God damn, this is a good story; it's adding some interesting and funny details about Ghosn hightailin' outta Dodge...
[NY Post] - Nissan’s former CEO fled house arrest in Japan in a wild Hollywood-worthy plot ‐ allegedly using a team of mercenaries posing as musicians to smuggle him out of the country in an instrument case, reports said.
Accused embezzler Carlos Ghosn then used a relay of private jets to flee all the way from Tokyo to his family’s heavily guarded pink mansion in Lebanon, a nation which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.
"I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system,’’ the defiant former auto honcho said in a statement Tuesday.
"I have not fled justice. I have escaped injustice and political persecution.’’
The wealthy 65-year-old former auto honcho had been out on $14 million bail, confined to house arrest ‐ and under ’round-the-clock Japanese guard ‐ at his tony Tokyo apartment when he escaped Sunday.
In a bizarre scheme allegedly orchestrated by his wife in the US, a group of ex-special forces soldiers posing as musicians specializing in a Gregorian band and toting music equipment strolled past Japanese security guards and entered the pad, according to the Lebanese news channel MTV.
Ghosn, who stands at just under 5-foot-6, climbed into "one of the boxes intended for the transfer of musical instruments,’’ the news station said ‐ possibly a roughly 6-foot-tall double-base case.
[NYP] An Alabama man who was found to be in possession of meth and heroin during his arrest on Saturday had an unusual request for the arresting officers: to take a photo with them.
Heath Swafford, 24, was arrested by deputies with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) after a foot chase on Lower Dry Creek Road in the Lacey Springs community, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
"In an unusual turn, Swafford requested a photo with the arresting deputies," the sheriff’s office said.
Swafford was found to have been carrying an amount of heroin and meth, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies later discovered a stolen motorcycle at his residence, they said.
Despite the circumstances, a picture on the MCSO’s Facebook page shows Swafford appearing to be all smiles alongside the three deputies who arrested him.
Swafford is charged with four felony probation revocation warrants of possession of a controlled substance, theft of property, receiving stolen property and first-degree criminal mischief. He also faces drug and property crimes and is being held without bond, the sheriff’s office said.
[LI] While not quite the outright purchase I had hoped for, Denmark has approved the opening of a new U.S. consulate in Greenland.
Denmark has approved the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, four months after rebuffing U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of buying the island which stunned Copenhagen and caused a diplomatic spat.
A new consulate is part of a broader move by Washington to expand its diplomatic and commercial presence in Greenland and the Arctic.
"We continue, together with Greenland, the dialogue with the United States about development in the Arctic and the close cooperation on U.S. engagement in Greenland," foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said in a statement.
There was a U.S. Consulate in Greenland from 1940-1953, initially established in response to Nazi Germany invading and occupying Denmark. The new consulate could be opened in 2020, though the plan still must be approved and funded by the U.S. Congress.
The intention is to hire at least seven staff members to occupy it‐meaning there will be about one U.S. diplomatic employee for every 10,000 Greenlanders. It marks the first time in nearly 70 years that the United States will have a diplomatic presence in Greenland, the autonomously governed island within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Many, including senior Danish and Greenlandic officials, have welcomed the plan for a new U.S. diplomatic presence on the island.
"As close allies with many shared interests it is only natural that the US and the Kingdom of Denmark deepen our cooperation in light of these geopolitical developments. We welcome the increased US interest in the Arctic including in Greenland," Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said in a written statement to Foreign Policy. "I believe that a US consulate in Greenland can be instrumental in US collaboration with Greenland in areas within its competences, such as infrastructure, mineral resources, education, business and culture."
Hopefully, the Democrats in the House of Representatives will take a break from their impeachment fever to approve and fund the new diplomatic outpost.
Perhaps Trump’s expressed interest in and concern about China’s attempt to gain a presence in that strategic Arctic location is the reason that Denmark has moved to make Greenland more of a security priority.
Denmark has for the first time put mineral-rich Greenland top of its national security agenda, ahead of terrorism and cybercrime.
The Defence Intelligence Service (FE) linked its change in priorities to US interest in Greenland, expressed in President Donald Trump’s desire to buy the vast Arctic territory.
Greenland is part of Denmark, but has significant autonomy, including freedom to sign major business deals.
China has mining deals with Greenland.
The FE’s head Lars Findsen said Greenland was now a top security issue for Denmark because a "power game is unfolding" between the US and other global powers in the Arctic.
And while Greenland still isn’t officially ours, the move is in a forward direction, and I will place it as another item in the Trump win column.
[MAIL] A Florida man blew his own hand off after a firework he was holding exploded while he was riding in a pickup truck over the weekend, according to local law enforcement.
Deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff's Department arrived to the scene near the 2000 block of Newmark Drive in Deltona at around 1.20am on Saturday after getting numerous calls about a loud explosion and that a firework had blown up in a man's hand.
There deputies found 27-year-old Corey Waugh laying on the ground, holding his left hand which was bleeding profusely. The driver of the vehicle, 27-year-old Kyle Lafleur, was holding onto Waugh's left arm.
[Fox News] Will the world end in 12 years? Maybe 30?
If history is any guide, it will not. Many similar predictions have been made in the past, but they came and went without tragedy.
Here are the five worst predictions made about 2020 that failed to pan out. Not really five, since three involve climate change. One for peak oil, and the remainder for missing the tech revolution - "tech-caused inequality". All three/five progressive dreams get 'woke'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/01/2020 09:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I've always enjoyed the 'running out of oil' bullshit - it's one of the first themes I encountered when first being exposed to all the global warming crap in the mid-1970's. Coupled with this article also mentioning prior articles that repeated the theme in 1989 and 2003, it's obvious they just recycle themes every 15 years when they think people have forgotten about the last time they were WRONG!
[Aljazeera] Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday the island would not accept a "one country, two systems" political formula Beijing has suggested could be used to unify the democratic island, saying such an arrangement had failed in Hong Kong.
China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary.
Taiwan says it is an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.
Tsai, who is seeking re-election in a January 11 vote, also promised in a New Year's speech to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, saying her government would build a mechanism to safeguard freedom and democracy as Beijing ramps up pressure on the island.
Fear of China has become a significant element in the campaign, boosted by months of anti-government protests in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong people have showed us that 'one country, two systems' is definitely not feasible," Tsai said, referring to the political arrangement that guaranteed certain freedoms in the former British colony of Hong Kong after it was returned to China in 1997.
Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Japan will begin construction in 2022 of an airfield, government sources said on Monday, on an uninhabited East China Sea island it recently bought.
The island is central to the planned relocation of a "field carrier landing practice" site needed by aircraft aboard U.S. aircraft carriers.
A three-year construction schedule is planned, and the landing site could become operational by 2025, pending an agreement between Japan and the United States. Construction of the airfield, with a control tower and communications facilities, is expected to begin in 2022. The site will be a permanent training environment to maintain carrier-based pilot skills.
U.S. aircraft carriers are based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwkuni in Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture.
[Jpost] The United States Army has banned the video sharing social networking app TikTok on government owned phones, categorizing the service a security threat - following the United States Navy's example in December, according to CNN.
Many sitting US politicians have scrutinized TikTok and are looking to to determine if the Chinese-owned app can be used to collect the personal data of American citizens. They say that TikTok could be forced "to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party."
"There was a Cyber Awareness Message sent out on 16 December, identifying TikTok as having potential security risks associated with its use," Army spokesperson Lt. Col Robin L. Ochoa told CNN. "The message directs appropriate action for employees to take in order to safeguard their personal information. The guidance is to be wary of applications you download, monitor your phones for unusual and unsolicited texts etc., and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information."
Two weeks prior to this announcement, the US Navy banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices, saying the popular short video app represented a "cybersecurity threat."
"Our data centers are located entirely outside of China, and none of our data is subject to Chinese law," the company said at the time, according to CNN. "Further, we have a dedicated technical team focused on adhering to robust cybersecurity policies, and data privacy and security practices."
Even though TikTok executives refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the company stated that they "remain committed to working productively with Congress as it looks at how to secure the data of American users, protect their privacy, promote free expression, ensure competition and choice among internet platforms, and preserve US national security interests."
A bulletin issued by the Navy in December, showed up on a Facebook page serving military members, saying users of government issued mobile devices who had TikTok and did not remove the app would be blocked from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.
The Navy would not describe in detail what dangers the app presents, but Pentagon front man Lieutenant Colonel Uriah Orland said in a statement the order was part of an effort to "address existing and emerging threats."
TikTok did not return a request for comment at the time.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologized on Wednesday for having angrily slapped a woman’s arm when she had grabbed hold of his hand and yanked him towards her, saying he had lost his patience and set a "bad example".
His unusual apology came after he used his first homily of the new year to denounce violence against women, which he compared to profaning God.
Pope Francis, 83, had a sharp encounter with a woman on Tuesday evening during a walkabout in St. Peters Square.
The pilgrim, who has not been identified, unexpectedly seized his hand and pulled him towards her, causing him evident alarm. A clearly disgruntled Francis wrenched himself free by slapping down at her arm.
"So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday’s bad example," the pope told thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday at the end of the traditional New Year Mass.
#1
Um.. maybe I'm old-fashioned but why wouldn't you just drop the seeds in some kind of sharp vertical packet from a plane a few thousand feet? You could plant orders of magnitude more trees that way, probably more effectively as well.
#15
The US's forests are larger than they were when those awful white despoilers arrived
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2020 15:53 Comments ||
Top||
#16
As long as they use locally native trees, replanting denuded areas with the same species as formerly were there, they should be ok. But if they use quick growing exotics, they’ll end up with the same problem California has with eucalyptus trees — taking over the landscape, making wildfires worse, and driving a significant reduction of native plant and animal species evolved to each other and the local environment. And if they concentrate on warmer climate trees on the assumption that the climate is already significantly warmer, they’ll waste their entire investment of funding and effort.
#17
Reading the article — yes, I should have done so first, but who does? — it looks like they’re being smart about it, though it’s still early days.
From the article:
Subsequent test flights since August have planted over 3,100 trees with their drones, including White Spruce, White Pine, Blue Spruce, Red Maple, White Birch, Sugar Maple, Douglas Fir, and Balsam Fir.
From the article linked at the link:
“We work closely with botanists and forestry experts, and use multi-spectral mapping UAV technology to select ideal planting sites and provide valuable follow up data on ecosystem health.”
“This year we planted eight deciduous and coniferous species local to Southern Ontario,” says Flash Forest. “We can easily fill our pods with seeds of virtually any tree species (except for acorns and a few of the larger exceptions). If interested, we can also plant any flora that’s appropriate for an ecosystem in its successional period.”
[Bongino] The state of New York will allow accused criminals to inspect their own crime scenes and swiftly obtain access to witness names, Breitbart is reporting.
The new law, which will go into effect in January, is part of New York’s bail reform measures and will allow "non-violent" alleged criminals to be released back into the public while they wait for their trials.
This is part of the travesty that’s already been putting violent Jew haters back on the streets to attack again.
As Breitbart points out, the "non-violent" offenders include those accused of "include second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular assault, promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child, criminally negligent homicide, and aggravated vehicular homicide."
The new law, championed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will see cash bail eliminated for 90 percent of criminal cases, enabling defendants to await trial at home.
I'm sure Mayor Warren Wilhelm will demand her release...
[NY Post] Tiffany Harris ‐ arrested and released twice in three days after being charged in separate misdemeanor assaults in Brooklyn, including on a trio of Orthodox Jewish women ‐ was arrested a third time on New Year's Eve.
Harris was picked up by New York City Sheriff's deputies at a Brownsville, Brooklyn, hotel on an arrest warrant issued earlier Tuesday after she allegedly failed to comply with court-ordered monitoring, officials said.
She had allegedly blown off an appointment with social workers at Brooklyn Justice Initiatives, which runs a supervised release program that helps defendants make their court dates and connect with such services as drug treatment and mental health counseling.
"They issued a bench warrant around 5 p.m. this evening," New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito told The Post.
A police officer in Kansas resigned on Monday after admitting he had fabricated a story that a McDonald's employee wrote a vulgar insult on his coffee cup.
The Herington Police Department officer, whose name was not made public, claimed that a McDonald's employee had written "pig," preceded by an expletive, on a receipt attached to his cup. The department's police chief, Brian Hornaday, relayed the story on Saturday in a Facebook post that attracted nationwide media attention but has since been deleted.
The tall tale unraveled when McDonald's provided video footage that proved its employees had not written anything on the cup, Mr. Hornaday said at a news conference on Monday. The 23-year-old officer then admitted he had lied about the supposed incident "as a joke," Mr. Hornaday said.
"I hope he understands the magnitude of the black eye this gives the law enforcement profession from coast to coast," he said.
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.
[NYP] An Alabama man who was found to be in possession of meth and heroin during his arrest on Saturday had an unusual request for the arresting officers: to take a photo with them.
[LI] While not quite the outright purchase I had hoped for, Denmark has approved the opening of a new U.S. consulate in Greenland.
[MAIL] A Florida man blew his own hand off after a firework he was holding exploded while he was riding in a pickup truck over the weekend, according to local law enforcement.
[Aljazeera] Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday the island would not accept a "one country, two systems" political formula Beijing has suggested could be used to unify the democratic island, saying such an arrangement had failed in Hong Kong.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis apologized on Wednesday for having angrily slapped a woman’s arm when she had grabbed hold of his hand and yanked him towards her, saying he had lost his patience and set a "bad example".
[Bongino] The state of New York will allow accused criminals to inspect their own crime scenes and swiftly obtain access to witness names, Breitbart is reporting.
A police officer in Kansas resigned on Monday after admitting he had fabricated a story that a McDonald's employee wrote a vulgar insult on his coffee cup.
