[FoxNews] Correctional officers at a New York prison repeatedly punched a handcuffed inmate, hit him with a shoe, lifted him by the neck and dropped him before he later died, newly released video shows.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released body camera footage on Friday of the Dec. 9 assault on Robert Brooks, 43, who died the morning after the incident.
The attorney general's office is investigating the officers' use of force that led to Brooks' death.
Brooks was pronounced dead at a hospital the day after the assault at the Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison in Oneida County.
[USA Today] SALINAS, Calif. − The oldest living survivor of the Pearl Harbor attacks died Christmas morning.
Warren "Red" Upton, of San Jose, Calif., was also the last living survivor of the USS Utah, which sank during Japanese attacks on the U.S. Naval Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. He was 105.
Upton had a short hospital stay in Los Gatos surrounded by his family before he died Wednesday, according to Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the nonprofit Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. There are 15 living Pearl Harbor survivors, she said in a phone interview Saturday.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Hertz's decision to buy 100,000 Teslas has backfired badly - but it does mean cheap EVs are up for grabs.
The car rental giant began to sell off its stock of Teslas a year ago - due to a lack of demand from customers who prefer gas models. Bosses also said they wanted to offload the cars due to high repair costs.
With slow demand, Hertz is being forced to sell the electric vehicles at steep discounts.
In the past week, a Hertz customer shared a jaw-dropping deal on Reddit: a 2023 Tesla Model 3 for just $17,913 - less than half its retail price of $38,990.
In January the company said that the proceeds from the sales would go to funding more gas powered cars.
It is a departure from its previous target that 25 percent of its overall fleet would be electric by the end of 2024.
In 2022, it said it would buy up to 65,000 EVs over five years from Polestar. That was just months after it ordered 100,000 cars from Tesla.
The selling of the EV fleet aligns with a broader trend in the US auto market in which demand for electric cars appears to have fallen.
The cut prices comes after a rocky financial year for Hertz who reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss and missed revenue estimates last month.
[PopulistTimes] U.S.-born citizens accounted for just 16% of the overall population growth in 2024, according to data from the Census Bureau. Between 2023 and 2024, the U.S. population grew by 1.0% to reach 340.1 million, the highest growth rate since 2000.
However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... international migration accounted for 2.8 million of the 3.3 million net increase in population, or 84%. Between 2022 and 2023, it accounted for 1.7 million of the 2.3 million increase, or 73.9%.
"An annual growth rate of 1.0% is higher than what we’ve seen over recent years but well within historical norms," said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. "What stands out is the diminishing role of natural increase over the last five years, as net international migration has become the primary driver of the nation’s growth."
The country recorded the lowest population growth (0.16%) rate during the pandemic when international travel was banned, and thus less migrations. Ironically, the number of births also increased during the same period, but as deaths surged, the net natural increase was just 146,000.
"There was a brief uptick in births from 2021 to 2022, but rates returned to their downward trend in 2023," the Census Bureau reported.
#2
I would like to see a forensic audit of government agencies to see which ones were funding the invasion and how much of those expenditures were authorized by Congress. Start with FEMA that seems to have mysteriously misplaced all the funding for hurricane relief.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2024 9:46 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Will It Expand The Entitlement State?
Silly question, check the UK.
What is frightening is that the question was asked.
Essentially treating them no differently than his own troops.
[ZERO] The White House has said Moscow is treating its North Korean partner forces as "expendable" in its war against Ukraine, and following South Korean and Pentagon intelligence assessments which say North Korea has suffered at least 1,100 casualties so far
National Security communications adviser John Kirby said in a Friday press briefing, "It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses."
[GEO.TV] The corpse count of the plane crash mounted to 47 after the airliner careened off the runway and erupted into a fireball as it ran into a wall at South Korea's Muan International Airport on Sunday, according to Yonhap news agency.
The crash occurred as Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was landing shortly after 9am (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea's transport ministry said.
At least 33 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, a fire official told Rooters.
Two people were found alive and rescue operations were still under way, a Muan fire official said. The official and the transport ministry could not confirm the reports of 28 dead. Yonhap said three people had been rescued.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Rooters.
Video shared by local media showed the twin-engine aircraft skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in a kaboom of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
The passengers included two Thai nationals, and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by Jeju Air, was seeking details of the accident, including its casualties and cause, an airline spokesperson said.
Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
[DefenceBlog] A Chinese drone manufacturer has disclosed a massive government order for almost a million lightweight kamikaze drones, to be delivered by 2026.
As the Russians say, quantity has a quality al its own. Still, how many of the Chinese-made things will actually be able to fly, and of those that can, how many will last very long?
The revelation, shared during a conversation with Defence Blog, highlights China’s rapidly expanding investment in unmanned aerial systems and their integration into modern warfare strategies.
According to the representative of Poly Technologies, this unprecedented contract has effectively monopolized their production capacity. “We already have an order for almost a million drones for our government, and we’re forced to turn down other clients to meet the demand,” the representative stated.
Details about the specific type or technical specifications of the drones remain undisclosed.
China’s focus on kamikaze drones, also known as loitering munitions, aligns with lessons drawn from recent global conflicts, particularly the extensive use of drones in Ukraine. The devastating effectiveness of Ukrainian military tactics employing light kamikaze and FPV drones has reportedly influenced Chinese military doctrine.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has already begun incorporating drone warfare into its training programs. Footage and reports suggest the use of FPV drones and kamikaze drones in simulated combat scenarios to enhance the readiness of PLA forces.
The scale of the order raises questions about its intended purpose. While Beijing has not provided explicit details, many defense analysts believe this could signal preparations for a potential conflict involving Taiwan.
The drone manufacturer’s remarks also shed light on broader industry dynamics. When asked about potential exports to Russia, the manufacturer indicated that meeting domestic demand is currently a top priority. This statement underscores the prioritization of China’s defense capabilities over international sales, despite increasing global interest in Chinese drone technology.
China’s military-industrial complex has been rapidly advancing in the realm of unmanned systems. The PLA has placed significant emphasis on drones as force multipliers, particularly in areas like reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and precision strikes. The integration of kamikaze drones provides a cost-effective and scalable solution for saturating enemy defenses, a tactic that has proven effective in various modern conflicts.
While it remains unclear whether other Chinese manufacturers have received similar orders, this development reflects a broader trend in China’s military build-up. Analysts note that such an extensive procurement aligns with the PLA’s objectives of modernizing and expanding its capabilities to prepare for potential large-scale engagements.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Novikov
[REGNUM] The outgoing year was marked by another round of US-Chinese tariff confrontation, and by the end of 2024 it reached a new level.
On December 3, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce imposed a ban on the export of gallium, germanium, antimony, and several other superhard materials (it is not specified which ones) to the United States. And just a day later, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced sanctions against a number of American companies: Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc, BRINC Drones Inc, and Shield AI Inc.
The sanctions were imposed after the Pentagon gave its prior consent to supply Taiwan with spare parts for F-16 fighters and radars. China views this as an attack on its own territorial integrity.
As for materials prohibited for export, antimony is widely used in the defense industry. It is found in explosive caps used in firearms cartridges, grenade fuses, and artillery shells. In 2018, the U.S. Department of the Interior added antimony to the list of metals of critical importance to national security, but America has not mined it since 2001, when the Sunshine mine in Idaho closed.
The largest suppliers of antimony are China and Russia, with the former accounting for 54.5% of global production in 2022. The US risks losing a resource that is fundamentally important for its defense industry.
Gallium is actively used in the production of radio frequency chips for mobile and satellite communications, display LEDs, as well as in aviation and space technology. It is used to create microcircuits capable of supporting stable operation of 4th and 5th generation wireless networks (4G and 5G), which play a decisive role in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Germanium is needed for the defense industry, in particular for the production of night vision devices, as well as for the manufacture of solar panels.
Both elements play a huge role in areas such as high-speed communications and renewable energy production, and there is nothing to replace them with today; there are no analogues.
The main supplier of gallium and germanium is China. It produces 80% of gallium-containing products and accounts for 60 % of the world's germanium production.
By imposing sanctions, China seeks to weaken the US position and deprive it of the resources necessary for the development of information technology and AI.
The current situation is a new round of the tariff war between China and the United States, which began back in 2016, when Donald Trump first took the presidential seat in the White House.
His rise to political prominence began with a sharp criticism of the trade deficit and deep interdependence of the Chinese and American economies, which led to a serious loss of jobs in America (2.7 million between 2001 and 2011). That is why Trump won broad support among workers in the 2016 election, promising to bring manufacturing back to America.
But he also accused China of manipulating its own currency and stealing American technology, expressing concern about China's advances in high technology. From the US perspective, the authoritarian state's leadership in this area is an existential threat.
It may seem paradoxical, but the Democratic Party of the United States, which is fundamentally hostile to Trump, has continued his line of economic struggle with China.
Although Joe Biden has avoided criticizing China purely rhetorically, and even before the elections, he accused Republicans of speculating on the Chinese issue (in response, Trump has repeatedly stated that he was “bribed” by China), however, already as US President, he has in fact renounced these words.
Yes, his administration has emphasized that the confrontation between the countries is “competition,” not “rivalry” (a position that Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended in his article ), but even in the latest US National Security Strategy (October 2022), it is China that is designated as the “main competitor” capable of revising the world order.
Trump's tariff policy was continued by Biden without any significant changes, most of the previous duties were retained, and some were even increased.
The Democratic administration has focused on fighting China in the high-tech sector. For example, in 2023, the sale of Huawei equipment and technology was banned in America, and in April of this year, the US threatened to ban the TikTok social network if it was not sold to the US within nine months — the “Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act.” The title of the document speaks for itself.
In early December 2024, America imposed sanctions on 140 Chinese chip companies (which triggered the Chinese restrictions mentioned at the beginning), including Naura Technology Group, AMC Research, Skyverse Technology, Empyrean Technology. At the same time, the US imposed export controls on high-bandwidth memory chips, which are important components for AI applications.
The Democratic Party's interest in high technology is due to the fact that it receives significant support from information and telecommunications companies.
The history of tariff wars between China and the United States clearly shows that neoliberal globalization is currently experiencing its own crisis.
This has affected even its most consistent apologists, the US Democratic Party, which rhetorically defends the old values of free trade, but in fact moves away from them, adopting elements of the policies of its main opponent.
Of course, the economic interdependence between China and the United States cannot be broken overnight without damage to both sides, but the opponents do not intend to retreat and are still set on further escalation of the tariff war.
They are not ready to give up the benefits acquired in the conditions of globalization, but they put their own national interests first. The outgoing year demonstrated this with complete clarity, and 2025 will certainly provide many more clear confirmations of this conclusion.
[ZERO] Revelations that senior US intelligence officials in the early days of the virus pandemic suppressed research indicating a Chinese lab leak as the origin of Covid-19 surfaced in a new Wall Street Journal report titled "Behind Closed Doors: The Spy-World Scientists Who Argued Covid Was a Lab Leak" late this week.
The investigation by WSJ's Michael Gordon and Warren Strobel shows the disagreements within the intelligence community over Covid origins...
But an investigation by The Wall Street Journal shows that the disagreements among intelligence experts over what should be included in the report ran deeper than is publicly known. Nor were the FBI scientists the only ones who believed that the intelligence directorate's review didn't tell the whole story.
Three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, part of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, conducted a scientific study that concluded that Covid-19 was manipulated in a laboratory in a risky research effort. But that analysis was at odds with the assessment of their parent agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and wasn't incorporated in the report presented to Biden. -WSJ
Specifically, who decided to exclude input from the Defense Department and the FBI—the only agency to conclude with "moderate confidence" that a lab leak was the likely origin—from the August 2021 briefing to President Biden and the subsequent official federal conclusion that Covid most likely originated naturally?
David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former head of State Department investigations into Covid origins, joined Vince Coglianese, host of WMAL's "The Vince Coglianese Show," on Friday evening to discuss the cover-up of Covid's origins during the Biden administration.
#1
The US funded 'off-shore' chemical and biological research theory has no basis in fact. I'm sticking with the original Chinese 'wet market' theory as promulgated by leading agencies of our government.
#2
We better learn the truth about COVID, J6 and about Epstein within the next month or so. We didn’t vote for more BS.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2024 9:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
How will we be able to tell if it's the truth? I'm sure any actual incriminating records have been lost to accidents and computer glitches, and homework-eating dogs.
[WAPO] A bipartisan Senate report released Friday faulted the CIA’s response to the mysterious ailment known as "Havana syndrome," saying many employees "faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care" after experiencing symptoms. Determined by many here, to be self-inflicted years ago.
The report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence did not shed new light on what may be behind the mysterious ailment — formally known as Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) — which was first reported by CIA employees in late 2016. But it did say the lack of a clear definition of this affliction, its cause and the "CIA’s evolving organizational position have greatly complicated CIA’s ability to consistently and transparently facilitate medical care, provide compensation and other benefits" to those affected.
The committee staff reviewed the CIA’s response to employees, contractors and dependents who reported symptoms. The panel said it will issue a classified report in early 2025. The 18-page report released Friday was an unclassified summary of the findings.
Health-care providers may be able to treat patients experiencing dizziness, nausea, headaches, balance issues and cognitive challenges without fully knowing its true cause or origin, but for the CIA, "the question is weightier," the report said. The federal government is mandated to treat people who are "injured in the line of duty rather than by naturally occurring medical conditions that should be addressed through private health care channels."
In response to the Senate report, the CIA said in a statement that "during the critical periods covered by this report, CIA had to design a response to a vexing problem as both our understanding of the problem and the problem itself evolved — including in the midst of the unprecedented global health pandemic that profoundly disrupted individuals’ access to standard health care, medical evaluations, and treatment."
The agency added: "Whether, in hindsight, we could have done better is for others to evaluate, but our commitment to ensuring that our officers and their families had access to the care they needed has never wavered."
Havana syndrome has been a global medical mystery since U.S. officials in Havana reported symptoms in 2016. It has triggered several inconclusive investigations and increased tensions between the United States and Cuba.
In March, the National Institutes of Health said its ongoing investigation found no significant evidence of brain injury after repeated scans of patients suffering from the mysterious ailment.
And in March 2023, the intelligence community concluded that a foreign adversary was not responsible for the ailments associated with Havana syndrome after many of the personnel had said they were victims of a deliberate attack. The intelligence community also said AHIs were not caused by an energy weapon or as the by-product of some other activity, including electronic surveillance that could have made people sick unintentionally.
The Senate report said some "AHI reporters experienced delayed, denied, or preconditioned care." Some experienced "long wait times" to access treatment, were denied treatment altogether or "felt that CIA tried to discourage them from seeking facilitated care, particularly as CIA’s organizational position on AHIs evolved."
The report also noted the CIA has stopped collecting clinical data about AHIs, and access to benefits for some "has been inconsistent."
"Distrust of CIA has been a common theme among AHI reporters the Committee interviewed," the report said. Some of them "perceived that their career was negatively impacted for reporting an AHI or seeking support related to their AHI."
The report went on to say the CIA "could benefit from an examination of how its response to AHIs has impacted its workforce, to include issues of morale and trust."
[ZERO] "I know most about Gates, you know, because I’ve written a book about him," says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - President-elect Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services - recollecting his 2021 book, "The Real Anthony Fauci', where RFK Jr exposes Gates' so-called "philanthro-capitalism", which, he explains is "using philanthropy to make yourself rich and you use it strategically and that’s what he’s done again and again."
"He’s gotten control of the World Health Organization so that they mandate vaccines all over the world and the companies that make those vaccines are, Gates’ and many of them the major shareholder. And so and he did the same thing with the green revolution."
RFK Jr. - full of facts and not conspiracies (for, if they were, where are the defamation suits) - then unraveled one of Gates' greatest disasters:
[GEO.TV] Pakistain is facing a troubling increase in the cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), with officials from the Ministry of National Health Services reporting 1,079 new infections each month. Important safety tip: If you go to Pakistain, keep your pants on. Even better, don't go to Pakistain.
According to the ministry on Friday, in the first nine months of 2024 alone, 9,713 individuals tested positive for the deadly virus.
If this trend continues, the total number of HIV cases for this year could surpass 12,950, a stark rise from the 12,731 cases recorded in all of 2023, The News reported.
The statistics reveal alarming demographic trends, with men accounting for 69.4% of new cases, women for 20.5%, transgender individuals for 4.1%, and children for 6%.
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
.... recorded the highest number of new infections, with 5,691 cases detected between January and September 2024, averaging 632 new cases each month.
Sindh followed with 2,383 new cases, averaging 265 monthly, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported 926 cases, translating to an average of 103 cases per month.
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... recorded 329 new cases, while Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... (AJK) reported 378 and 10 cases respectively.
Comparatively, the figures for 2023 were even higher, with 12,731 new infections reported nationwide, but the consistent rise in monthly averages for 2024 reflects the worsening nature of the epidemic.
Alarmingly, experts have noted a significant spillover of HIV infections from high-risk populations to the general population.
This is attributed to factors such as poor Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at healthcare facilities, unsafe sexual practices, low awareness, stigma and other risky behaviors.
"Despite collective efforts, the HIV epidemic is increasing in Pakistain. This demands innovative and sustainable interventions," said Trouble Chikoko, the UNAIDS Country Director for Pakistain, during a recent meeting with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Chikoko emphasised the pivotal role that religious scholars and institutions could play in raising awareness about HIV prevention and reducing stigma.
"Collaboration with UN agencies and partners is essential to address this crisis comprehensively," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11122 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Maybe they should reconsider their traditional practice of gay sex.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2024 9:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Could be worse, could be polio.
...
Well, maybe not worse.
[IsraelTimes] Operation follows the discovery of infection in PM’s urinary tract; cabinet meeting to be held on Sunday as planned, but some days of his testimony at trial could be put off.
#1
Prostate removal is often the treatment for prostate cancer. A few rounds off antibiotics usually is the treatment for prostate/urinary tract infections. I'm not a medical doctor but I've been thru the whole nine yards of prostate issues.
[GEO.TV] About 1,329 pea sized critically endangered snails bred in a zoo have been set free on a remote Atlantic island to roam as they please. "Where are they? I don't see no daggone snails!"
"They bolted, soon as we opened the cage!"
The release of the snails brings back two species of Desertas Island land to the wild. Before this, these kinds of snails were thought to be extinct — neither of the species were spotted for a century, as per BBC.
It all changed when a team of conservationists found a small population of the snails living on the rocky cliffs of Deserta Grande Island, near Madeira and prepared for a rescue effort.
A home was created for them in a converted shipping container after the snails were brought to the zoos of the UK, France as well as the Chester Zoo.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/29/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Unfortunately, the island is covered in salt..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/29/2024 7:40 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What do they taste like?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/29/2024 9:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Attack of the pea sized snails.
next month on Netflix
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
12/29/2024 20:47 Comments ||
Top||
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.
.jpg "Kashmir")
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
