[NYPOST] A Michigan man confessed in court to butchering his girlfriend’s husband with an ax ‐ but insisted he at first only meant to frighten his romantic rival with the weapon, according to reports.
Jacob Ficher, of Lansing, testified Monday that Ammar al-Yasari "needed to be scared" for physically, emotionally and sexually abusing his wife, Bdour al-Yasari, who had been Ficher’s lover, the Lansing State Journal reports.
"I didn’t plan on hurting him, but I just .... All I could hear was my heartbeat, and I just kept swinging," Ficher recalled of the 24 times he hit al-Yasari on the head, face and neck in his Holt home in February.
"A discussion wasn’t going to push him away from the actions and the things he was doing," Ficher said on the witness stand, alleging that al-Yasari was a rapist and an abuser.
Ficher and Bdour al-Yasari are facing charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 35-year-old man’s death. Ficher said Bdour al-Yasari thought he was just going to talk with her husband that day.
Testifying as the defense’s only witness, Ficher said Bdour turned off her home security system to allow him to confront her husband by surprise while she was at work, WILX reports.
"I wanted him to leave," Ficher said. "Whether he ran to police or a different county, I just wanted him to be gone."
Ficher, a US Army veteran, testified that he covered his face with a mask and used gloves from his days as an infantryman during the confrontation, which went awry when al-Yasari spotted him and started attacking him.
"I fired off two strikes with my right hand, which was holding the ax," Ficher said. "All I could hear was my heartbeat and I just kept swinging and kept swinging and kept swinging."
Seventeen of the 24 blows by the ax would have been deadly "almost immediately," a coroner testified during an earlier hearing, according to the Lansing State Journal.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Sad story. Should've gone a different way about it.
#3
Welds in the cryogenic bulkhead failed. Not clear if it was actual LOX or something like liquid nitrogen in the LOX tank. Bulkhead top went 500 feet in the air
#6
IMHO they need to be putting these things together in a climate controlled facility. A tent on the Gulf Coast is not good enough to do a high-quality stainless steel weld.
#1
From the article: "The Argus Leader reports a Minneapolis marketing agency created the campaign. South Dakota´s Department of Social Services paid the agency nearly $449,000 this fall, according to the state´s finances website."
I wonder how much meth both the adverting agency and the SDDSS were on when this campaign was thought up and implemented?
#2
They just take a different tack to get attention and it has. No one was addressing the issue, so they decided to force the issue to the front. Just like they can't figure Trump out they can't figure why SD decided to do this. See - laser and cat
See their other ad campaign - Why die on Mars when you can live in South Dakota.
#3
"The lawn needs mowing."
"I'm on it!"
It's a common expression. I suspect the disconnect here is the SD folks don't know any actual druggies and have no idea another meaning of "on" might exist.
[KhaamaPress] The Department of Justice of the United States has announced that a federal grand jury has charged an Indian national with two accounts of aggravated sexual abuse and one account of abusive sexual contact.
According to a statement released by Department of Justice, the federal jury in the District of Columbia charted the 35-year-old Lokesh Naik with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contract on on Nov. 6, 2019.
The statement further added "U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan arrested Naik on Nov. 8, 2019, and his initial appearance was held before U.S. Magistrate Judge Harvey via video teleconference, at which time Naik was ordered detained and removed to the United States pursuant to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA)."
According to the indictment, on Aug. 7, while working as an employee of a U.S. military contractor on Operating Base Fenty, Afghanistan, Naik allegedly entered the room of a 24-year-old U.S. national and sexually assaulted her by force.
The Department of Justice also added in its statement that "The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."
#1
This is one of those nasty issues created when you decide to be a world power and being twisting and turning the Constitution to fit your convoluted legal system.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 6th Amendment
In older times before the judiciary decided to become America's aristocracy, these matter would have been settled locally, by the ship's captain or ground commander. So instead we 're-interpret' the Constitution. Just another brick in the wall of judicial rewrite of the contract.
Georgian riot police yesterday dispersed protestors and broke a blockade of parliament established on Sunday. A small report on the renewal of the #TbilisiProtests.
Analysts believe the protests are about more than just about Gavrilov’s appearance in the Georgian Parliament. They also represent disillusionment with the ruling Georgian Dream party and the societal divide between a younger generation looking to the West and Georgia's older, more conservative and traditional institutions.
It's a touch surprising that the Moon admin is pushing back so hard after largely capitulating on trade, but politics are politics and anti-Americanism is fairly strong in SKorea. I rly don't think it's sunk in that the US really <wants> to leave. https://t.co/nlcddK8Qm6
#1
They benefit wildly from our troops being there. If they don't want to pay fair market rates, screw 'em. Why is the US in the business of providing welfare to wealthy First World countries? Ones that can easily pay for their own defense?
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
11/20/2019 3:03 Comments ||
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#2
You will find on scrutiny of their policies, that most Asian countries except for Japan and Israel are ultimately thankless ingrates that will just as soon turn against you as they vehemently attack your enemies with rhetoric. Fair weather friends. This conceit is rooted in not only the cultures of respective societies in these countries, but is also a result of witnessing or being a victim of high handedness by some of Uncle Sam's previous administrations. It's a sad reality. No one trusts each other, and not many societies value or unilaterally accept responsibility.
Trump realized this long ago, in his businessman avatar. It's a wise decision in the long run, purely from a practical viewpoint; to disengage with welfare and security for the whole world, and concentrate on reinforcing his own ramparts.
States that benefit off the US in some way do not see it as an ally or a partner in equal responsibilities. They see it as 'the one with too much for one country, enough to share'. They feel they aren't obliged to any kind of loyalty and can change sugar daddies as and when necessary. The repeated attempts of American politicians to try and imprint their image as saviors on other societies is a typical western conceit, re-paid again and again by ingratitude and mistrust.
Why do I say this ? By experience. India sees this attitude all the time with the smaller nations we help on their way to some modicum of modernity and security. And watch them walk over to China who throws dough at them, almost unconditionally.
#3
yeah, sort of like the US and Russia signed a 'guarantee' to protect the Ukraine in return for them giving up their nukes. Then there was the quid pro quo agreement between the Bush administration and Libya to give up their WMD program in return for being left alone.
They're not paying attention that Trump wants the remove the American 'hostages' from around the world.
#6
Makes sense to me. Major threats to South Korea come from China and North Korea who is somewhat of a China puppet. Make friends with China and your security is a bit more secure. it's not as if they'll be called up to defend China against invasion as the west has no plans for that.
It will probable be used to peal them away from Taiwan, but South Korea has to do what is in South Korea's best interests and if this can leverage NOrth Korea safety so be it.
#7
Make friends with China...
Right, sure thing you can be a "friend" with the Imperial Dragon. Now, a useful puppet state, that is doable.
...and maybe you can survive and re-absorb North Korea when it's dynasty finally implodes out of inbred craziness.
#1
To be secure Each App needs to be sandboxed from the others as if it's the only thing running on the phone.
So each app needs to have it's own storage etc.
[Times of India] The Indian Army plans to buy just 1,800 state-of-the-art sniper rifles and 2.7 million rounds of ammunition -- less than a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, people with knowledge of the matter said. Rifle in the graphic appears to be an American M-24. Not certain if that is subject of the reduced order.
The military pruned its original requirement of 5,720 sniper rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition, which would have cost $140 million, to prioritize spending and advance the purchase of more modern equipment, they said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.
Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand said he had no comment to offer on the change in procurement plans.
The Indian armed forces have 450,000 infantry soldiers, of whom only half go into ground battle and an even smaller number of them use sniper rifles to take out specific enemy targets through precision firing.
The move is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $250-billion modernization plan for the Indian defense forces, as the infantry soldiers continue to face the brunt of deadly attacks in disputed border areas such as Kashmir and the northeast.
#2
Military procurement in India is a preserve of career bureaucrats, and politicians. People who never saw a bullet hole in their lives, people who scold their sons for even thinking of joining the army; people secure in the knowledge that we'll put up a wall of bodies between the borders and New Delhi before their gravy train is conquered. Aaaargh !
#5
While it's correct that unless you're engaged in war there's no sense in arming 3,000 snipers; the neighbours have collectively 27,000 specialized infantry training on chinese knockoffs with drills and routines copied from the west.
Our units that undertake 'other than war' ops have a mandate to procure directly, but the regulars are increasingly being called upon to defend against chinese knockoffs and imports showing up in the sasquatch arsenal. The govt knows this.
The procurement process in a country like India is riddled with corruption and sycophantic remfs throughout. Unless the military bureaucracy is trimmed down and the executive starts listening to grunts and field officers, this attitude won't change.
"No problem, Sir ! The boys don't need 1200 Accuracy Int Arctic kits. They can do with 500 Dragunovs, 200 Belgian AMRs and 500 retrofitted Excalibur IIs. And only as much ammo as the mags can hold."
"Hmm... thank you, Gupta. We can really use the money on some trips to Switzerland. Y'know, to research how they're dealing with their hostile neighbours." [winks]
[CNN] A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet.
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you'd find on the surface of the sun.
The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution.
Heliogen, which is also backed by billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, believes the patented technology will be able to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Cement, for example, accounts for 7% of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
Unlike traditional solar power, which uses rooftop panels to capture the energy from the sun, Heliogen is improving on what's known as concentrated solar power. This technology, which uses mirrors to reflect the sun to a single point, is not new.
Concentrated solar has been used in the past to produce electricity and, in some limited fashion, to create heat for industry. It's even used in Oman to provide the power needed to drill for oil.
The problem is that in the past concentrated solar couldn't get temperatures hot enough to make cement and steel.
What about this?
The world's largest #solar furnace in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, #France has 10,000 mirrors that concentrate the sun's rays to generate power. https://t.co/nRtOecafPp
#7
Concur w/ #5. I just re-read the 'Troy Rising" series, again. I hope there is a fourth book. Also went back through all the Aldenata series, which also needs another volume.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/20/2019 10:50 Comments ||
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#9
Getting up to temperature is one thing, producing enough continuous heat to melt a ton of iron is quite another. I suspect this process only works between the hours of 10 and 3 on a sunny day, and not at all at night.
Was reading the other day about Liberty ship production during WWII, something that was critical to the war effort. Imagine the reaction you'd get saying "Sorry, boss. We got to shut down production. Sun went behind a cloud."
[Daily Caller] The federal government hosted a "Mindfulness & Resiliency Summit" in August where 450 employees from the IRS and other agencies spent two days receiving new-age wisdom, learning to meditate, and receiving on-site massages, photos of the event and a website show.
Participants sat through an hour of talks before taking a half-hour "stretch and self-care break." Next, they heard a 90-minute talk from Gretchen Rohr, an activist working for George Soros’s Open Society Foundations who presented about "restorative justice" and overcoming "trauma," according to a schedule obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Then they adjourned for a two-hour lunch and returned for two hours of advice from Ashanti Branch, who teaches "young men of color" to "hold safe space." He presented a bizarrely capitalized Powerpoint that included lines such as "the Longest distance most people Travel is the 18-inches between their head and their heart," a photo shows.
They let out at 4 p.m. to rest up for the next day, the schedule shows.
"The Mindfuless & Resiliency Summit will gather 450 federal employees from various departments (Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, IRS, Department of Justice, and more) to engage, learn, and practice mindfulness and wellness tools," the summit’s website states.
"The USDA Forest Service is cohosting with Wisdom 2.0 the 2-day summit, held in the Jefferson Auditorium on August 6-7, 2019," it continues. Jefferson Auditorium is in the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) headquarters, and the Forest Service is part of USDA.
The two-day summit took up a combined 7,200 hours of federal employees’ time.
[CollegeFix] Cellphone footage obtained by Young America’s Foundation shows that a joint tabling event by the College Republicans and Turning Point USA chapters at the State University of New York at Binghamton descended into chaos Thursday afternoon as a swarm of students surrounded their conservative peers.
The video shows some members of the mob vandalize and trash the conservatives’ displays, curse at them, and get inches away from their faces as they yelled aggressively and demand they pack up and leave and never table on campus again.
When police officers who were called in are shown keeping the crowd at bay, the protesters expressed fury, and eventually start chanting: “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”
“Fuck Trump” and “suck my dick” were also yelled by some of the aggressors to, in their own words, engage in their First Amendment rights too, and later they chanted “pack it up, pack it up.”
Materials laid out on the tables that may have triggered the student aggressors included a Gadsden “don’t tread on me” flag, USA buttons, “Capitalism Cures” stickers, red, white and blue “Big Government Sucks” posters and yellow “taxation is theft” posters, among other materials.
#5
So why didn't the conservatives hit them ? There's got to be muscle in the Republican ranks. Why not use it ?
We're polite and we do believe in free speech, even if we don't like them. To quote Voltaire, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
#6
Probably a better strategy to let these illiterate little thug princesses show the world how stupid and deranged they are.
The truly appalling aspect is that these cretins were admitted to a major state university.
Then again, Yale admitted the retarded screamer, Jeralyn Luther-- look for her unhinged screaming fit, with the usual ghetto-speak and f-bombs, against her Yale house-master Prof. Christafakis.
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.
[Times of India] The Indian Army plans to buy just 1,800 state-of-the-art sniper rifles and 2.7 million rounds of ammunition -- less than a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, people with knowledge of the matter said.
