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French court convicts 8 people of involvement in 2020 beheading of teacher
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Famed Hollywood Jeweler Martin Katz's Home Burglarized, $2.5 Million Stolen; South American Gang Suspected
"The robbers reportedly do not live in the U.S., but fly into the states to stage their robberies, then they fence the goods here and fly back home."
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 02:58 || Comments || Link || [11129 views] Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants


#2  They are probably recruiting locals as quickly as possible.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:43 Comments || Top||


Chilling moment gunman turns up at far right influencer Nick Fuentes' home
[DM] Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes has shared footage of an armed man trying to gain entry to his home in what he has called an attempt on his life.

The 26-year-old posted clips on his X profile concerning the incident that he says unfolded near his home in Berwyn, Illinois, late on Wednesday evening.

The clips shared show a masked individual outside his home with a crossbow and handgun who, at one point, shouts 'Yo Nick.'

Other footage shows the man trying a side door at the property and scouting around the backyard of the home, the address of which was shared online last month.

Fuentes' account lines up with local police who say they attended the same street and shot and killed an individual, who they identified as John Lyons.

Berwyn Police Department said that they responded to reports of a man with a gun who forced his way into a separate home where he shot and killed two dogs.

He then ran into a nearby yard where he refused police commands to stop, before opening fire on cops who shot and killed him.

Officers say he was the suspect in the fatal shooting of three people in Mahomet, about 120 miles southwest of Chicago before then traveling to Berwyn.

Posting on X, Fuentes said: 'Last night an armed killer made an attempt on my life at my home, which was recently doxed on this platform.

'The gunman carried a pistol, crossbow, and incendiary devices. I believe he intended to kill me. He is now dead. I am okay!'

Fuentes also said that he would now be moving house due to the incident and that he would have 24 hour security to protect himself.

Berwyn is a somewhat wealthy neighborhood with the poor Cicero on the east side and the lower middle class neighborhood and Chicago's largest zoo on the west. Also, its an awful traffic zone. Midway air port is south of it and I-55
He has also asked his followers to contribute to the cost of the private security, which he claims runs $13,000 a week, and to rebuild his studio.

He would only accept donations in cryptocurrency, saying that he was banned from banking services.

Fuentes said he had been livestreaming adding that: 'Doxing is not a game. This nihilistic lynch mob behavior must end before anyone else is killed.'

DailyMail.com approached local police to confirm if Fuentes was indeed the target and if the man in the clips was the same involved in the shooting. They said they had no additional information in the case.

They said in an initial press release that Lyons was gunned down by officers after disobeying orders to stop while in the yard of a property.

His neighbors told the Chicago Sun Times that they heard yelling outside of their window late on Wednesday night.

Bianca, who didn't want her last name used, said: 'It was like hearing a movie. All I heard was police calling 'John', and yelling 'Put your f****** hands up.'

Another neighbor known as Matt, who also didn't want his second name used, said he spoke with Fuentes who told him the shooter was trying to kill him.

Bianca added that she believes Fuentes was the target of the gunman, adding: '[His] address gets doxed and then this guy ends up here.

'I don’t think it was a coincidence that someone who killed three people down south ended up here. This guy is from miles away, why is he here?'

This incident wouldn't be the first time Fuentes had been confronted at his own home after his personal information was leaked online.

The Berwyn Police Department responded to the address last month after Marla Rose, 57, appeared at his residence following a controversial social media post.

Fuentes has posted on his X page after President-elect Donald Trump won the election saying: 'Your body, my choice', sparking widespread fury.

Some social media users responded by sharing images of his house, captioned, 'Your house, our choice.'

Footage captured by Rose and widely circulated online appears to Fuentes open the door and spray her with what she claims was pepper spray.

Rose claims that that he pepper-sprayed her, pushed her onto the concrete outside his home and broke her phone.

According to a police report filed the next day, Rose showed no visible physical injuries but had 'watery' eyes.

He was later arrested for battery, and proudly shared his mugshot to his social media pages.

Fuentes, his lawyer and Rose all appeared for a brief hearing via Zoom before the Fourth District courthouse in Maywood on Thursday, according to the Sun Times.

The judge in the case ordered the pair to not have any contact with each other while the case was pending, and set a status hearing for January 16.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Faith in God has been titrated out of our society. The result is that we live in solution with the highest concentration of random sociopaths since Vikings were marauding. Controversial loudmouths will suffer the highest impact.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  ....then how has the View panel survived so far?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Sociopaths have some professional courtesy.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  I'll buy that.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 13:07 Comments || Top||


Insult to injury: Disgraceful moment cops pin down grieving Uvalde father after court hearing about their mass shooting failures
Sure.
Now they take action.

[DM] A grieving Uvalde father was tackled by police and pinned to the floor as he was escorted out of a court hearing on the 2022 school shooting.

Brett Cross and his wife Nikki were at the courthouse on Thursday to attend the hearing of former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former UCISD officer Adrian Gonzales, who are accused of child endangerment for their response to the Robb Elementary shooting.

Footage of the incident shows Cross telling officers to 'get the f**k off him' as they lead him out of the courthouse and then pin him to the ground.

His wife then tries to intervene and gets surrounded by cops before she falls backward as four officers continue holding Cross down.

Cross is eventually seen back on his feet, continuing to argue with the cops.

He was the legal guardian of Uziyah 'Uzi' Garcia, one of the 19 children killed in the massacre in Texas.

'We weren't even allowed to make it into the courtroom. My wife and I were assaulted by the sheriff's dept,' Cross later said on X.

'We are currently at the doctors, having our wounds tended to.'

During Thursday's hearing, the judge refused to throw out criminal charges accusing the former Uvalde schools police chief of putting children at risk during the slow response to the school shooting, while a lawyer for his co-defendant said they want to move the upcoming trial out of the small town where the massacre occurred.

Judge Sid Harle rejected Pete Arredondo’s claim that was he improperly charged and that only the shooter was responsible for putting the victims in danger. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the shooting on May 24, 2022.

Harle also set an October 20, 2025, trial date. An attorney for Arredondo’s co-defendant, former Uvalde schools police officer Adrian Gonzales, said he will ask for the trial to be moved out of Uvalde because his client cannot get a fair trial there. Uvalde County is mostly rural with fewer than 25,000 residents about 85 miles west of San Antonio.

'Everybody knows everybody,' in Uvalde, Gonzales attorney Nico LaHood said.

Both former officers attended the hearing.

Nearly 400 law enforcement agents rushed to the school but waited more than 70 minutes to confront and kill the gunman in a fourth-grade classroom. Arredondo and Gonzales are the only two officers facing charges — a fact that has raised complaints from some victims’ families.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of abandoning or endangering a child, each of which carry punishment of up to two years in jail. Gonzales has not asked the judge to dismiss his charges.

A federal investigation of the shooting identified Arredondo as the incident commander in charge, although he has argued that state police should have set up a command post outside the school and taken control.

Gonzales was among the first officers to arrive on the scene. He was accused of abandoning his training and not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots as he stood in a hallway.

Arredondo has said he was scapegoated for the halting police response. The indictment alleges he did not follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” his victims.

It alleges that instead of confronting the gunman immediately, Arredondo caused delays by telling officers to evacuate a hallway to wait for a SWAT team, evacuating students from other areas of the building first, and trying to negotiate with the shooter while victims inside the classroom were wounded and dying.

Arredondo’s attorneys say the danger that day was not caused by him, but by the shooter. They argued Arredondo was blamed for trying to save the lives of the other children in the building, and have warned that prosecuting him would open many future law enforcement actions to similar charges.

'Arredondo did nothing to put those children in the path of a gunman,' said Arredondo attorney Matthew Hefti.

Uvalde County prosecutors told the judge Arredondo acted recklessly.

The massacre at Robb Elementary was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, and the law enforcement response has been widely condemned as a massive failure.

Nearly 150 Border Patrol agents, 91 state police officers, as well and school and city police rushed to the campus. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. More than an hour later, a team of officers breached the classroom and killed the gunman.

Within days of the shooting, the focus of the slow response turned on Arredondo, who was described by other responding agencies as the incident commander in charge.

Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers. Several victims or their families have filed multiple state and federal lawsuits
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11136 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The police are not there to stop disorder. They're there to maintain disorder."-Richard J. Dailey, Mayor of Chicago, 1968
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/21/2024 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  As a long time supporter of the Police, it seems that all too many have been infected with the tyrannical virus, they care way more for the establishment elite than the people.
Posted by: alanc || 12/21/2024 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  It used to be that small city and town police forces could languish under poor leadership without real consequences. Now every town is potentially on the front lines.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Arredondo caused delays by telling officers to evacuate a hallway to wait for a SWAT team, evacuating students from other areas of the building first, and trying to negotiate with the shooter while victims inside the classroom were wounded and dying.

What was learned (and subsequently unlearned) at Columbine was to attack immediately, do not delay. The police action in Nashville shut down the potential for greater violence.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 10:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Next time, set a hand sanitizer station up.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/21/2024 11:16 Comments || Top||


Police: Texas Elementary Teacher Left Meth Baggie in School Hallway
[Breitbart] A Texas elementary school teacher was arrested after he allegedly dropped a baggie of methamphetamine in the hallway outside of a classroom, officials said.

Daniel Anthony Gonzalez, a 38-year-old special education teacher at Mary Hull Elementary School in San Antonio, was taken into custody on December 6 on felony drug possession and child endangerment charges, KSAT reported.

Gonzalez, who had been working within the Northside Independent School District (NISD) since 2012, was reported to police by school staff after a matchbox containing a suspicious substance was discovered on the floor.

After reviewing surveillance footage, a police report obtained by KSAT stated that it was determined that the matchbox fell out of Gonzalez’s pocket as he pulled out a key to open a classroom.

Police said the contents of the matchbox included a straw and a baggie with a white crystal substance that later tested positive for meth.

“Staff acted quickly to turn in the unidentified item and NISD Police acted swiftly to determine what the item was and its origin,” an NISD spokesperson said in a statement to the local outlet.

Gonzalez was arrested while he was still working on the campus and booked into Bexar County Jail before being released on bond the next day, jail records obtained by the outlet revealed.

Despite initially being placed on administrative leave after his arrest, the disgraced teacher submitted his own resignation effective December 20.

Concerned parents of Mary Hull Elementary School told KSAT that they were only informed of the arrest and accusations recently, despite it taking place weeks ago.

“That is actually my son’s teacher,” mother Chelsy Leal said. “He is the one who takes care of my son.”

“Special needs children need extra care, so if he’s drugged out trying to take care of my kid, how is that safe for my kid?” she continued, before adding that the school district needs to “notify parents as soon as that happens, not weeks later like this now.”

Another disgruntled parent, Stephanie Rodriguez, said she was surprised to learn of the news online instead of directly from the school.

“I was in shock because I found out over the internet and not having a direct phone call,” she said.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11139 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That will get you detention.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, we now know how he took care of special needs.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 10:57 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Oregon city asks residents to stop sticking googly eyes on art pieces

[GEO.TV] US city of Oregon has requested its residents to stop sticking googly eyes on the city's art pieces such as statues and murals.

"While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art," a Facebook post made by the city read as quoted by Sky News.

''While we don't condone the wreaths, leis and Santa hats, let's stay away from adhesives, graffiti and all things that can damage the art,'' the city of Bend added.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
residents of the city have no intention to refrain from their antics as one replied on Facebook that, "It would cost $0 to leave them on'' as several thought the googly eyes were a good addition to the artworks.

"My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh," a woman wrote as she used a nickname for the ''Phoenix Rising'' sculpture in Bend.

"We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let's have fun!,'' another wrote indicating that the people have no intention to stop now.

Whereas, several others said the city should focus on much more important issues instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes which were giving the people something to cheer about.

The council has spent $1,500 on removing the googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures in the city, according to Bend's communications director, Rene Mitchell.

Mitchell further stated that they have started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of bronze and steel. As for the Phoenix Rising sculpture, it may even need to be repainted.

Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11145 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Local sculptor busy in studio:

Posted by: Pancho Poodle8452 || 12/21/2024 6:45 Comments || Top||

#2  In nearly every little bureaucrats is a tiny tyrant trying to get out. The eyes, they're a feature not a bug. Go with the flow. It hurts no one except art snobs.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Make people show ID to buy googly eyes.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:42 Comments || Top||

#4  But spray-painting Blamtifa/Hamas graffiti on historical statues and government buildings is A-OK
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2024 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  We need more common-sense Googly Eye control.
Posted by: technochitlin || 12/21/2024 13:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Next trend: Interactive Art!
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/21/2024 13:34 Comments || Top||

#7  "Members of the public, please! You can't do public art there. That's Public Art!" [Feathered Bureaucrat with Googly Eyes installed at city limit]
Posted by: Pancho Poodle8452 || 12/21/2024 18:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Be nice if this spread to, say, Minneapolis.
Posted by: Pancho Poodle8452 || 12/21/2024 18:43 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Pakistan polio tally reaches 64 after fresh case reported in Sindh
[GEO.TV] Pakistain reported another wild polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain...
virus type 1 (WPV1) case in Sindh's district of Jacobabad, taking the country's total number of cases to 64, the health authorities reported on Wednesday.

The new case reported in the district is the fourth case of the year, taking Sindh's tally to 18.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's poliovirus cases also stands at 18 with 26 children affected in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
. Islamabad and Punjab
...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
...
.
have reported one case each so far this year.

The Pakistain Polio Eradication Programme explained that polio is a ''paralysing'' disease with ''no cure'' and ''the completion of the routine vaccination for all children under the age of five'' just provides them ''high immunity against this terrible disease''.

Pakistain has taken strict measures to administer polio vaccines as the last countrywide vaccination campaign of the year kicked off on Monday with an aim to administer vaccine against the crippling disease to about 44,000,000 children across the country.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday announced the launch of the anti-polio drive by administering drops to children in Islamabad.

Around 400,000 polio workers across 143 districts of the country will visit every household to administer polio drops to the children below five years, as per Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq.

Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11148 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


-Land of the Free
Bret Baier Isn't Quite As Humble As Projected-He's Selling His DC Mansion
[NYPost] Trump’s commerce pick Howard Lutnick set to buy Bret Baier’s $29M DC château in a potential record-breaking deal

Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, is nearing a deal to purchase Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s opulent Washington, DC mansion.

The French-style estate, located in the upscale Foxhall neighborhood, was listed for $31.9 million last year and recently reduced to $28.99 million.

While the final sale price has not been disclosed, real estate experts say it could surpass the DC area’s current residential record of $24 million, set by a Georgetown home in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the transaction.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bret must be downsizing. Must be getting the Cavuto treatment.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:39 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Elderly Tyrant Raul Castro Pounds Table in Anger at Cuban Communists' Incompetence
No shoes I guess.
[Breitbart] Nonagenarian communist dictator of Cuba Raúl Castro appeared visibly upset at a recent Communist Party meeting, slamming his fist on a table in frustration at his officials’ incompetence, Cuban-focused outlets reported on Thursday.

Castro – who in reality continues to be the true dictator of Cuba since 2016 following the death of his brother, murderous dictator Fidel Castro – “retired” from politics in 2021, installing Miguel Díaz-Canel as the figurehead “president” of Cuba. The “retired” nonagenarian dictator was then “elected” to occupy a seat in the National Assembly in the regime’s sham March 2023 election.

Videos circulating on social media show Castro, 93, participating alongside other lawmakers in a new legislative session of the communist parliament centered around finding “solutions” to the problems caused by more than six decades of disastrous communist policies, which have pushed Cuba to the brink of complete ruin.

In the videos, the visibly upset dictator slammed a table that was in front of him as he ordered his regime underlings, with “hand high and standing, and fists clenched, to face the problems with depth.”


Cuban outlets reported on Thursday that Castro has increased his number of public appearances after rumors circulated in recent months that his health was waning or that he had died. Thursday’s reports suggest that Castro’s increased participation in official events alongside other members of his regime’s top brass seeks to send a “message of continuity and stability” as Cuba’s Communist Party undergoes a grave crisis.

In addition to his participation at the Cuban parliament, Castro reportedly attended other public events throughout the week, including a meeting with the “Cuban Five,” a group of spies who infiltrated the Cuban exile community in the United States and are widely considered responsible for providing information to the Castro regime that led to its killing of four Americans in 1996.

The meeting between the Cuban dictator and the communist spies occurred as the Castro regime celebrated the tenth anniversary of the return of the spies to Cuba within the framework of the “Cuban Thaw,” a series of policies enacted by former U.S. President Barack Obama granting significant concessions to the Cuban communists.

During his participation at the communist parliamentary sessions, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero stated that it is “shameful” that Cuba — a sugarcane powerhouse before communism ruined its flagship industry — now has to import sugar. He did not, however, attribute any responsibility for the decline of Cuba’s sugarcane industry to the disastrous policies of the Castro regime.

“The army general [Raul Castro] told us that it would be a shame to have to import sugar, and we are going through that shame,” Marrero said, admitting difficulties in the current harvest season due to persisting “structural problems,” which hinder any possibility of immediate recovery.

“It is true that the lack of electricity and fuel has a very big impact on the process. However, a group of indications have been given to straighten out this harvest and maximize the results,” he continued.

According to Cuban state media, the communist lawmakers will wrap up the week-long parliamentary sessions on Friday before the Castro regime holds a “march of the combatant people” in front of the U.S. embassy in Havana in the afternoon to demand the United States end its “embargo” on Cuba and Cuba’s removal from the United States’ list of States Sponsors of Terrorism.

While the nonagenarian communist dictator is reportedly slated to participate in Friday’s parliamentary session, it remains unclear at press time if he will participate in his regime’s anti-U.S. rally.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 02:44 || Comments || Link || [11132 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  We kept telling you DEI was just Marxism in new cloth. Same results.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  In reality, Trump is going to rejuvenate the US energy sector which will slam Venezuela’s economy which will cut off their dollar faucet to Cuba. They are going down. A similar impact on Iran will shut down the activities of their proxies.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Shoes for Industry!
Posted by: SteveS || 12/21/2024 11:33 Comments || Top||


Economy
Party City Closing All Locations After Nearly 40 Years in Business
[Breitbart]
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 02:47 || Comments || Link || [11135 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The party's over.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/21/2024 8:29 Comments || Top||

#2  not much call for parties the past 5 years
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/21/2024 9:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Doesn’t really impact consumers. Comparable jobs are available in Fast Food. Probably screws over whoever owns the commercial real estate and some folks at corporate. Same with Big Lots.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Funemployment.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/21/2024 10:46 Comments || Top||


Find tow trucks in Australia
Posted by: Slinese Fleretch1558 || 12/21/2024 01:33 || Comments || Link || [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A 'free' service offered by many US insurance policies. In reality the toll-free number for roadside assistance goes to a call center. Regional providers are subscribers to the insurance referral service.

A roadside assistance provider may at anytime decline the tow offering.

During a cold spell in Denver I found no service would drive the 50 miles to the airport and back for just a jump. There was too much billable work in town. I hired a taxi from arrivals to take me to the long term parking, with extra $$s for a jump using my own cables. /rant
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 10:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The company that provides that service to insurance companies in the US has NO equipment. Once you call in they start calling tow companies near you and asking if they will take the job for way below market rates. If the company accepts the job, you will go to the end of the line and stay there until their regular clients are serviced.

I waited hours for a tow that never came and finally limped by truck home.

It's free and worth what you pay for it.
Posted by: EMS Artifact || 12/21/2024 12:25 Comments || Top||


Downfall of America''s most famous retailer hits new low as beloved brand is left clinging on in only four states
[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] Sears has closed its final store in Washington, leaving it operating in only four states across the US.

The department store, which was once the largest in the country, closed an outlet in the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, Washington, on December 15.

In the weeks leading up to its closure, the store, which had been there for three decades, hosted discount sales for shoppers.

Its closure means that Sears only has eight stores remaining across Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas.

Locals expressed their sadness at the store closing its doors.

'It's a landmark, it's something you grew up with, it's something you could trust,' Barbie Talamante, a former Sears staffer, told the Seattle NPR station KUOW-FM.

'As a little kid you'd go into a Sears store, your parents would buy the washers, dryers, paint, draperies, whatever.'

Talamante had worked at Sears for more than 10 years, and this is the second store she has had to see close down.
I can't understand it. For years Sears prospered by mailing out a catalog showcasing its products to its customers. They could order COD or go to the nearby Sears store. That was before the internet, so it was kind of like Amazon without the www... Uhhh... Never mind.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11140 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Sears was the place, for what, 75+ years?
It failed to see the Metro decay around it.
It failed to see the growth of Wally World in the suburbs, all until it was too late.

Add to it, the stupid move of purchasing K-Mart locations and then selling the CRAFTSMAN brand name.

What does Sears now have to offer, that many other store chains provide for less?
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/21/2024 5:33 Comments || Top||

#2  But for one monumentally shortsighted, stupid decision, Sears should have been Amazon. This one will be taught in business schools for decades to come.

Mike
Posted by: MikeKozlowski || 12/21/2024 6:47 Comments || Top||

#3  They had a catalog, they had product numbers, they had pictures. It was a analog version of what Amazon became. Suits content with shuffling rather than innovating.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 7:38 Comments || Top||

#4  ‘Taught in Business schools’…. The requirement of Wallstreet to be Profitable, Predictable and sustainable handcuffs public traded corporations from taking significant transformative risks to win in the Market Place in the future. see Sears, Kodak (who invented the digital camera), Blockbuster Video…. The list is long.
Posted by: Airandee || 12/21/2024 7:41 Comments || Top||

#5  MikeK
You are dead on.
They were there doing it before Amazon.
Like millions of others, I ordered from the Sears Catalog many times, over my 40 years of using them.

Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/21/2024 7:41 Comments || Top||

#6  A Sears Langston – A Century Later…
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2024 7:44 Comments || Top||

#7  It's the curse of the centralized management system. Where they bring together all the management of an organization in one place, so it can be 'supervised'. Most groups succeed in spite of leadership, not because of it.
It's the "skyscraper curse", where a company gets a big building, and then dies. They get a big facility, with lots of space to grow. them they start filling the space, cause people gonna build their little kingdoms.
Then the whole business gets arteriosclorosis.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/21/2024 8:40 Comments || Top||

#8  They get a big facility, with lots of space to grow. them they start filling the space, cause people gonna build their little kingdoms.

The model our government adopted in the 30s.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 9:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Thing I always found about Sears - A prices and B merchandise.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/21/2024 9:09 Comments || Top||

#10  The government picked Amazon as a winner. I thought Sears was already gone. Can’t believe they are still afloat in California. There merchandise must be too unattractive to steal.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:38 Comments || Top||

#11  What does Sears now have to offer, that many other store chains provide for less?

I miss the free walk-in-the-door replacement/no questions asked for broken Craftsman tools. Colorado mountain cold makes some brittle.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 10:40 Comments || Top||

#12  ^ Die-Hard auto batteries were pretty good for the time, too
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2024 11:26 Comments || Top||

#13  Christmas batteries; good in cold weather.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/21/2024 11:39 Comments || Top||

#14  I have some Craftsman tools that I inherited both from my dad and my father-in-law. They're antiques now but they still work great. Then they outsourced all that manufacturing to China. But they lost me long before then. The catalog might have been great when people didn't have as many choices as they do now. But I could always find better clothes and appliances elsewhere.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 12/21/2024 12:31 Comments || Top||

#15  #4 add...Xerox and their Palo Alto Research Center who developed the CRT automated word processor that Apple ripped off. Xerox management didn't know what they had.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 13:05 Comments || Top||

#16  Name me the latest tech innovation coming from Apple.Woz left, Jobs died, and the company is just a cash cow to be milked with decade old innovation.
Posted by: Regular joe || 12/21/2024 14:49 Comments || Top||

#17  There's a Supreme Court decision from long ago that decreed that Sears/Penny's did NOT have to remit sales tax to the various states for catalog orders. I've never understood fully why online companies didn't fight harder to declare that decision means THEIR orders don't require state-by-state sales tax collection.
Posted by: Crusader || 12/21/2024 15:44 Comments || Top||

#18  ...because Amazon became big enough that they could handle it and accepting it helps kill off potential start up competitors. Technically, you are correct as it is interstate commerce and thus purely the jurisdiction of the federal government. The states didn't pressure Congress on the issue because they rightly feared Congress would keep the booty for themselves so they went the judicial fiat route.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 17:35 Comments || Top||


The Remittance Tool to Encourage Mexico on Immigration-The money Mexican migrants send home to their relatives grew by 7.6% in 2023, a record $63.3 billion for the year.
[AyPee] The money that Mexican migrants send home to their relatives grew by 7.6% in 2023, to reach a record $63.3 billion for the year, Mexico’s central bank said Thursday.

The money transfers, known as remittances, have been booming since the coronavirus pandemic, but the rate of growth continued to cool somewhat in 2023.

In 2022, remittances grew by 13.4%, totaling about $58.9 billion for the year as a whole. In 2021, remittances grew by an astounding 27.1%, totaling about $51.6 billion for that year.

Observers have said the slower growth may be due to a combination of factors like slower economic growth in the United States — where most Mexican migrants work — higher inflation and a stronger Mexican peso.

Remittances now surpass almost all other sources of the country’s foreign income, including tourism, oil exports and most manufacturing exports.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11131 views] Top|| File under: Migrants/Illegal Immigrants

#1  Tax all moneys transferred to Mexico or any other country. Wells Fargo, etc. tax it!
Posted by: Wholuck Slaviter4302 || 12/21/2024 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Remittances now surpass almost all other sources of the country’s foreign income, including tourism, oil exports and most manufacturing exports.

Percentage of "Remittances" which are non-reported income ?

Percentage of "Remittances" which have a illegal drug connection ?

Percentage of "Remittances" used for human trafficing ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2024 2:03 Comments || Top||

#3 
Have long agreed with the idea present in #1.
Apply a tax on any such international MoneyGram transactions. Force traceability to collect the same taxes US Citizens forced to pre-pay. Also track the $$$$ back to employers to see if E-Verify is being followed.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/21/2024 5:39 Comments || Top||

#4  We stand on the brink of necessary change. The impact is going to hit institutions that try to maintain the status quo will be swept away. Trump has won. Trudeau will fall in January. The Mexico of today will not be the Mexico of 2028. It’s going to be a mess for them.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:34 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Justin Trudeau govt's collapse likely as key ally withdraws support
[GEO.TV] Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be on a course to lose power early next year after a major political ally announced plans to topple his minority Liberal government, leading to an election.

Jagmeet Singh,
…leftwing Sikh separatist/pro-Khalistan activist, so strongly anti-India — part of the diversity that dear Justin considers Canada's strength…
leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), revealed on Friday that he intends to file a formal no-confidence motion when parliament resumes on January 27 following its winter recess. Singh's party has been crucial in supporting Trudeau's administration since the last election.

If all the opposition parties back the motion, Trudeau will be out of office after more than nine years as prime minister and an election will take place.

A string of polls over the last 18 months show the Liberals, suffering from voter fatigue and anger over high prices and a housing crisis, would be badly defeated by the official opposition right-of-centre Conservatives.

The New Democrats, who like the Liberals aim to attract the support of centre-left voters, complain Trudeau is too beholden to big business.

"No matter who is leading the Liberal Party, this government's time is up. We will put forward a clear motion of non-confidence in the next sitting of the House of Commons," said Singh.


Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2024 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11139 views] Top|| File under:


#2  Singh was just waiting for his automatic pension to kick in.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Deadmeat Singh will be using his gold plated penson as his sole means of sustenance after the next election.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 12/21/2024 23:31 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
PteroDynamics - You decide
DEI Frei
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2024 06:51 || Comments || Link || [11135 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NOW WE KNOW ABOUT THE "DRONES"


The big mystery about drones being seen all over New Jersey, seems to have been solved: Photos make clear at least some of the drones are PteroDynamics XP-4 trans-wing drones, being developed for the U.S. Navy. Others are nuclear detection drones.

The XP-4 is being readied for work picking-up and dropping-off packages to a moving ship, even in high seas and high winds.

As its name implies, it is a trans-wing design, meaning it can switch from an aircraft-type winged flight, to a Quad-copter-type design for Vertical Take Off and Landings (VTOL).

Officially, it has a one-hour flight time, but that could have easily been upgraded.

It is about 13 feet wide by 6 feet long; closely matching the descriptions provided by so many witnesses.

Very VERY many of the "sightings" and "reports" about these drones show them traveling almost directly up the New Jersey coastline, and, wouldn't you know it, right where the most reports are coming from, and perfectly along the flight path is, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Home of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD).

This also explains why drones are appearing every night in much the same area, and sticking around so long; they have a base they can go to to swap batteries all night.

Other- "Strange-Looking" Drones

Not all of the drones being seen are close in description to the XP-4. It seems that other types of drones are also being tested; specifically running nighttime missions between NAWCAD Lakehurst, and a U.S. Navy ships offshore.

One of the types of drones also being flown over NJ and NY are American-made HPGe nuclear-detector drones. They can detect Gamma Rays from miles away.

Gamma Rays are a dangerous form of radiation that can penetrate the bodies of living organisms and harm those organisms to varying degrees, depending upon the intensity of the gamma Rays and the duration of exposure.

These HPGe Drones were originally designed to inspect nuclear facilities but that's **NOT** what these drones are for. These drones are for sweeping a large area, in a grid pattern, to find a POTENTIAL Dirty Bomb or POTENTIAL other nuclear device, POTENTIALLY being smuggled-in to detonate in a terrorist attack.

Many witnesses have commented that the Drones they see appear to be sweeping over an area in "grid pattern" as if they're looking for something specific. The reason they are operating in a Grid pattern is not only to practice looking for something, but also because the drones are programmed to operate in a "Mesh Network" operating in the 200GHz communications band. 200GHz is very directional and requires bulky "horn" antennas to function.

It turns out the United States Department of Defense bought...are you ready for this..."Hundreds of thousands" of these drones!

They can be programmed to "swarm" a city.

Back in 2009-2010, the Dept. of Defense (DoD) needed a response to the threat of Dirty Bombs, being smuggled-in by ISIS, to a U.S. Port City. DoD has been stocking-up on these drones since about 2010.

The drones look weird because the nuclear detection gear requires a large and heavy Cryo-Cooler to be mounted beneath it, for the Gamma Radiation detectors, and as mentioned above, the giant "horn" antennas to communicate on mm-wave frequencies that cannot be jammed.

Here's the dicey part: These drones are being used, right now inside Ukraine! That is the first time these devices have been deployed in a Combat Zone.

Sources are now telling me what the purposes of these drone flights are:

First, the Navy is testing how the public will react (PsyOp).

Second, they are testing their ability to sweep a densely populated large area in a grid pattern without communication disruption or loss of drone control.

They are very reluctant to even send the drones into Manhattan because of the very real potential of losing communication with the drone amidst the towering skyscrapers, and enormous electromagnetic interference from all the electronic gizmos and gadgets operating in that area.

So why all the "hush hush?"

They are , in fact, U.S. Government Drones and they don't want to talk about it.

It seems some folks in the U.S. government have forgotten that they work for us...the people of the United States, whose hard work, ingenuity, and heavy tax burden, make their entire existence possible!

Other sources told me the government is, in fact, looking for a "Dirty Bomb" that perpetrators are allegedly trying to sneak into New York City to detonate as part of a terrorist attack. He mentioned Christmas and New Year's Eve (Times Square) as possible targets. I have **NOT** been able to corroborate that ONE source's claim.

ALL of the bridges and tunnels in-to and out-of New York City are equipped with radiation detectors.

Further, the NYPD, years ago, gave most of their 38,000 police officers, belt-worn radiation detectors, about the size of a belt-worn pocket pager, that would beep and vibrate if they detected radiation nearby. I do not know if NYPD still deploys such devices, but they did, at one time in the past.

Thus, it seems to me, to be virtually impossible for a terrorist to sneak such a device into New York City. But "virtually" impossible is also not "impossible."

Finally, there is a THIRD source who told me "There are drones with flight lights that are all over the news now, but there are other objects, referred-to as "Orbs." They are glowing balls that fly through the air, and NO ONE knows what they are, what' they're doing, or who/where they're from. He went on to tell me "All the Drones you see with flight lights are out looking for the "Orbs" that glow, so see what they are, where they are, and who is operating them. The glowing "orbs" are the UFO's."
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2024 7:27 Comments || Top||


#3  No matter what the real story is, we can assume that the Feds are either the villains or some of the villains.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  it is a trans-wing design, meaning it can switch from an aircraft-type winged flight, to a Quad-copter-type design for Vertical Take Off and Landings (VTOL).

I appreciate the design honestly.

It isn't unusual for this location to have 40mph wind with 60+mph gusts, but don't need a catapult to launch and can land wherever. Put a targeting system on there for air units.

The dork in me appreciates the name Ptero.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/21/2024 14:07 Comments || Top||


Woman receives pig kidney transplant, walks out of hospital days later: ‘Second chance'
[FoxNews] An Alabama woman has successfully received a gene-edited pig kidney transplant at NYU Langone Health.

This was the seventh pig organ transplant completed by NYU Langone surgeons.
Towana Looney, 53, miraculously walked out of the hospital just a few days following the procedure.

In an NYU Langone press conference, Looney expressed feeling "overjoyed" and "blessed to have received this gift – a second chance at life."

"I want to give courage to those out there on dialysis," she said.

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and NYU Langone clinical professor of medicine, joined "America Reports" on Wednesday to share how this should bring hope for the future of transplant medicine.

"We have a great shortage of body organs," he said. "And even if we get people to donate, we’re still going to have a big shortage … so we’ve got to do something."

"We can bio-engineer them, or we can use them from other species, [which is] called xenotransplant."
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 02:14 || Comments || Link || [11133 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...but now she can only eat kosher.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/21/2024 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Now if Mossad can duplicate the Pager thing but target kidneys, I can see an amusing outcome to this story.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/21/2024 9:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Farewell Jigsaw Man (Niven).
Posted by: Grom the Reflective || 12/21/2024 9:30 Comments || Top||

#4  "Why do I smell like bacon?"
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2024 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Fauci’s bad, but not all researchers are bad.
Posted by: Super Hose || 12/21/2024 10:46 Comments || Top||

#6  3D printing a compatible tissue should be a thing.

IMHO, the press to push 'printed meat' is a way to expand that market. I hate that. It is a lost focus of that medical upgrade.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/21/2024 14:22 Comments || Top||



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