[JustTheNews] The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates that 80% of fires downtown and 54% citywide that it responds to are caused by homeless individuals and all riverbed fires
(The Center Square) - A series of fires with “potentially suspicious starts” disrupted traffic on a busy California freeway near where an enormous fire shut down that same freeway for days last year.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said there were several fires near one small section of the I-10 freeway between the ocean and downtown Los Angeles, and, according to KTLA, called the fires “suspicious” without outright calling them arson.
Last year, items stored under the same freeway burned so hot the freeway — which connects Los Angeles’ job centers to its far-flung housing — was shut down for eight days.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed arson for that fire and issued a surveillance photograph of a person of interest, but no announcement was ever made on whether or not the culprit was caught or the results of the final investigation.
City of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s office did not respond to a request for information on the 2023 case by the time of publication.
The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates that 80% of fires downtown and 54% citywide that it responds to are caused by homeless individuals.
[FoxNews] Long Beach, California, makes move after Gov Gavin Newsom told officials to take down encampments.
Long Beach, California, will begin fining and potentially arresting homeless people to combat its most "problematic" encampments, city officials said.
The decision comes after the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places and arrest them – even in the absence of public shelters – overturning lower court rulings that deemed the practice cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment if the person had nowhere else to sleep.
Following the highest court's June decision, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a directive ordering state officials to take down homeless encampments. Earlier this month, Newsom took to the streets to clean garbage left by homeless encampments.
Now, Long Beach is the latest municipality to announce its intention to follow that order.
City officials said they plan to target encampments that pose a public threat or block access to libraries, beaches and parks, according to the memo. It will also identify encampments where people have repeatedly declined to accept offers for shelter.
Public works teams for the city have responded to 3,200 encampments in the last year, according to the memo. But city officials did not disclose the cost of citations or the amount of jail time those who ignore citations could face.
On Thursday, Los Angeles sanitation workers followed suit at Dockweiler State Beach, according to the California Globe, ignoring County Supervisors' public opposition to the order.
California legal experts interviewed by Fox News Digital are hopeful but were unconvinced that the new executive order will make a difference.
"The idea [that] they're going to jail people for being homeless is laughable," criminal attorney David Wohl said. "In L.A. county where those jails are located, I've had clients sentenced on felony cases to 120 days in jail, and they are released the next day."
"The crowding in L.A. county jails is so increased that no one will be jailed for homelessness," he continued.
Moreover, he said, "[W]hen those fines aren't paid, what are you going to do?"
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell questioned Newsom's motive in issuing the executive order.
"I’m old enough to remember that Gavin Newsom had a plan to deal with homelessness; that was in 2008," he told Fox News Digital. "Why now? Is it [because it's an] election year?"
Terrell also recalled Newsom's invitation to California for the world's homeless population in 2021, when he pledged to house and feed them all, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Hundreds of Venezuelan migrants are illegally working as food delivery drivers across America, DailyMail.com can reveal, showing up to your door under names and identities that don't belong to them.
The troubling development is a consequence of the one million Venezuelan citizens who have flooded into the US, largely illegally, during President Joe Biden's time in office, with many entering through the US-Mexico border.
It raises huge concerns about the safety of the home delivery apps and the consumer's ability to trust who is actually delivering food to their home and family - with customers' personal information potentially placed in the hands of dangerous street gangs.
Venezuelans tell DailyMail.com they gravitated toward the jobs because they're an easy way to make money when they first arrive in the US.
'Before I even left Venezuela to come here, I knew I could rent an account that wasn't mine to work in food delivery,' one South American migrant who works as a DoorDash driver in Dallas, Texas, explained.
While he is authorized to work and be in the US, he didn't want to be associated with crime and asked that his name be withheld.
'As soon as you arrive to the US, the first thing you do is look for a way to make money, and for many of us, that's food delivery,' he added.
But many brazenly rent or sell their food delivery app accounts on Facebook.
The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area is now home to at least 20,000 Venezuelans, most of whom have arrived since 2021.
New arrivals know it's as easy as joining Facebook groups for Venezuelans in DFW to start earning cash as a food delivery driver - albeit for a fee.
On a daily basis, migrants seeking to rent out their delivery app accounts make their pitch on the social network.
'Who's renting a DoorDash account?' posted one woman to the 'Venezuelan Friends in Dallas, Tx' group on Facebook.
In some cases, migrants are in the US legally and have permits to work. In others, they do not yet have a work permit - a process that can take a few weeks or months- even with legal entry.
And other Venezuelans are here illegally and working illegally.
Others charge desperate-to-work illegal newcomers to use their accounts, without concern for the potential threat to public safety, let alone the illegality of it all.
'I rent my Uber account. Message me privately if someone in Fort Worth is interested,' another man posted.
DailyMail.com contacted several people who were advertising use of their food delivery and ride-share accounts.
Most immediately asked a reporter to contact them through WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging app, or called back on the phone to discuss details of how it works so as not to leave behind text message proof of the illicit arrangement.
'I rent and sell. The rental is $150 a week and you must keep it active for three months continuously, and if you want to buy it it's $900, OK?' the mystery man told DailyMail.com in Spanish.
At an arepa restaurant in Villa Dallas, the Venezuelan enclave in Dallas, migrants confirmed that this is an 'incredibly common practice' and called the rental fees 'extortion'.
'For $150 a month, you're just working to keep someone else's account active. It's extortion,' he said, asking to remain unnamed for fear that criminal organizations might be behind the account rentals.
Many voices in the Venezuelan community fear that could be the case, as the notorious super gang Tren de Aragua from their homeland has also arrived in the US.
Venezuela's most violent gang Tren de Aragua has moved its headquarters to just across the US border in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez.
In a startling and surprising admission, the Dallas Police Department confirmed Tren De Aragua is in North Texas committing crimes, but wouldn't say whether it is involved in food deliveries.
'We have had gang activity in the north Dallas area linked to the Tren De Aragua gang from Venezuela,' a police spokeswoman told DailyMail.com.
'Our department is collaborating with other agencies to address possible crimes linked to this and other gangs in our city.'
Unauthorized use of these accounts has already created victims.
Neither [Uber nor DoorDash] app was able to explain how so many migrants are able to get around these layers of security.
That belief is not an exclusively Christian one, O Daily Mail reporter. Nor is it a marker of membership in the ignorant lower classes — as we know, there are plenty of doctors who agree with the lady.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The Christian nurse who blew the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital allegedly using federal funding for gender-affirming care has been fired.
Vanessa Sivadge, 31, announced on social media that the hospital unlawfully fired her on August 16 - months after putting her on leave.
The hospital at the time cited 'things [she] shared publicly' as its justification for putting Sivadge on leave after journalist Christopher Rufo published her allegations that the hospital charged Medicaid to cover minors' cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers against state law.
She now says her claims about the hospital, and a religious accommodation request to transfer out of the endocrinology clinic - where she claims she was forced into the 'indirect participation in the care of children on cross-sex hormones' - contributed to the hospital's decision to fire her.
'This is unlawful for two reasons: It is retaliation for my coming forward with information on TCH's egregious pattern of deception and Medicaid fraud, and this action also illegally disregarded my request to transfer due to my belief that these procedures bring irreversible harm and lifelong regret to children confused about their sex,' she argued.
[10 News] Good Times. Good. Times. Ensured with the first sacrifice
The Burning Man Project's emergency services personnel were unsuccessful in attempting lifesaving measures on the woman.
Authorities said Monday that they are investigating the death of a woman at the counterculture festival known as Burning Man, which is held annually in the northern Nevada desert.
The Pershing County Sheriff's Office said emergency personnel responded to a call about a woman found unresponsive around noon Sunday in Black Rock City — a temporary city erected for the festival, about 100 miles north of Reno.
The Burning Man Project's emergency services personnel were unsuccessful in attempting lifesaving measures on the woman.
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this loss," festival organizers said in a statement. "We are cooperating fully with local authorities as they investigate this incident."
About a half-dozen other deaths have been reported at the festival since it moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock desert in 1990. Last year, a 32-year-old California man died from suspected drug intoxication after being found unresponsive on the festival grounds.
#4
I was in there last night, actually. It was rather nice, with a lot of very attractive (if occasionally tasteless) art installations and a generally upbeat "vibe." However, it's still camping on a dry lake bed at high altitude in summertime. You have to be careful.
[Newsmax] File under "Dumbshit"
A U.S. soldier who fled to North Korea last year will plead guilty to desertion at a court martial as part of a plea deal, his lawyer said.
Private Second Class Travis King ran across the border from South Korea into the North in July last year while on a sightseeing tour of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea expelled King in September and the US Army later charged him with desertion and a raft of other crimes.
King's lawyer Frank Rosenblatt said Monday the U.S. Army had charged the soldier with 14 offenses and that he would plead guilty to five of them.
"He will plead guilty to five of those, including desertion, 3 counts of disobeying an officer, and assault on a noncommissioned officer," Rosenblatt said in a statement.
"He will plead not guilty to the remaining offenses, which the Army will withdraw and dismiss."
King's guilty plea and sentencing hearing would take place on Sept. 20 at a court martial in Fort Bliss, Texas, the lawyer said.
"There, he will explain what he did, answer a military judge's questions about why he is pleading guilty, and be sentenced," Rosenblatt said.
Desertion carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
"Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all those outside of his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations," his lawyer said.
At the time of the incident, King had been stationed in South Korea and after a drunken bar fight and a stay in South Korean jail, he was meant to fly back to Texas to face disciplinary hearings.
Instead of traveling to Fort Bliss, he walked out of the Seoul-area airport, joined a DMZ sightseeing trip and slipped over the fortified border where he was detained by the communist North's authorities.
Pyongyang had said that King had defected to North Korea to escape "mistreatment and racial discrimination in the US Army."
But after completing its investigation, North Korea "decided to expel" King in September for illegally intruding into its territory.
King's border crossing occurred with relations between the two Koreas at a low point, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including tactical nuclear warheads.
[Breitbart] North Korea revealed its first allegedly indigenous suicide drones and other combat vehicles on Monday in an article on communist dictator Kim Jong-un attending a drone performance test this weekend.
Kim emphasized that, for Pyongyang, “it is necessary to develop and produce more suicide drones of various types to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Suicide drones, also known as loitering munitions, are explosives-carrying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that work by identifying a target and flying into it, detonating its payload. The most high-profile model of suicide drone currently in use is the Iranian “Shahed” class of drones, which Ukraine has accused Russia of deploying on its territory and Tehran itself unsuccessfully used to target Israel in April. The appeal of such drones is their relatively inexpensive manufacturing process, even compared to the famously cheap Bayraktar Turkish drone that Ukraine has incorporated into its anti-Russia efforts.
KCNA reported on Monday that Kim considers the development and mass manufacture of suicide drones a critical part of the defense of the nation from any potential South Korean or American attack. The outlet offered few details on what kinds of UAVs were present at the event the dictator attended, except to claim that all drone tests were successful.
[Regnum] Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been charged with 12 crimes, according to a press release from the Paris prosecutor's office.
Thus, the founder of the messenger is accused of complicity in the creation of an online platform for the purpose of carrying out illegal financial transactions, and of refusing to provide, at the request of the competent authorities of France, information or documents necessary for carrying out wiretapping permitted by law.
In addition, Durov is accused of complicity in organizing fraud, storing and distributing child pornography, purchasing and selling drugs, laundering money obtained through criminal means, as well as a number of other crimes related to the provision of illegal cryptographic services.
It is noted that the case against the businessman was opened on July 8, 2024, as part of a preliminary investigation, which was initiated based on the results of a pre-investigation check at the initiative of the cybercrime department of the Paris prosecutor's office. The department clarified that Durov's police detention period expires on August 28.
"The period of detention was extended on 25 August 2024 by the investigating judge and may continue for up to 96 hours (i.e. until 28 August 2024) taking into account the procedure applied in connection with the above-mentioned crimes related to organized crime," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, it was previously reported that Durov is accused of refusing to cooperate on cyber and financial crimes. According to a representative of the French police, the founder of the messenger is currently under investigation by national departments for combating cybercrime and fraud. He is still under arrest.
On August 24, Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris. According to media reports, the charges may relate to terrorism and drug trafficking.
On August 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Durov’s arrest was not a political decision.
On August 26, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin was not aware of what exactly Telegram founder Pavel Durov was accused of. It was wrong to make any statements about the situation at this point, he said. Peskov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not meet with Durov during his visit to Baku in August 2024.
In a conversation with the Regnum news agency, Vadim Trukhachev, PhD in history and associate professor at the faculty of international relations, political science and foreign regional studies at the Russian State University for the Humanities, said that Durov could be persuaded to cooperate by Western intelligence agencies. He added that Durov is a citizen of Russia and France, but he will be held accountable as a citizen of France who, in a semi-war period, has the keys to a messenger popular in Russia.
The publication's article specifies that the websites of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), the Peasant Confederation trade union, and the Voix du Nord newspaper were subjected to hacker attacks. The attackers also planned to hack one of France's state portals.
It is specified that these cyber attacks are aimed at disrupting the servers' functionality. Hackers artificially create an increase in requests to the state online resource in order to increase its load and disable it.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris on the evening of August 24 and placed in custody. The Telegram founder is due to appear before a French court on August 25. He may be charged with several charges related to the messenger's activities, including terrorism and drug trafficking.
The charges include terrorism and drug trafficking. On August 25, AFP reported that a Paris court had extended Durov's detention to 96 hours. He must be charged or released in the remaining time.
The Russian Embassy in Paris immediately began work to clarify the situation surrounding Durov's detention. The press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the detainee's representatives had not contacted Russian diplomats. The diplomatic agency demanded that the French authorities ensure that the detainee's rights are respected.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Moscow had sent a note demanding consular access to Durov. She also said that Russia would monitor the reaction of international organizations and how vigilant they would be in protecting human rights and guaranteeing freedom of speech.
Related from regnum.ru Rumble founder claims platform has been threatened after Durov's arrest
Chris Pavlovsky, founder of the Canadian video hosting Rumble, called the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov crossing the line and said that he was forced to leave Europe after what happened. He wrote about this on August 25 on his page on the social network X.
“Now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, reportedly for not introducing censorship,” Pavlovsky said.
According to him, the French authorities also threatened Rumble, and the arrest of the Telegram founder became a compelling reason to leave Europe. He also stressed that he would use all available legal means to fight for freedom of speech and the release of Durov.
Video hosting service Rumble gained widespread popularity in 2021 thanks to its collaboration with the media group of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, American entrepreneur Elon Musk previously suggested that after the arrest of Pavel Durov, similar measures could be taken against the social network X that he owns. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also made the same suggestion.
Pavel Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris, where he arrived on his plane on August 24. After that, the entrepreneur was taken into custody. According to media reports, the Telegram founder is expected to face a number of charges related to the messenger's work and his refusal to cooperate with French law enforcement agencies. The charges include terrorism and drug trafficking cases. On August 25, AFP reported that a Paris court extended Durov's detention to 96 hours. He must be charged or released in the remaining time. The Paris prosecutor's office promised to make an official statement on Durov's arrest on August 26.
The head of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media, Alexei Pushkov, noted that Durov had become a victim of a liberal dictatorship that is trying to suppress those who single-handedly seek to advance freedom and do not follow its policies. He warned that the owner of the X social network, Elon Musk, could face the same problem.
#3
*Along Pop Culture News:
A lot of the same language is being used by 'Legacy Entertainment' to attack those streaming Pop Culture Commentators who are critical of the latest crop of product, especially the Cope and Blame of The Acolyte ignominious capital F Failure.
[MAIL] A SWAT counter-sniper who was working the Trump rally in Pennsylvania where a gunman opened fire has issued a damning verdict on the FBI's alleged evidence tampering.
Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer admitted that it was 'absolutely' concerning that the roof of the AGR International building where gunman Thomas Matthew Crook, 20, was cleaned quickly after the July 13 assassination attempt.
He also agreed with Republican lawmakers that it was suspicious that Crooks' body was disposed of before an official autopsy could be released at a panel discussion hosted by the Heritage Foundation on Monday.
Skipping down:
Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater in the late 1990s, then said: 'It sounds like destruction of evidence.'
Ranking Member Jason Crowe (D-Colo.), who served as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, also claimed the many 'lines of sight that appeared to have been unsecured that day.'
#6
/\ My guess as well. Closer look needs to be taken at Dr. Jill (yes, the no longer heard from) Dr, Jill and her pal the former Secret Service Director.
The Orange Man's Butler, PA security detail got 'short-sheeted."
#7
I suspect the body itself need to be deleted. Weren't they having trouble ID'ing initially? Almost seemed like what they were looking at wasn't supposed to be what they were looking at.
[ZeroHedge] Via Chicago Sun Times (emphasis added):
“Chicago could fill its “food desert” with a three-store network of city-owned grocery stores for an upfront cost of $26.7 million, a consultant has concluded.
Three whole stores? Golly. It will be amusing when they are raided into non-existence by the professional shoplifting gangs, just like the private shops.
The new 200-page report from HR&A concludes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to open a city-owned grocery store is “necessary, feasible and implementable.”
Necessary because volatility in the grocery market has led to a wave of consolidations and store closings concentrated in South and West Side neighborhoods.
Feasible because the city need not become a store operator, but instead could act to limit the risk for a private operator.
Implementable because the city’s “significant land ownership, funding tools,” storage and “community engagement capacity” makes it “well-positioned” to provide “support and resources to an established operator.””
#7
$8million up front for a renovated fully stocked store may be right; of course that will triple because Chicago and Government.
Speaking of Government, the books should be open to the public - the effects of price fixing, minimum employee pool, and loss will be an another excellent example of the failure of KAmmunism.
Necessary. Feasible. Implementable.
The pitch words of failure.
#8
Gooder and harder Chicago! Can't wait to watch this shit-show. Every single politician who goes along with this charade should be ridiculed endlessly, but we know they won't be--all the politicians in Chicago are black and half of those are women as well, so no criticism allowed!
[ET via ZERO] A study out of the University of Reading has found that a poor-quality diet may be associated with changes in the brain structure that are linked to depression and anxiety. This research provides new insights into the connection between what we eat and our mental well-being.
While the authors did not find a direct association between brain changes and anxiety or depression, they did see an increase in rumination, a common risk factor of the two.
The study is the first to examine the relationship between diet quality and brain neurochemistry in humans. Thirty adults were divided into two groups based on whether they followed a high- or low-quality diet. Participants in both groups were similar in age, gender, education, income, and caloric and macronutrient intake.
The quality of the diet was defined by adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Participants reported how frequently they ate 130 different food items, their consumption frequency, and food intake habits. Screening questionnaires were administered to assess current depression, anxiety, and rumination levels. Whole brain MRI scans measured prefrontal cortex metabolite concentrations and gray matter volume.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The level of plutonium contamination near the nuclear facility in Los Alamos, USA, is comparable to the level recorded near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This was reported by The Guardian newspaper, citing a study by scientist Michael Ketterer from the University of Southern Arizona.
According to the scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory dumped radioactive waste into the canyon until 1963.
"The plutonium content in and around the canyon is comparable to that found at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster," the publication quotes Ketterer as saying.
According to the authors, the US government spent at least $2 billion on restoration work in the canyon, which was brought into compliance with federal standards by the 1980s. The land was then transferred to Los Alamos County, where it became a favorite among motorcyclists and runners.
The scientist warned that plutonium could be in water that flows into the Rio Grande and from there into food. It could also be dispersed widely through ash from forest fires.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, a pack of cats was discovered in the British town of Seascale, located near the large nuclear complex Sellafield, whose excrement contained plutonium and cesium.
The Sellafield nuclear complex is located in the northwest of Great Britain. Since 1950, the complex has produced weapons-grade plutonium and nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. In 1956, the country's first nuclear power plant, Calder Hall, was built on the complex's territory (the second in the world after the Obninsk NPP of 1954). The station itself was closed in 1981, but the complex continues to operate to this day. The complex has repeatedly experienced radioactive leaks (in 1976, 1981 and 2005).
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the United States is once again worried about an invasion of "super pigs" from Canada. The point is that a growing population of hard-to-eradicate "super pigs" in Canada is threatening to spread south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, Montana, and North Dakota are taking steps to stop the invasion.
#4
That's the thing about govt messes: They'd rather not talk about them.
I nominate Pantex. Or you could go for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where they would like to start building subdivisions.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/27/2024 8:26 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Another site seldom discussed is the old ammo plant near St. Charles, MO.
#6
NN2N1 Oak Ridge is bad. I worked there for a few years. There was an "accident" where several thousand gallons of mercury was diverted to a nearby creek. It has been fenced off for many years. While I was there a "spring" opened up right next to the road going to the old gaseous diffusion plant that, when tested, was very hot. Turns out there was a burial site near where many 55 gallon drums of waste were. They leaked into the ground water and we did a project to catch the water and "dispose" of it. There are many areas there that are no go.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/27/2024 11:51 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[10 News] 
