 passengers have been holed up in their cabins, and some have spoken about their anxiety.

"My whole thing is just to stay calm, because no matter what, I’m here. But every day it’s anxiety-provoking when we see the ambulances line up on the side of the ship," one passenger told the paper.

Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dear citizens, we can't let anyone out of the arena until we get the lions under control. Please come forward if you have been in close contact with a lion, or show signs, like a missing limb.
Posted by: Beau || 02/11/2020 3:42 Comments || Top||



Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Blogger and Putin critic Imran Aliev succombs to French hotel stay
[NYP] An outspoken blogger who routinely attacked Russia and Chechnya has been found dead in a French hotel with his throat slit and 100 stab wounds ‐ and police suspect a "political motivation," according to reports.

Chechen blogger Imran Aliev,
...also spelt Imran Aliyev, though neither appears in the Rantburg archives....
44, was found late last month in a hotel bloodbath in Lille that reflected "extreme savagery," sources told Agence France-Presse. His throat had also been slit, Business Insider said.

Aliev had political refugee status and was living in Belgium under police protection "because of threats out of Russia and Chechnya over his opposition blogging," a senior French police official told the outlet.
What precisely did he oppose? Was he a bearded liberal fighting for liberty and democracy, or a bearded keyboard jihadi furious that Messers Putin and Kadyrov stood in the way of a beloved Caucasian caliphate? It is curious that I can thus far find no mention of the dead gentleman’s politics.
Using the online handle "Mansur Stariy,"
...also not in Rantburg’s archives...
he became known mostly for his strident diatribes critiquing Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin, the report says.

"We had him under police protection for a reason," a Belgian law enforcement official told Business Insider, saying there had been "specific and credible threats on his life from certain political sectors in Chechnya and Russia."

Related article from Breitbart, which suggests the situation is more complicated than originally suggested.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why the f--- are we and our allies giving aid and comfort to Islamist terrorists who do nothing but provoke Russia in its backyard?

How does this benefit us?

What possible interest do we have here?
End this madness.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  found dead in a French hotel with his throat slit and 100 stab wounds

"A clear case of suicide - messing with me this way IS suicide" - Vlad Taltos.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 5:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Arrest the doorman and concierge on unrelated gambling charges. Permit the remaining hotel staff to return to Chechnya, the Ukraine, and Pakistan immediately.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 5:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Did a search under Мансур Старый and his very few Youtube vids came up. Indeed strange as he doesn't appear to have been very popular (few followers). There one clip (the only one with a substantial number of viewers) that shows him in a very aggressive stance, hurling expletives at Kadyrov.

He doesn't seem to be important enough to get murdered.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2020 5:46 Comments || Top||

#5  He doesn't seem to be important enough to get murdered. ... hurling expletives at Kadyrov

Eastern ideas of face.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 6:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Well Kadyrov maybe, Putin certainly not.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2020 8:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Which suggests the situation is more complicated than originally suggested:

I will readily accept a Barisma related, LGBT love-triangle involving Hunter Biden and Mike Obama, no questions asked.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Nearly 6,000 medical personnel from dozens of provinces and municipalities arrived in Wuhan on Sunday via 41 planes
[Twitter-Peoples Daily]
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Mostly...Nurses!
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Horse, barn door.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 13:55 Comments || Top||

#3  41 flights think of the carbon footprint. How dare you!
Posted by: jpal || 02/11/2020 20:03 Comments || Top||


OMG! Wuhan!
[Twitter-Peoples Daily]



Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Thanks, dude, you gave me a new twitter avatar.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/11/2020 12:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Typically viruses don't last lone in the air or on objects so this is mostly for show. They need to look at the people, animals, and specifically the food.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/11/2020 13:34 Comments || Top||

#3  'Shirley' you aren't implying that the foggers are (gasp) propaganda! Or are the 'foggers' back to their old tricks (if they ever discarded them).
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 02/11/2020 14:30 Comments || Top||


4 Chinese PLA members charged in Equifax data breach
[Bloomberg] The Department of Justice announced charges Monday against four members of China’s People’s Liberation Army for the 2017 hack of Equifax Inc., a breach that exposed the personal information of about 145 million Americans.

The announcement by Attorney General William Barr follows an indictment in Atlanta accusing the Chinese military personnel of conspiring with each other to hack into Equifax’s network and stealing sensitive data on nearly half of all U.S. citizens.

Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke and Liu Lei, who were members of the PLA’s 54th Research Institute, were charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, conspiracy to commit economic espionage and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, authorities said.
Posted by: BA || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Just admit it: this country is a sieve.
Wide open.
Penetrated 17 ways from Sunday by our elite's BFF, the ChiComs
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Lost in all the hoo-ha about Peach Mint 'n' Wusskies is the massive ChiCom subversion effort across our scientific research community and our tech industry.

Never mind their "Thousand Talents Agents" recruitment program! Nothing to see here. Now back to the ineffable-- well, let's make it F-able-- the effing awfulness of The Orange One.

No ChiComs here, no sir- er mada- er trans-person! Nope.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 11:00 Comments || Top||


Cyber
Hacktivists and anti-secrecy groups like Anonymous and WikiLeaks 'pose as big a threat to the US as traditional espionage from ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah', government report reveals
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 13:11 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Whose side should your country take in a conflict between the US and China? Europe is sitting this OUT.


It is really time to walk away and let Euros sink or swim on their own.
People say all sorts of things to pollsters. What matters is how they vote, and what the subsequent governments do.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  What matters is how they vote, and what the subsequent governments do.

Ok. So when will it be put to a vote? When the missiles are flying?

Don't you want an earlier indication? Is this not a good indication? Do you have a better one?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Two possibilities:

A) The European popular will has expressed itself. Europeans see no distinction between us and the Chinese Communist tyranny. The people have spoken. Let their will prevail.

B) European popular sentiment is not synonymous with or aligned to Eurooe's best interests. European elites should disregard the expressed preference of European populaces and follow the lead of their brothers in democracy across the pond.

Which is it?
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 0:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Whose side should your country take in a conflict between the US and China?

That's a BS question. What kind of conflict? Trade dispute? Surprise nuclear attack by China on the U.S.?

And what does "taking side" mean? Sternly worded letter? Or European troops fighting a Chinese invasion of Taiwan?

This is nonsense.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/11/2020 4:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe know they can comprehend why we sat out 1939-41. We only got in when the members of the Axis Powers declared war on us.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 7:06 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 I believe you over-complicate, P2K. Europeans firmly believe that it's (crude & unrefined) Americans' job to defend Glorious European Civilization, while it's Europeans' job to provide USA with moral guidance.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#6  g(r)om, the way things are going in Europe, there soon won't be any of the glorious European civilization to defend. They will all become part of the Ummah.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/11/2020 10:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Support for NATO down in France and Germany, report says. Both countries would prefer the US intervene militarily rather than their own forces.

All of the benefits and none of the obligations. NATO is dead, Europeans killed it. Time to shut it down and bring the troops home. Europeans say the bases aren't for protecting them, they're nothing more than hubs for our military adventures in the Middle East.

I have a hard time disputing this accusation.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 10:58 Comments || Top||

#8  "B) European popular sentiment is not synonymous with or aligned to Eurooe's best interests. European elites should disregard the expressed preference of European populaces and follow the lead of their brothers in democracy across the pond."

This is the exact same methodology used by US elites to disregard our interests and wage war after endless war all over the planet. It is very unwise to swing this one around. It has a 100% guarantee that it will boomerang and be used against us.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 11:07 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't know whether A) or B) is true. But it's one or the other. Can't pretend we can have both.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 11:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Two possibilities:

C) Overwhelming entropic apathy, swirling the drain.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 12:07 Comments || Top||

#11  Why should Europe get involved in a conflict between the US and China? What's in it for them? How would they possibly have anything to gain?

I look forward to an answer that's not "because it helps us".
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 12:34 Comments || Top||

#12  How could Europe get involved?

A sternly worded letter in the UN perhaps? If they sided with China I'm pretty sure the US wouldn't provide the transportation or logistics they'd need to get involved in any combat. If they sided with the US I doubt the US would provide that either as it would detract from those assets being used by America.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/11/2020 13:40 Comments || Top||

#13  Similar albeit slightly lower percentages would favor sitting out a conflict between the US and Russia.

Face it, we need to wind down NATO and focus on areas of cooperation with Russia in order to contain China.

China is the main threat. China, China, China.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 15:15 Comments || Top||

#14  What's the olde saying?
Being peaceful and being harmless are important distinctions?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/11/2020 15:29 Comments || Top||

#15  Russia's threat to us and Europe is trivial compared to the Chinese threat. People have to stop looking in the rearview mirror.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 15:31 Comments || Top||

#16  OK my "why" question got a big fat zero. I can only assume that's because there IS no answer. Let's try a different tack.

Assuming Europe got involved: what could they do, exactly? Their militaries are weak and feeble and are more hindrance than help. See: Afghanistan. Hell, they had to be held by the hand to destroy Libya, which was 1% the strength of China.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 15:38 Comments || Top||

#17  Stop playing war games and think strategically. Europe's market is absolutely critical to China and to Russia. We need to build up our own trade zone and keep China down and out.

Prevent a war from happening by turning around China's economic trajectory. Source goods from our own - North America, UK/Oz, Europe.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 15:41 Comments || Top||

#18  So, we all know that Trump's trade war is hurting China bad, right? Companies are leaving and not coming back.

This new coronavirus is hitting China hard. Real hard. Factories are not open, schools, businesses, restaurants, you name it. They're taking a huge hit to fight this thing. It will only accelerate the flight. See http://www.chinalawblog.com/
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/11/2020 16:56 Comments || Top||

#19  ^ Turning point. Happy days.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 21:21 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
NASA admits it would save $1.5 billion launching Europa Clipper on a commercial rocket.
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  Somewhere, D. D. Harriman's creator smiles.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 5:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Shouldn't they rename it the NASA retirement launch program
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2020 6:37 Comments || Top||

#3  ...but, but we'd never get those $$$$ year end bonuses (which we believe we're all entitled to).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2020 6:58 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
The Air Force just killed one of its hypersonic weapons programs
[Defense News] The Air Force has cancelled the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon program, one of the two major hypersonic weapons being spearheaded by the service.

While the development is a blow to Lockheed Martin, which was developing HCSW, it’s other hypersonic weapons program with the Air Force — the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon — will proceed, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek confirmed on Feb. 10.

Because of budget pressures, the Air Force was forced to choose between funding HCSW and ARRW in FY21, and opted to keep ARRW due to it being a more “unique glide body design" compared with HCSW, which was similar to hypersonic weapons under development by other services, Stefanek said. ARRW is on track for a early operational capability in FY22.

“We will continue to work collaboratively with our sister services to see how we can most effectively leverage each other’s capabilities, ensuring the most prudent use of taxpayer dollars,” she said in an emailed statement.

Lockheed was notified on Monday that its work on HCSW will conclude after a critical design review this spring. The program’s cancellation was not due to poor performance, Stefanek added.

“The HCSW team pioneered significant advancements in hypersonic technology development and integration of existing, mature technologies for use in various hypersonic efforts across the Department of Defense, including Army, Navy, and Missile Defense Agency programs," she said. "The HCSW team successfully met all developmental milestones. These advancements will serve to expedite the generation and demonstration of various hypersonic weapon capabilities in the near future.”

In total, the Air Force hopes to invest $382 million on hypersonic prototyping in FY21, down from $576 in FY20.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the HCSW team will be rolled together with the ARRW team?
Posted by: gorb || 02/11/2020 8:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Move it to SpaceCOM
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/11/2020 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Cancelled or moved off the books to the Black side?
Posted by: Hellfish || 02/11/2020 12:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
A major New York police union declares open war on Mayor de Blasio
[American Thinker] - Five years ago, two police officers were murdered in Brooklyn, and the New York City police blamed Mayor Bill de Blasio for fomenting an atmosphere in which police murder was acceptable. This past weekend, although thankfully no one was killed, a man twice attempted to assassinate police officers in New York City. This time, the Sergeants Benevolent Association says this is war ‐ not with the criminals, but with the mayor.

One of the most striking images from the first year of Bill de Blasio's mayoralty was the scene at the funeral for Wenjian Liu. Liu and his partner Rafael Ramos were killed in an ambush. Police officers blamed de Blasio's constant anti-police, pro‐Black Lives Matter rhetoric for creating an atmosphere so hostile to police that murder was inevitable. At Liu's funeral, in January 2015, when de Blasio began his eulogy, many of the assembled police officers turned their backs on him:

In the intervening years, as the Black Lives Matter furor died down, the New York cops and Mayor de Blasio entered into an uneasy truce. That all ended over the weekend, when one man, believed to be Robert Williams, twice attempted to assassinate New York City police.

...De Blasio did not take responsibility for what happened in New York. Instead, he sent out a generic set of political tweets, first praising the officers and then rendering them almost irrelevant by saying the attacks were actually against all New Yorkers:

The Sergeants Benevolent Association, rather than feeling supported, was enraged and volleyed back with scorching tweets "declaring war" on de Blasio, openly denying him respect, banning him from hospital visits, and accusing him of selling the police out to the criminals:
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 03:44 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If the union was serious they would start to drop off every early release and unbonded violent criminal at the Mayor’s feet (they know where he is everyday).
Posted by: Airandee || 02/11/2020 6:04 Comments || Top||

#2  "A major New York police union declares open war on Mayor de Blasio"

I'll order more popcorn. ;-)
Posted by: Barbara || 02/11/2020 10:45 Comments || Top||


#4  De Blasio deserves this. He is effectively an accessory to murder.
Posted by: Lex || 02/11/2020 14:45 Comments || Top||

#5  demands consequences. Hmm, so it's ok when a democrat wants to givve out consequences ,but when trump does the same thing it's a big no no
Posted by: Chris || 02/11/2020 16:01 Comments || Top||


Science
Mysterious (FRBs) signals from deep space is repeating in 16-day cycle
[FOX] Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are perhaps the most mysterious anomaly in space, with many having unknown origins. According to a new study, an FRB has been spotted coming from a galaxy 500 million light-years from Earth and it's repeating every 16 days.

And no one knows why.

Known as FRB 180916.J0158+65, this FRB sends out radio wave bursts for a period of four days, stops for a period of 12 days, then repeats itself. The initial 28 patterns were first observed between September 2018 and October 2019, according to a pre-published study. "We conclude that this is the first detected periodicity of any kind in an FRB source," the researchers wrote in the study.

Posted by: Woodrow || 02/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do the FRB's appear moody or angry ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2020 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Neutron star in close 16 day orbit around a companion star?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/11/2020 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Earthlings, we are coming - submit!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2020 2:50 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2020 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  "Eat More Pangolin."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/11/2020 10:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Obviously it’s Space Aliens in cahoots with Donald Trump to steal the election!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/11/2020 10:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Scientists say what ever is transmitting is nearly 500 million light years away or 5.88 trillion miles x 500 million.
Posted by: Phomoper Lumplump4826 || 02/11/2020 11:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Not much to worry about. Just yesterday’s news.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/11/2020 11:13 Comments || Top||

#9  "16-day cycle" = "very light rotation" in AOR Radio airplay
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2020 11:36 Comments || Top||

#10  [If you can read this, you're too close!]
Posted by: Guillibaldo and Tenille4557 || 02/11/2020 13:03 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2020-02-11
  Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Mon 2020-02-10
  Ehsanullah Ehsan sends greetings from Turkey, thumbs nose
Sun 2020-02-09
  Multiple US troops killed during shootout in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2020-02-08
  Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah banged in Kabul
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead
Wed 2020-02-05
  Trump acquitted by Senate on articles of impeachment for abuse of power
Tue 2020-02-04
  8 Turkish personnel, 13 #Syrian troops killed in north Syria festivities
Mon 2020-02-03
  Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula claims December shooting at Florida naval base
Sun 2020-02-02
  Iraq’s President Barham Saleh assigns Mouhammed Tawfiq Allawi with forming a new government
Sat 2020-02-01
  Qassim al-Rimi, the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen tits up.
Fri 2020-01-31
  Senate Votes 51-49 Against Witnesses and Documents
Thu 2020-01-30
  #Hamas rejects ‘conspiracies’ as #Trump unveils Mideast plan
Wed 2020-01-29
  Turkish tanks and troops have just arrived at the port of Tripoli. In violation of the arms embargo
Tue 2020-01-28
  Iran foreign minister calls Trump peace plan for Middle East 'delusional'


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