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Large cyber attack against Israel conducted from Gaza, Turkey, North Africa
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
FBI Director Christopher Wray orders internal review of Michael Flynn investigation
[Washington Examiner] The FBI ordered an internal review of the handling of the bureau's investigation of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
Don't wanna rush into things, amirite?
FBI Director Christopher Wray made the call as he faces increased pressure from Republicans, who say he has been too resistant to disclosing secrets about the Trump-Russia investigation that they believe unfairly targeted President Trump and the people around him.

The "after-action" investigation, announced on Friday, will be carried out by the bureau’s Inspection Division and will focus on two areas: first, evaluating the FBI’s role in the Flynn investigation and rooting out any misconduct by current FBI employees, and second, evaluating the need to change bureau policies as a result of the Flynn case.

A statement said that the FBI will evaluate whether disciplinary measures will be necessary for any current employees, although the bureau lacks the prosecutorial authority to bring a criminal case. The statement also said the FBI lacks the ability to take any disciplinary action against former employees.

The Justice Department filed earlier this month to dismiss charges against Flynn, who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators after pleading guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The transcripts of the Flynn-Kislyak calls are being declassified by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.

In moving to drop the charges, the Justice Department said that after reviewing newly disclosed materials, it agreed with Flynn’s attorneys that his interview with the FBI should never have taken place because his conversations with the Russian ambassador were "entirely appropriate." Flynn said he is "innocent" and never lied, and his lawyers claimed their client was set up.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 02:33 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anything short of Wray's immediate resignation is a half measure.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 2:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "Mistakes were made. Not by me, of course. And everybody's heart was in the right place..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/23/2020 3:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Did Wray know or did Wray not know that the Flynn 302's had been modified ?

If he knew, he should be fired !
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 3:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Did Wray know or did Wray not know that the Flynn 302's had been modified?

I'm sure he knew. Was that knowledge documented in memos and emails? Probably, but most likely all filed in the "double secret probation" break glass and pull pin to erase kind of folder.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/23/2020 3:30 Comments || Top||

#5  #3 How about replacing 302 with videotaped interviews?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 05/23/2020 4:29 Comments || Top||

#6  We have to vote by mail because COVID, but don't ask the FBI to update their "time honored" traditions.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/23/2020 5:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Wray orders "internal review". LOL, oh, sure, that'll make me sleep better. Agreed. Wray needs to go yesterday.
Posted by: Clem || 05/23/2020 6:02 Comments || Top||

#8  "...misconduct by current FBI employees, ...." Weasel words as per SOP. All of the bad apples have been purged but the records are sealed per OPM policy.

Howz this sound "The FBI acknowledges previous employees did not meet our high standards. Based on the thorough review conducted by FBI leadership, I'm confident we have the appropriate measures in place to ensure these oversights do not occur again."

Its almost like I've see this movie before.....
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 05/23/2020 6:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Too busy trying to get Trump to worry about niceties. Now that its failed, its time for CYA.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/23/2020 6:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Hey, hey,
Wrong Way Wray:
We see you
when you CYA
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#11  It's on the level, just like the DNC reviewing the charges against Biden.
Posted by: Raj || 05/23/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Hey Mr. Fox. Please go invesatigate the recent killings in the henhouse.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/23/2020 8:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Wray "We looked for a good hard ten minutes,didn't find antything". Case Closed!!
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 05/23/2020 11:39 Comments || Top||

#14  Special FBI lawyer babble to follow an extensive look at better off the book record keeping initiatives. This stops when you hook up and perp walk some SES princes.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/23/2020 11:40 Comments || Top||

#15 
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 05/23/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||

#16  Sending in experts to cover the tracks?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 14:50 Comments || Top||

#17  Prediction, one day’s retraining for the rank and file. Upper level to attend a two week retreat in Hawaii.
Posted by: KBK || 05/23/2020 16:04 Comments || Top||

#18  How many damned reviews need to be done before anything is actually done. Is this another kick the can down the road delaying tactic?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/23/2020 16:59 Comments || Top||

#19  Investigation to be reported out early next year...
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/23/2020 20:02 Comments || Top||

#20  FBI Director Christopher Wray orders internal review cover up of Michael Flynn investigation

Fixed that. If we had a real AG, Wrat would have been arrest for Federal obstruction by now!
Posted by: Woodrow || 05/23/2020 21:19 Comments || Top||


Nursing Home Abuser Made Video Asserting ‘Black People are Supposed to Rule the Earth‘
[Summit News] The culprit behind the horrific beating of an elderly man at a nursing home in Detroit made a YouTube video in which he asserted that "black people are supposed to rule the earth."

Footage emerged yesterday of a man later identified as 20-year-old Jadon Hayden beating up a defenseless elderly white man by repeatedly punching him in the face.

Viewer discretion advised. pic.twitter.com/NPtCFA8YIs

— Mathijs Koenraadt (@mknrdt) May 21, 2020

Another clip shows him beating an elderly white woman....

Hayden uploaded the videos to his social media accounts but after the clips started to go viral on Twitter he was quickly arrested by police.

Content Hayden had previously uploaded to his YouTube channel suggested he holds black supremacist beliefs.

"The black race is the chosen race, the black race was supposed to rule the earth, but now...they have to go to the white man for everything and that’s not good," Hayden says in one video.

The culprit behind the horrific beating of an elderly man at a nursing home in Detroit made a YouTube video in which he asserted that "black people are supposed to rule the earth."

Footage emerged yesterday of a man later identified as 20-year-old Jadon Hayden beating up a defenseless elderly white man by repeatedly punching him in the face.

Absolutely shocking footage has emerged from a black male nurse from Detroit (Jadon H.), who filmed himself beating elderly white men into a bloody pulp.

"Get the fuck off my bed, N.," he is heard saying.

Viewer discretion advised. pic.twitter.com/NPtCFA8YIs

— Mathijs Koenraadt (@mknrdt) May 21, 2020

Another clip shows him beating an elderly white woman.

I'll never understand why Americans work 40+ hrs a week, pay taxes, fight for their country, just for their children to dump them in care homes in old age and subject them to this kinda treatment.

The relevant authorities have his information so dw and I don't mean the police! pic.twitter.com/0674AypzMJ

— Chakita (@Chakitabelle) May 21, 2020

Hayden uploaded the videos to his social media accounts but after the clips started to go viral on Twitter he was quickly arrested by police.

Content Hayden had previously uploaded to his YouTube channel suggested he holds black supremacist beliefs.

"The black race is the chosen race, the black race was supposed to rule the earth, but now...they have to go to the white man for everything and that’s not good," Hayden says in one video.

"Black people are supposed to rule the earth," he emphasizes.

Hayden also posted a video called "drugging ppl prank" that shows a white man convulsing in what appears to be the same nursing home, suggesting that he may have been responsible for the drugging.
Posted by: Clem || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And then there'this guy:


Posted by: charger || 05/23/2020 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Talcum X
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/23/2020 5:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Remember only white people can be racist. That's preached in our institutions of 'higher learning'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/23/2020 6:48 Comments || Top||

#4  You have to search far and wide to find any report of this in the major news outlets. It doesn't appear in the standard News Feeds. Nothing in NYT or WaPo. Not covered by the major broadcast networks. Gee, wonder why?

I had to do multiple searches just to stumble on this brief little gem from CNN last night that was dispatched by this stringer who-- surprise, surprise--fails to even mention the perp's bizarre racist beliefs -- it's almost Orwellian in its denial of the obvious:

(CNN) A 20-year-old man is facing assault and battery charges after a video surfaced of him attacking a 75-year-old man at a nursing home in Detroit, police said.

Yep: some person did something... and voila! a video surfaced. Note the funny use of the passive voice in the next sentence:

Video of the incident shows an elderly resident of Westwood Nursing Home being repeatedly punched and covered in blood.

And now the clincher:

It is unclear what preceded the incident or who filmed the incident. The suspect can be heard saying, "Get the f*** off my bed" several times in the video after beating the victim.

Nothing about the uh, er, y'now, (ahem) race of either the suspect or the victim. Nothing to see here. And now we resume our regularly-scheduled 24/7 loop program, Two Minutes Hate.
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 8:04 Comments || Top||



#7  And Tucker Carlson did, indeed, start off his show with this disgusting story last night along with some other examples of abusers.

I seem to recall the mass shooting in Virginia in 2019 when it took the media almost a day to finally release a photo and "demographic info" on the killer.

There was also a shooting in Maryland where the killer not only was a person of color but also transgender. That story lasted no more than a day.
Posted by: Clem || 05/23/2020 9:53 Comments || Top||

#8  Black hate crimes/racism is far more widespread that the MSM reports and is being purposefully hidden for political motives. Yet another proof that corporate media has an openly political bias.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/23/2020 12:08 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Untold story of how a deadly Japanese doomsday cult bought 400,000 hectares in the Australian Outback to test a Nazi nerve agent on sheep - before they poisoned 5,500 commuters in Tokyo's subway
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • The Aum Supreme Truth cult was founded by Shoko Asahara in Japan in 1984

  • The sect purchased the remote Banjawarn Station in Western Australian in 1993

  • Cult members used the property to test the deadly nerve agent sarin on sheep

  • In 1995 they released sarin into the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters

  • The sect planned to stage terrorist attacks its leader believed would start a nuclear war between superpowers, and remote Australia seemed a safe place to seek refuge in the fallout
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/23/2020 10:27 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Law enforcement needs a search warrant just to look at the lock screen on your smartphone, Seattle judge rules as robbery suspect says FBI turned on his phone and viewed the screen
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Judge Coughenour made the ruling in the US District Court in Seattle Monday in favor of Joseph Sam, who was arrested for robbery and assault in May 2019

  • Coughenour said that looking at an individual's lock screen is classed as a search meaning law enforcement cannot do this without a search warrant

  • An arresting officer turned on Sam's smartphone and viewed the lock screen

  • The judge said sometimes police officers can carry out a search without a warrant so this could have been constitutional in some circumstances

  • But seven months later, an FBI agent turned the suspect's phone on again and took a photo of the lock screen

  • The judge said this was unconstitutional because the FBI cannot conduct a search without a warrant

  • FBI evidence gained from the cellphone screen belonging to Joseph Sam - who was arrested for robbery and assault in May 2019 - has now been thrown out
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/23/2020 10:22 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Coronavirus roundup
CDC: Coronavirus 'does not spread easily' except for close contact with infected patients
[JustTheNews] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued updated coronavirus guidelines that now downplay the chances of contracting the virus from surfaces, potentially offering relief to millions of Americans who have been concerned they might catch the disease from purchased groceries or delivered packages.

On its website, the CDC says that coronavirus is "thought to spread mainly from person-to-person." Yet "the virus does not spread easily in other ways."

"It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes," the CDC also states on its site. "This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus."

Animal-to-people and people-to-animal transmissions are also unlikely, the agency states.

The new guidelines come after several months of concerns that the virus was spreading quickly and easily through items such as grocery store packaging and delivered packages.

Research announced in late-March determined that the virus could live on some materials for several days, leading to grim warnings that consumers should be wary of shopping carts, glass surfaces and other common objects.

Courtesy of Clem:
The Remdesivir Study Is Finally Out: Drug Only Helped Those On Oxygen, Finds Mortality Too High For Standalone Treatment

And of Lex:
Study by Physicist / JP Morgan Quant Guru Marko Kolanovic: Countries' & US states ' infection reproduction rates (R rates) were LOWER after lockdowns lifted
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/23/2020 04:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:





Cholera outbreak kills 13 in Kenya
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
This rabbi and Vietnam vet helped unveil the Vietnam War memorial in 1982
[Jerusalem Post] WASHINGTON — In 1969, Arnold Resnicoff went straight from Dartmouth to the Mekong Delta with the US Navy, and from there to the Jewish Theological Seminary to become a rabbi.

He was among a small group of veterans who advocated for the establishment of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the National Mall here, in part because he wanted to heal the wounds the war opened among Americans. In 1982, in uniform — he had reenlisted as a chaplain — he delivered the closing prayer at the memorial’s dedication.

Now he will deliver the invocation at the memorial’s first-ever virtual Memorial Day commemoration.

Resnicoff, 73, said he will allude to the coronavirus pandemic that is keeping veterans from attending the event in person, as well as the divisions that have stoked tensions among Americans in recent years.

"Almighty God, during this time of sickness, even as we seek a cure for illness that infects our bodies, we must battle hatred and injustice — evils that afflict our souls," Resnicoff will say in a prayer he shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

"The Wall has become America’s version of the Kotel: sacred ground; holy space," Resnicoff said in an email. "We leave notes at the Wall like we do in the cracks of the Kotel. So many people leave small memorabilia at the foot of the Wall that the National Park Service uses a warehouse to store them."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 08:42 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When I first read about the design for the Wall, I thought it would be a disaster. But it's hard to overstate how moving the Wall is when you're actually standing there.
Posted by: Matt || 05/23/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Ondo court stops Islamic cleric from marrying teenager
[PUNCHNG] A court sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, has stopped an Islamic holy man, Yusuf Lateef, from marrying a 16-year-old girl (name withheld) .

It was gathered that the defendant had approached the girl’s parents to marry their daughter in 2019 when the girl was 15 years old but the girl had refused.

The parents had allegedly forced her to accept the proposal and a day was fixed for the marriage.

The PUNCH learnt that the girl would become Lateef’s ninth wife.

In protest, the teenager reportedly fled her parent’s home in Odigbo Local Government Area on the day fixed for the wedding with support from her brother who lived in Akure.

The teenager was said to have reported the matter at the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development where she was sheltered for some days.

It was thereafter that the matter was charged to the Family Court in Akure where Lateef and the girl’s parents were arraigned for breaching the part three of the 2007 Ondo State Child Rights Law.

After hearing from both the defendants and the plaintiff, the judge, Magistrate Aderemi Adegoroye, ruled that the girl be returned to her parents and Lateef be made to sign an undertaking to stay away from her.

The court also ordered the girl’s family to ensure her proper care and education.

Ondo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Titilola Adeyemi, described the judgment as a victory for children in the state.

"We are excited the matter has gone that way. That will be a warning to everybody that it is ’no’ to child marriage in Ondo State. Child marriage is denying a child her future. We must make sure we work for the child to realise her future," she said.

Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just another instance of the state standing in the way of true love.

(do I REALLY need the /sarc token?)
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/23/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "(do I REALLY need the /sarc token?)"

I dunno, #1 Mercutio - to a lot of Lefties read Rantburg? ;-)
Posted by: Barbara || 05/23/2020 16:51 Comments || Top||

#3  do I REALLY need the /sarc

Oh no, Barbara. That’s for me — otherwise too often I miss the cues. Several of our gentlemen have settled on this compromise.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/23/2020 20:56 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Sons of Slain Journalist Jamal Khashoggi Forgive His Killers, Paving Way for Pardons
[NPR] The sons of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi say they have forgiven their father's killers, paving the way for a legal reprieve for five men sentenced to death for the murder.

"If a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah," the writer's eldest son, Saleh, tweeted Thursday. "Therefore, we the sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we pardon those who killed our father."

Saudi law considers a victim's forgiveness as possible grounds for clemency in a death sentence. It is unclear under what circumstances the pardon was extended. Many of Khashoggi's family, including Saleh, currently live or work in Saudi Arabia, which is known for cracking down on dissidents.

Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who lives in Turkey, offered her own less forgiving statement that the journalists's " heinous murder" did not have a statute of limitations and that she "and others will not stop until we get #JusticeForJamal."

"The killers came from Saudi with premeditation to lure, ambush & kill him. Nobody has the right to pardon the killers," Cengiz wrote. "We will not pardon the killers nor those who ordered the killing."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 03:33 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The checks have cleared, we can all be friends again now.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 3:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Danegeld in the sandy version with more haggling.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/23/2020 11:33 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela sends SAMs, rocket artillery to Caribbean outpost as Iranian tankers get closer
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  This is like bringing a BB gun to a serious gunfight. with the guns ranging up to AA guns.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/23/2020 4:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Ohplease Ohplease! - fire on us. Then die
Posted by: Frank G || 05/23/2020 7:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Well if the Venezuelans are as militarily competent as the Iranians were last month, they'll sink the tankers for us.
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/23/2020 10:30 Comments || Top||

#4  If we were going to do something,it sure wouldn't be next to some coastline.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 05/23/2020 11:51 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Obama's Man in China Now Beijing's Man in Washington
[Free Beacon] As the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc across the world, the Obama administration's ambassador to China has found a second lease on life as a pro-China talking head on regime propaganda outlets.

Former ambassador Max Baucus has given at least four different interviews to Chinese propaganda outlets in the last two weeks, repeatedly comparing the U.S. rhetoric about China to both the McCarthy era and Nazi Germany.

"Joe McCarthy [and] Adolf Hitler ... rallied people up, making people believe things that were really not true," Baucus said during a May 12 interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), a regime mouthpiece. "The White House and some in Congress are making statements against China that are so over the top and so hypercritical, they are based not on the fact, or if they are based on fact, sheer demagoguery, and that's what McCarthy did in the 1950s."

Since his retirement in 2017, Baucus has been a reliable critic of the Trump administration's increasingly confrontational China policy—chiefly the decision to wage a trade war with Beijing. He once warned that the White House's decision to impose additional tariffs was a "slap on the face" to China. But Baucus's recent comments in the pandemic era have been more sympathetic to China—and critical of the United States—than ever before.

His post-retirement public statements praising China have coincided with his burgeoning overseas investments. In 2017, he founded the Baucus Group, a consulting firm that advises both American and Chinese businesses, according to his U.S. Chamber of Commerce biography. He also sits on the board of directors for Ingram Micro, a U.S. subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, as well as the board of advisers for Alibaba Group, one of China's largest tech companies.

Baucus' bio on Wiki
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 08:13 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Jeebus. Not even trying to pretend he's not a CCP butt boy. What's Maxie's cut?
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 8:19 Comments || Top||

#2  'Burgeoning overseas investments' is what the rest of us call bribes.
Posted by: Raj || 05/23/2020 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  How long will we continue to reap the benefits of the treacherous Soetoro regime ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Oops, didn't hold my nose and read to the end of the piece.

But of course: director of Chinese-owned Ingram Micro. Adviser to Alibaba.

Can't find his holdings in IM and BABA but they're almost certainly worth millions to the CCP's Montana Rentboy.
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 8:35 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ It's usually the money, isn't it ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 8:37 Comments || Top||

#6  And this puppet and his party have the unmitigated gall to accuse OrangeMan of being a puppet of a foreign power. Shameless bastids.
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 8:37 Comments || Top||

#7  [Wiki] Baucus has been criticized for his ties to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and was one of the largest beneficiaries in the Senate of campaign contributions from these industries.

Until he got promoted to China.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/23/2020 8:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Huh. Did not know Ingram Micro had been bought by CCP related interests. Sounds like a great way to insert hardware and software back doors among other benefits.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 05/23/2020 9:28 Comments || Top||

#9  The people of Montana must be so proud to have spanned this beltway POS!
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 05/23/2020 11:31 Comments || Top||

#10  Wonder what Baucus thinks about the Hong Kong issue?
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 05/23/2020 11:37 Comments || Top||

#11  Another DS Dipwad sucking up to the CCP. Did his money get cut off?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/23/2020 17:03 Comments || Top||


Beijing dropped calls for pursuing peaceful ties or peaceful unification with Taiwan
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  They only thing they dropped was the peaceful part. The ChiComms are still all in on unification.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 05/23/2020 10:13 Comments || Top||

#2  "You know what 2020 was missing? A Chinese invasion of India. Because that’s essentially what this amounts to if accurate. 5000 Chinese forces dug into territory beyond their own LAC claim line. Question is why?Why now? This isn’t a local colonel freelancing. What does China want?" https://mobile.twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1264030127421349889
Posted by: John Frum || 05/23/2020 10:27 Comments || Top||


North Korean TV erasing Kim Jong Un’s Supreme Commander emblem
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Still no idea what's up.
Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Yeah, whatever it is the common folks there will still suffer.

Unless the Belgians invaded and then it would just be frustration all around.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/23/2020 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Unless the Belgians invaded

I don't know, better ask the Congolese about that.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/23/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Now you got me hungry for some chocolate.
Posted by: Clem || 05/23/2020 18:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Dear Leader can turn invisible! Like Predator...or Harvey!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/23/2020 19:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Saw something on TV where Kim was at a function. NFI.
Posted by: Clem || 05/23/2020 21:23 Comments || Top||


US Approves Sale of Heavy Weight Torpedoes for Taiwan
[TheDiplomat] The United States approved a possible sale of heavy weight torpedoes to Taiwan, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced in a statement. According to DSCA, the U.S. Department of State approved a possible Foreign Military Sale of 18 MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes for Taiwan in a deal estimated to cost $180 million. The announcement did not mark the finalization of a sale, but the approval of a potential sale. If finalized, the sale would mark the first U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in 2020.

According to DSCA, the specific components included as part of the sale would be 18 MK-48 Mod 6 AT HWT units, spare parts, support and test equipment, and other assorted materials. "U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics support" are also included as part of the possible package.

"This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability," the Defense Security Cooperation Agency noted in a statement. "The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region."

Announcement of the possible sale's approval came a day following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration for a second term in office. At her inauguration, Tsai rejected mainland China's "one country, two systems" formulation, saying that Taiwan would "not accept the Beijing authorities' use of 'one country, two systems' to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo."

"Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences," she added.
Yeah... that'll really piss the CCP off.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if you could hot-glue a Raspberry Pi onto one of those babies and turn it into an autonomous loitering weapon. Just hanging out on the bottom of some strait somewhere, waiting for something interesting to happen...
Posted by: SteveS || 05/23/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Now all Taiwan needs are some submarines.

Re #1: Captor mine
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Sposh6909 || 05/23/2020 10:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Are they any good? US has a long history of making sh*ty torpedoes.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/23/2020 11:41 Comments || Top||


Economy
Sex doll shops ‘can't keep up with demand' during coronavirus lockdown
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 14:49 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Hertz files for bankruptcy amid drop in demand
[The Hill] Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid rising debt and a sharp drop in demand for rental cars during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company is the latest travel-related business to fall victim to the coronavirus, which has grounded travelers and tourists and led to a sharp drop in revenue.

"The impact of COVID-19 on travel demand was sudden and dramatic, causing an abrupt decline in the Company's revenue and future bookings," the company said in a statement. "Hertz took immediate actions to prioritize the health and safety of employees and customers, eliminate all non-essential spending and preserve liquidity.

"However, uncertainty remains as to when revenue will return and when the used-car market will fully re-open for sales, which necessitated today's action," it continued. "The financial reorganization will provide Hertz a path toward a more robust financial structure that best positions the Company for the future as it navigates what could be a prolonged travel and overall global economic recovery."

The company says it has over $1 billion cash on hand to keep its sites up and running while it undergoes the bankruptcy process.

"Today's action will protect the value of our business, allow us to continue our operations and serve our customers, and provide the time to put in place a new, stronger financial foundation to move successfully through this pandemic and to better position us for the future," said Hertz President and CEO Paul Stone. "Our loyal customers have made us one of the world's most iconic brands, and we look forward to serving them now and on their future journeys."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 02:29 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Read they are auctioning off all their Corvettes. Probably some good deals there if you don't mind a car that has been driven like a rental.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/23/2020 3:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Couldn’t happen to a more deserving company; too bad it’s not Chapter 7:
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/23/2020 20:06 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
PNC (Progressive Party) Endorsed – US House
[Progressive Party USA] Jerry Dickinson U.S. HOUSE — PA-18 - Jerry’s pathway to politics is not typical. Separated at a young age from parents who were far too poor and too sick to care for him, Jerry came up through Allegheny County foster care system.

As a Fulbright Scholar in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jerry mobilized the poorest of the poor whose slums were being gentrified by major corporations and developers. He litigated in South African courts to uphold their constitutional rights to housing and clean water.

When he returned to Pittsburgh, Jerry helped establish the first community land trust in a predominantly African American neighborhood that has been affected by increased investment by corporate developers. He has been on the front lines assisting marginalized groups to preserve affordable housing and mitigate the effects of gentrification.
And on, and on. Several more endorsements follow.
The first Progressive Party was Theodore Roosevelt’s vehicle when he parted ways with the Republican Party in 1912. Bernie Sanders was the most recent, in 2016, to revive the name for his presidential aspirations.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 09:23 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  As a Fulbright Scholar in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jerry mobilized the poorest of the poor whose slums were being gentrified by major corporations and developers.

In South Africa it's called economic progress, not gentrification. Plenty of open space for housing. It's the jobs industry and business have brought that are important. Little wonder he's no longer in South Africa. Perhaps he was encouraged to leave following the completion of his studies.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 9:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Plentiful jobs and rising property values - the scourge of Progressives.
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Sposh6909 || 05/23/2020 9:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Community organizer-on-the-make. Now he just needs to get him some freaky-deaky Alinskyite mentors, a ghost writer, and a book contract in which he can trash his 'rents.
Snark O'The Day
Posted by: Lex || 05/23/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  'Bird and Star' combination political symbology, always has been a bit off putting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/23/2020 9:56 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Footage of the plane crash in Pakistan earlier today
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]




Posted by: Fred || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:



Science & Technology
USS Portland Conducts Laser Weapon System Demonstrator Test
Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) successfully disabled an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a Solid State Laser - Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0 on May 16.

LWSD is a high-energy laser weapon system demonstrator developed by the Office of Naval Research and installed on Portland for an at-sea demonstration. LWSD's operational employment on a Pacific Fleet ship is the first system-level implementation of a high-energy class solid-state laser. The laser system was developed by Northrup Grumman, with full System and Ship Integration and Testing led by NSWC Dahlgren and Port Hueneme.

"By conducting advanced at sea tests against UAVs and small craft, we will gain valuable information on the capabilities of the Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator against potential threats," said Capt. Karrey Sanders, commanding officer of USS Portland.

Watch video footage of the test here and here.

The U.S. Navy has been developing directed-energy weapons (DEWs), to include lasers, since the 1960s. DEWs are defined as electromagnetic systems capable of converting chemical or electrical energy to radiated energy and focusing it on a target, resulting in physical damage that degrades, neutralizes, defeats, or destroys an adversarial capability.

Navy ships face an increasing number of threats in conducting their missions, including UAVs, armed small boats, and adversary intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. The Navy's development of DEWs like the LWSD, provide immediate warfighter benefits and provide the commander increased decision space and response options.

"The Solid State Laser Weapons System Demonstrator is a unique capability the Portland gets to test and operate for the Navy, while paving the way for future weapons systems, " said Sanders. "With this new advanced capability, we are redefining war at sea for the Navy."

Portland is the 11th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. While it is the third ship to bear the name 'USS Portland,' it is the first ship to be named solely after the largest city in Oregon.

For more information about Portland, visit www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lpd27 or www.facebook.com/PORTLANDLPD27
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 05/23/2020 14:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Sweden still not close to herd immunity, death rate not slowing down
[JPost] - Sweden's controversial decision to keep most schools, bars, salons and restaurants open during the COVID-19 crisis while the rest of Europe shut down around could end up taking a much higher toll on the country than expected.

A study carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency found that despite the country's relaxed distancing measures, only 7.3% of people in Stockholm have developed the antibodies necessary to fight the disease, far below the 70-90% of the population needed to achieve herd immunity.
Just a small, order of magnitude, mistake in our model. Because we are real scientists - not bureaucrat fakers like Ferguson and Fauci!
The study drew on some 1,100 tests from across the country, although only figures for Stockholm were released on Wednesday. Results from other regions would be released later, a Public Health Authority spokesperson said.
I wonder why? Because outside Stockholm they're worse?
...According to figures collated by the Our World in Data website, Sweden had 6.08 deaths per million inhabitants per day on a rolling seven-day average between May 13 and May 20.
This is the highest in the world, above the UK, Belgium and the US, which have 5.57, 4.28 and 4.11 respectively.
Hurrah for London & NY/NJ (Belgians are simply shitheads - see wikipedia)
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 14:07 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..and then there is Japan.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/23/2020 15:16 Comments || Top||

#2  ^
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 15:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Herd immunity is inversely related to R-naught, yes? Measles has a R-naught of 12-18, (super contagious) and needs 92-95% for herd immunity.

COVID-19 R-naught is estimated between 1.4 - 3.9, which suggests 29% to 70% for herd immunity. Wikipedia

I've seen lower R-naught numbers than 1.4, but ain't gonna bother finding that.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/23/2020 15:32 Comments || Top||

#4  My read, looking at Sweden’s curve, is that though they may not be locked down, they are strongly social distancing. Also, their numbers are distorted by excessive nursing home deaths.
Posted by: KBK || 05/23/2020 16:02 Comments || Top||

#5  ^(a) R0 estimates for CV19 are based on assumptions and ideological orientation. The biggest of which is that the infection rate is biliniar (R*S*I) the old Voltera-Lotka assumption. Today we know that the true relation is better described by Beddington-DiAngelis.
(b) The concept of herd immunity is strictly theoretical one (sans immunization) - look at your own wiki article which emphasizes "temporary" for the single counter-example.
In empirical terms we know that herd immunity kicks in after we vaccinate 70 - 90 % of the population (At least in some cases the Ro is then derived by using H = 1 - 1/Ro where H fraction of immune sufficient for herd immunity. That is, you don't derive H from Ro but vise versa.)
(c) Nobody has shown yet that there is immune memory for CV19. See also (evolutionary pressure in that wiki article).

The whole story of Herd Immunity for CV19, I commented on it several times - you can find evidence for yourself with a bit of research. The true story that all* first struck countries went with idea of herd immunity (because then you don't have to do anything) and switched after hospital morgues filled up. All countries except, Sweden (who has a low population density with habits close to socially isolation already) as well as stupidity/callousness and habit of preaching ethics from the backseat of civilization.

*The one exception is Japan when their habit of wearing masks in public - no doubt upgraded during the CV19 epidemic conferred phenotypic herd immunity.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 16:15 Comments || Top||

#6  I thought herd immunity was about the rate of spreading not the death rate. You could have herd immunity and contagion slowing down and still have a high death rate if the thing got into a vunerable population.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/23/2020 18:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Sweden knew they'd have a high death rate, just hopefully for a shorter period of time. At least that's how I undestood flattening the curve.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 05/23/2020 18:32 Comments || Top||


Lab-grown fish is real: San Diego start-up gets $20million in funding to develop yellowtail derived from muscle tissue cells taken from real fish
[MAIL] A San Diego startup has secured $20million in Series A backing to expand its lab-grown seafood business as an ethical and sustainable alternative to commercial fishing.

The funding will help BlueNalu build a production facility and begin a new pilot program that will bring its product one step closer to market.

Unlike other recent meat replacements, like the plant-based Impossible Burger, BlueNalu's seafood products are grown from muscle tissue cells taken from real fish.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/23/2020 10:24 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Given the state of the art of nutrition science, anything made in a lab should be presumed, at the very least, unhealthful.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/23/2020 11:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "Dreamed about a reefer fish stick five feet long..."
Posted by: SteveS || 05/23/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||

#3  "If you're a striper."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/23/2020 12:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Not in my tuna roll, thank you very much.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/23/2020 14:36 Comments || Top||

#5  an ickier version of "Pink Slime" (Tm)
Posted by: Mercutio || 05/23/2020 16:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Well call me stupid,I thought this thing could swim.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 05/23/2020 16:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Prefer this over "white tuna" aka escolar.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/23/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Soylent Pink?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/23/2020 20:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Former SEAL Jack Carr on Navy Dismissal of Captain Brett Crozier
If I remember correctly people here were harshly critical of both the captain, for ringing the alarm bell, and the crew for going ashore and being contaminated with the virus in Thailand.
Posted by: Thurong Whusomp1457 || 05/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I watched the clip and it provided no evidence other than his gut feel and honest opinion that something else happened.
Posted by: Airandee || 05/23/2020 6:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Letting the Chi Coms know one of our aircraft carries might be down.

How many sailors died? I think it was 1. So whatever Jack off.
Posted by: Woodrow || 05/23/2020 21:32 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2020-05-23
  Large cyber attack against Israel conducted from Gaza, Turkey, North Africa
Fri 2020-05-22
  PA refuses UAE aid sent via Israel, won’t be ‘tool for normalization’ – report
Thu 2020-05-21
  Iraq security forces arrest the new ISIS leader
Wed 2020-05-20
  Abbas says the PA sees itself free of all agreements with Israel and the U.S. - including on security matters
Tue 2020-05-19
  GNA captures al-Watiyah Airbase from the LNA
Mon 2020-05-18
  Afghan president inks power-sharing deal with rival
Sun 2020-05-17
  Pak Doctor on H-1B Visa Wanted to Attack U.S. for ISIS
Sat 2020-05-16
  Tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Iran reportedly set ablaze
Fri 2020-05-15
  France: Pro-Refugee Activist Murdered by Migrant He Was Sleeping With
Thu 2020-05-14
  Nangarhar Funeral Bombing Death Toll Rises to 32
Wed 2020-05-13
  President Ghani, in light of attacks, orders Afghan forces to resume attacks on the Taliban
Tue 2020-05-12
  GNA militia evacuate their headquarters in Abuslim
Mon 2020-05-11
  Iran navy own goal in Oman Gulf exercise; 24 dead
Sun 2020-05-10
  GNA militias lines collapsing quickly
in Abuslim and Salah AlDin with a LNA advance
Sat 2020-05-09
  Houthi Yemeni Scholar Ibrahim Al-Ubeidi: Saud Clan Is a Jewish Family


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