[MAIL] A Florida man was arrested for strangling a 16-year-old dog, bundling her into a trash bag and leaving her in a dumpster to die, police said.
Anthony Bellman, 55, was seen on surveillance camera tossing a black garbage bag into a dumpster behind the Lehigh Acres Family Dollar on Bell Boulevard. He got into a blue SUV and sped off.
'We are one team that comes together to be a voice for the innocent, such as Xyla,' Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Monday. 'We will never stop holding individuals accountable for these heinous actions here in this county.'
On December 14, an employee found the bag and discovered the mostly blind Shih Tzu inside. Xyla had a rope around her neck when found.
Police said Bellman had tried to strangle the dog and snap her neck with a belt instead of taking her to be euthanized.
[MAIL] Five people were crushed after they hung out of an SUV during a 'street takeover' in a Colorado Springs strip mall as the driver preformed donuts.
The incident occurred just after 10:15 pm on Saturday in the parking lot of The Market at Spring Creek in southeast Colorado Springs.
When police arrived on the scene, they found several passengers severely injured. They were taken to a local hospital, and their conditions are unknown at this time.
The driver was identified as, Marisol Wentling, and she did not sustain any serious injuries.
She was arrested for reckless driving and taken to jail on Sunday. She has since been released on bond, according to KKTV.
[FoxNews] Red tail boa constrictor is invasive to Florida.
Peacocks are also not native to Florida, or anywhere in the United States. Blue on blue.
The boa constrictor is native to Central and South America but appears to have been breeding in Florida for at least 10 years, according to the FWC.
The red tail boa can give birth to 15 to 40 live young. The species eats lizards, birds, and mammals both on the ground and in trees, according to the FWC.
#3
In Atlanta, (Fulton & Dekalb) Fire Dept. have dealt with illegally imported African and South America wildlife in the Hood, over the years.
My son worked an apartment fire, where the guy illegally raised 100's Tarantulas and a few Bird-eater Spiders for resale. A breeding tank heater element started the fire. Imagine those crawling all over you.
#3
If it broke, it would drown over 500 million people, and flood about 160+ cities.
BUT !!
Biden and the DC Swamp would likely set up "AID to China". Hollywood and Liberal singers/artists would jump in for camera time.
Congress would send $100's of Billions to help the CCP recover. While their families find $$,$$$,$$$.00 figure positions on the various Aid groups boards.
🤡 _____ would arrive, do a tour, forget he's in China, trip over a few bodies, and offer to adopt 10 orphan Chinese pre-teens.
[GEO.TV] Areas in northwest China felt tremors of a powerful but shallow earthquake that claimed the lives of at least 110 people, causing significant destruction to buildings and triggering widespread panic among residents.
According to Xinhua, the state news agency, the quake hit Gansu province, causing the collapse of numerous houses and prompting people to seek safety on the streets. The rescue operation commenced promptly following the disaster, with videos on social media revealing fallen ceilings and debris strewn across affected areas.
The state news agency cited provincial earthquake relief headquarters, saying that at least 96 people sustained injuries.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2023 00:00 ||
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[AFRICANEWS] A strong explosion followed by a fire on Monday in Guinea's main fuel depot hit the centre of Conakry, injuring dozens of people according to a medical source and leading to the closure of schools and administrations.
The fire occurred at around 00:00 (local time and GMT) at the Guinean state-owned oil company's main fuel depot in Kaloum, Conakry's administrative and business district.
In a blurb, the government announced the closure of schools and asked public and private sector workers to stay at home in the greater Conakry area, including the capital and its surroundings.
The fire "of unknown origin" broke out during the night and its "scale and consequences could have a direct impact on the population", it said.
Service stations will remain closed and "in the next few hours, a progress report will be issued and an investigation will be launched to establish the causes and responsibilities", according to the government.
"It was a deafening noise that woke us up; we were already asleep. As we live near the Niger Market, the windows of our house and those of our neighbours were smashed. We managed to get away from the place," he said.
The usually crowded port district looked like a dead city on Monday morning.
Thick smoke with reddish flames rose into the night sky as residents fled the area where the fire broke out, according to images on social networks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2023 00:00 ||
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Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T) clinched a deal on Monday to buy U.S. Steel (X.N) for $14.9 billion in cash, prevailing in an auction for the 122-year-old iconic steelmaker over rivals including Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF.N), ArcelorMittal (MT.LU) and Nucor (NUE.N).
The deal price of $55 per share represents a whopping 142% premium to Aug. 11, the last trading day before Cleveland-Cliffs unveiled a $35-per-share, cash-and-stock bid for U.S. Steel. It is a bet that U.S. Steel will benefit from the spending and tax incentives in President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill.
Cleveland-Cliffs' pursuit prompted U.S. Steel to launch a sale process four months ago. In a meeting of its board of directors on Sunday, U.S. Steel deemed Nippon's offer superior to a sale to Cleveland-Cliffs, which had raised its bid in the high $40-per-share range, people familiar with the matter said.
Nucor, the largest U.S. steelmaker, offered to acquire U.S. Steel in partnership with another company, one of the sources said. The identity of that company could not be learned.
ArcelorMittal also pursued U.S. Steel, Reuters has reported. Nippon and ArcelorMittal own a plant in Alabama that produces steel sheet products by processing semi-finished products, or slabs, procured from local and overseas suppliers. They are also investing about $1 billion in an electric arc furnace.
The acquisition of U.S. Steel will help Nippon, the world's fourth largest steel maker, move toward 100 million metric tons of global crude steel capacity, while significantly expanding its production in the United States, where steel prices are expected to rise as automakers ramp up production following their recent deals with labor unions to end strikes.
US Steel has been on the rails for 40+ years with its Union Issues,
and I am surprised it lasted this long. Given NAFTA, it might even be cheaper to ship in many prefab steel parts, than to make them here.
#5
The factories will remain open (unless the union goes for the "Give me what I want or I kill the hostages" approach) The capacity will be here, the jobs will be here, the taxes will be paid here.
Nothing about foreign ownership changes any of that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/19/2023 7:53 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Stanislav Stremidlovsky
[REGNUM] The new Minister of Education of Poland Barbara Nowacka (“Civic Platform”) decided to start her activities by fighting religion lessons in schools. According to Novatskaya, two hours a week is “excessive.”
“Children study religion more than other subjects,” the minister said. — My proposal: limit it to one hour, paid from the state budget. If local authorities and parents decide that they would like to have more of these hours, this will be their decision, including financial.”
She also intends to move religion lessons to first and last year students, so that those who do not want to attend can do so without interruption in their studies. In addition, grades in the subject will not have to be counted towards the GPA.
The need for a greater “divorce” between the state and the Church in Poland was discussed even during the recent parliamentary election campaign. First of all, in the context of religion lessons, which in practice are also a form of catechesis for Polish children.
Attendance at such lessons is not mandatory. The student’s parents or the student himself declare their desire to study, after which classes are organized by the directors of the educational institution. The previous government of Mateusz Morawiecki briefly discussed the idea of requiring students to take religion or ethics classes (optional), but ultimately decided not to do so.
The fact is that in many Polish cities, high school students already ignore religion lessons. In Wroclaw and Warsaw, 80% of secondary school students abandoned them, in Szczecin - up to 90%. According to a recent survey conducted by the Ariadna research studio for the Wirtualna Polska portal, 55% of respondents are in favor of eliminating religion lessons in public schools.
As the head of the department of ethics at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Father Andrzej Kobylinski, notes, in Poland “there is a galloping secularization and even atheism of the younger generation.” He connects this process specifically with school religion lessons, which turn children away from faith.
However, even in the currently ruling Polish coalition, Nowacka’s initiative was received ambiguously. Marshal of the SejmSzymon Chołownia (“Poland 2050”) stated that “the decision on how many religion lessons there should be in school, should be accepted by the school community and not by any minister or bishop.”
He admitted that he had not yet seen Novatskaya’s specific project, and when it appears, “consultations will be held” at the faction level.
In turn, the Secretary General of the Conference of the Catholic Episcopate of Poland, Bishop Arthur Miziński emphasized that the statement of the Minister of Education is her personal assessment.
«What she offers or will offer is only the first statement on her part, which, as far as I know, was not discussed even within the new government, not to mention the Catholic Church church, so it is unknown whether her initiative will be accepted by everyone; this is a matter of the personal conviction of the minister,” the bishop noted in an interview with the Polish Press Agency.
In fact, in a number of Polish regions, what Nowacka proposed to be introduced everywhere is already being de facto implemented. For example, in Warsaw, and with the consent of the capital's archbishop. Why does one get the impression that the minister is pursuing some larger goals than just educational reform on a private issue.
As Mizinski recalled, catechesis in schools and kindergartens is guaranteed by the concordat concluded in 1993 between Poland and the Vatican. Judging by the words of Nowacka, who said that she is aware of what obligations the Polish state has undertaken, and “the process of discussing the form of the concordat will be long”, the speech may talk about attempts to revise this international agreement.
Until now, however, the Polish left has been talking about the need to revise the concordat. In March of this year, this topic was raised by the co-chairman of the New LeftWłodzimierz Czarzasty. He stated that the clergy receives 8 billion zlotys annually under the concordat.
“We have contacted Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki several times,” said Czazhasty. — There were parliamentary inquiries about who is giving this money and for what. There is still no answer. This is not a normal situation. We, as leftists, want to reconsider the concordat. We know that it is enshrined in the constitution, but this does not mean that it cannot be terminated, that it cannot be renegotiated, that it cannot be formulated differently.”
The accusatory rhetoric of the co-chairman of the “New Left” against the “fat clergy” pursued a political goal. The Polish episcopate has been repeatedly reproached for excessive sympathy for the Law and Justice (PiS) party. Therefore, attacks on the Catholic Church indirectly affected PiS.
Now “Law and Justice” is in opposition and can no longer support the episcopate as before. The Catholic Church will have to endure a difficult confrontation with the Ministry of Education, which has its own arguments in favor of reducing teaching hours - this will bring annual savings to the Polish budget of 375 million zlotys.
But Novatskaya herself will need to convince her colleagues on the council of ministers to support her attack on the Catholic Church, which remains an influential social force in the country.
In addition, the Vatican has not yet spoken as a third party in the dispute between the Polish clergy and the new government. After all, for the Holy See, an attempt on religious lessons may mean the first move on the part of Warsaw in an attempt to challenge the agreement concluded 30 years ago.
#3
Ah, going back to the 'Warsaw Pact' era teachings, then.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/19/2023 14:18 Comments ||
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#4
..note well, the Warsaw Pact (or the Potemkin front for Soviet rule) is not here. The Catholic Church still is here. Although, they're pushing for another 1517 moment.
[Washington Times] Current and former American intelligence officials jettisoned objectivity as part of leftist political policies implemented under former President Barack Obama, waging political warfare against then-candidate Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, according to a new book by a former CIA agent detailing what he says was a clear politicization of the mission of the nation’s premier intelligence agency.
John Gentry, a veteran of both executive branch and congressional intelligence agencies and now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, also warns that the politicization of the intelligence community, particularly the CIA, created a problem that threatens American security to this day.
Created to be a strictly neutral service for both Republican and Democratic administrations, the politicization within the CIA first became an issue during the 1990s when CIA analyst Robert Gates ordered analysts to skew reports in favor of political narratives of elected officials, Mr. Gentry states in his book, "Neutering the CIA: Why U.S. Intelligence Versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences."
But what happened since 2016 has been far more serious and damaging to the agency’s role and mission, writes Mr. Gentry, a 12-year employee of the agency, including two years as a senior analyst on the staff of the National Intelligence Officer for Warning, who now teaches Missouri State University’s School of Defense and Strategic Studies. The author is also a retired Army Reserve officer who spent time with special operations and intelligence units.
"A new, dramatically stronger and damaging form of politicization — partisan, political activism willing to damage or destroy politically a sitting American president — had taken root in parts of the U.S. intelligence community," Mr. Gentry writes. "It dwarfs the politicization episodes of the past in magnitude and importance, and it promises to have lasting, negative consequences."
Mr. Gentry said his expose is not meant as a defense of Mr. Trump, who criticized intelligence agencies as a candidate and as president. The point of the book is to highlight how ideological opposition to Mr. Trump damaged the spy agencies themselves.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the book and referred to remarks last summer by CIA Director William Burns.
Teaching moments...
[Jpost] Encouraging an expanded line of diverse Barbies, the authors envisioned dolls that inspire young girls' views of surgeons and scientists.
#6
WH40K? Why? Cavill I understand may be a good choice as oversight, but wow what was done to Halo.
There is also a LARP trial for Legend of Zelda; Orlando Bloom floated as possible leading character Link. "Legolas of Hyrule" sounds a solid cringe No.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[MAIL] A Florida man was arrested for strangling a 16-year-old dog, bundling her into a trash bag and leaving her in a dumpster to die, police said.
[MAIL] Five people were crushed after they hung out of an SUV during a '
[Washington Times] Current and former American intelligence officials jettisoned objectivity as part of leftist political policies implemented under former President Barack Obama, waging political warfare against then-candidate Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, according to a new book by a former CIA agent detailing what he says was a clear politicization of the mission of the nation’s premier intelligence agency.
