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Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Tennessee man to be electrocuted for killing fellow inmate
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ‐ A Tennessee inmate is scheduled Thursday to become the fifth to die in the state’s electric chair in the past 16 months. Each of those inmates chose electrocution over the state’s preferred execution method ‐ lethal injection.

Nicholas Sutton, 58, was sentenced to death in 1986 for killing fellow inmate Carl Estep in a conflict over a drug deal while both were incarcerated in an East Tennessee prison. Sutton had been serving time for three murders he committed in 1979 when he was 18, including that of his grandmother.

In a clemency petition to Gov. Bill Lee, Sutton’s supporters said he is not the same man who went to prison forty years ago.
He's older, you see..."
"I can confidently state that Nick Sutton is the most rehabilitated prisoner that I met working in maximum security prisons over the course of 30 years," former Correction Lt. Tony Eden stated in an affidavit included with the clemency petition.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 09:03 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  inmates chose electrocution

Wanted a full system reboot rather than app shutdown.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Needles, he hates them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 11:08 Comments || Top||

#4  His victims never got a chance to apply for clemency.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Tennessee hasn't had a "botched" electric chair execution yet since they returned to using it. I hear they are getting consulting fees from the other 8 states that still use the chair.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 12:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Hydro-electric is GREEN! Fok big pharma.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 12:52 Comments || Top||

#7  "Inmates - Doing the Jobs that the Justice System Won't Do"
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:56 Comments || Top||

#8  They should do it uber-green. Chain 300 bernie bro's to bike generators and have them electrocute him. It might take a while, but it'll get there eventually.

Or you could always have the condemned spend his time on a bike gen, charging up capacitors for his go in the chair.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 02/20/2020 22:54 Comments || Top||


Mexican National Accused of Working as Russian Agent in US
[Town Hall] The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the arrest of a Mexican national serving as a Russian agent within the U.S.

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who lives in Singapore, was recruited by a Russian official in 2019 and instructed to rent an apartment in Miami-Dade County, Florida, under a different name. The official also tasked Fuentes with locating a U.S. government source's vehicle and taking photographs of its license plate, according to a press release.

Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 00:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So where's the Trump connection?
Posted by: Bobby || 02/20/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||


Rapper 'Pop Smoke' aka Bashar Barakah Jackson Tango Uniform in Hollywood Hills Shooting
[Breitbart] LOS ANGELES (AP) ‐ An up-and-coming rapper known as Pop Smoke was fatally shot during a break-in early Wednesday at a Hollywood Hills home, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing an unidentified law enforcement source.

The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the identification, which was first reported by TMZ.

"It has also been widely reported that the victim is a music star of some import. We have not confirmed the identity of the victim yet so we are not stating that," Capt. Steve Lurie, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Hollywood Division, told a press conference.

Police officers found the victim shortly before 5 a.m. after responding to a 911 call from someone who reported intruders including one armed with a handgun were breaking in, Lurie said.

The call came from "back East" and reported the break-in was occurring at a friend’s home, Lurie said.

The victim was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and pronounced dead.

Several people who were in the house were detained and then released, Lurie said. Pop Smoke’s legal name was Bashar Barakah Jackson. He was 20.

Chance The Rapper said in a tweet: "Rest Up Pop Smoke, you were too young. God Bless and comfort your family."
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 00:22 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Rapist who was shot dead by victim who lost her 'Stand Your Ground' defense had a history of domestic abuse against multiple women - and was arrested 71 TIMES for drugs, DUI, shoplifting and assaults
[Mail] Todd Smith was 'an evil monster' who terrorized friends and family in his hometown for more than two decades before being shot dead by the woman he allegedly raped, DailyMail.com can reveal.

In a case that has drawn national attention, Brittany Smith, 32, (no relation) claims that Smith beat, strangled and raped her in her home in Stevenson, Alabama, in January 2018 and that she shot him as he attempted to murder her brother who had come to her aid.

Last week Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Holt rejected the mother-of-four's attempt to have murder charges dismissed under the state's Stand Your Ground law.

That law states that a person no longer has 'a duty to retreat' and is justified in using deadly force if confronted with a similar imminent threat from an aggressor.

Now, as Brittany faces a murder trial and the possibility of life in prison, DailyMail.com has uncovered a disturbing history of violent crime and domestic assault committed by Smith against multiple women spanning decades.

Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 00:22 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the state, once again, abysmally failed to do its job and now seeks to punish someone who did the job they failed to do. She has signaled that the state is no longer legitimate. It's about power.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Perfect place to apply jury nullification.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/20/2020 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Lots of judges disapprove of the people defending themselves. That's a matter within their purview, and infringing on their turf is offensive.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/20/2020 10:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Miscarriage of justice. Fuck these blacked robed tyrants.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/20/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Can't Trump just pardon her ? Show those black robed bastards what's what ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 13:47 Comments || Top||

#6  ...its local Dron. More likely the governor.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 16:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Distracted driver was a snobby soccer mom or a skinny jeans wearing hipster watching a TV show while driving.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 21:50 Comments || Top||


Library guard fatally stabbed after she asks man to turn down music
[NYPOST] A female security guard at a Rockland County library was fatally stabbed when she asked the suspect to turn down the music he was playing on his phone, according to a report.

Blanchard Glaudin, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder after being tackled by patrons at the Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley, The Journal News/lohud.com reported.

"He was walking just a few feet away," village Police Chief Paul Modica said Wednesday about the "random" confrontation a day earlier.

"She was at the computer terminals and told him he had to turn it down. That was it," he said, referring to Sandra Wilson, 52, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Wilson, who had two grown sons and a grandchild, had worked in holy manal jobs at the library before joining its security team, the news outlet reported.

Rockland DA Thomas Walsh II commended "the brave citizens, who reacted without fear for their safety, by subduing the suspect. We will ensure that justice is served in this horrible crime."
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A fine specimen of non Neanderthal.
Posted by: Uleck Spererong9442 || 02/20/2020 2:38 Comments || Top||

#2  He should but won't die in prison.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 7:10 Comments || Top||

#3  A man of low intelligence, with nothing to be proud of. He felt like he could swing his dick in public by playing his music loud, and that would make him feel better about his low status. When the guard came over, he felt humiliated and aggrieved. Since he didn't think about the consequences (a hallmark of low intelligence) he lashed out with violence (another hallmark of low intelligence).

He won't learn anything from this. He can get 20 years and will come out just the same as when he went in.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/20/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Spring Valley..a dump..got dropped off at a urine laced NJ transit station there one time..very corrupt town..see Demeza Delhomme, ex Mayor.
Posted by: Unosh Hupinelet8756 || 02/20/2020 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Latisha brown || 02/20/2020 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Worthless piece of shit
Posted by: Dashaun Johnson || 02/20/2020 11:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Crikey. Corruption in Spring Valley (wikipedia). Sounds like Kiryas Joel... but for Haitians. Who knew (besides Unosh)?
Posted by: Spanky Slinens4859 || 02/20/2020 12:22 Comments || Top||


The moment a man was knocked out with one punch and left in a coma by a 17-year-old in horrifying road-rage brawl
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Jennifer Gonzalez spoke yesterday of being 'traumatized' by her father's attack on New Years Day

  • He was hit in the face with brass knuckles during a 'road-rage' altercation in LA

  • A 17-year-old boy has now been seized after he fled 7,000 miles to Armenia with a man seen with him during the attack
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PUT the sucker punching PUNK in the place where he comes out wearing lipstick & pantie hose.
Posted by: ranture || 02/20/2020 8:33 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Retired Lt. Gen. Charles Pitman Sr., whose heroics helped stop 1973 New Orleans sniper attack, dies at 84
[Stars and Stripes] NEW ORLEANS (Tribune News Service) ‐ The decorated U.S. Marine Corps pilot who risked his life and military career to help New Orleans police halt the Howard Johnson’s hotel sniper attack that shattered the quiet of a Sunday morning and claimed seven lives in 1973 died Feb. 13 following a lengthy battle with cancer, according to his family.

Retired Lt. Gen. Charles "Chuck" Pitman Sr., whose heroics against Mark Essex that day earned him the eternal gratitude of city leaders and first responders, was 84.

In nearly four decades as a Marine, which included three combat tours in Vietnam, Pitman earned numerous medals: Silver Stars for valor; Distinguished Flying Crosses; and a Purple Heart, among others.

But in an interview with The Times-Picayune in 2013, Pitman said perhaps his proudest achievement was being named an honorary New Orleans Police Department captain for piloting the helicopter that turned the tide as police exchanged gunfire with Essex.

Pitman never sought permission from his superiors to fly that mission, he said, only forgiveness.

"The thing with him was, if you’re going to be a Marine, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do," his son, Charles Pitman Jr., said. "He was always happy he did what he did."

Essex's crime spree began on New Year's Eve 1972, roughly six weeks after a clash between police and protesters at Southern University in Baton Rouge left two students dead. Essex ‐ who sympathized with the Black Panthers radical group ‐ went to New Orleans’ jail armed with a .44-caliber rifle and, hiding in the distance, fatally shot police cadet Alfred Harrell Jr. as he guarded a gate.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 01:06 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Racist Black separatists. This incident, along with the rest of the radical left-wing terrorism in the 70s, has been completely buried by the media and forgotten.

Good rundown of the memory holed era here.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 02/20/2020 2:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Ref #1: Possibly as a political diversion from events in SE Asia or simply a vote getting tool, our 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson helped set the stage for the age of entitlement and vote getting, with his “Great Society” give-away programs.

Civil Anarchy mediated? Yes. Civil Anarchy "buried and forgotten?" Certainly not.

The machinery of entitlement, Woke, 'free this-free that' payoffs, social justice 'victimless crimes' and political pandering lumber on. Concurrently, unchecked urban crime, legalized hallucinogenic drugs, death by overdose, and the urban genocide of 'Row v Wade' act as population relief valves.

'The Days of Rage' will likely not soon return. The free food, beads and blankets, and sweltering urban reservations appear to be working.

Did I mention the most recent 'Woke' narrative? Perhaps I digress.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 7:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant.
Posted by: Winky Squank8124 || 02/20/2020 7:43 Comments || Top||

#4  The controversy surrounding President Barack Obama’s admonishment that “if you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen” has defied the usual election-year pattern.

Bloomberg has signed-on with this saying in an ad that makes a pitch for doing things by committee to achieve something.

Well sometimes it takes a brave man or woman to just do something and they don't need a committee or group to run it through.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 12:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker, you know we're going to run out of money.

Days of Rage is certainly worth reading.
Posted by: James || 02/20/2020 20:42 Comments || Top||


Hero school crossing guard, 88, known as 'Mr Bob' is killed saving two young boys from the path of a 'distracted driver'
[MAIL] An 88-year-old school crossing guard has been killed while saving two young boys from a distracted driver in Kansas.

Bob Nill, who was affectionately known as 'Mr Bob, died when a car careened into him around 8am Tuesday morning while he was protecting young children on the crossing in front of Christ the King Parish School in Kansas City.

The black sedan plowed straight into Nill, known fondly among the local children as 'Mr. Bob', as he saved the two boys, aged 11 and 7, pushing them out of its path, officials said.

Nill, a Coast Guard veteran, was taken to the hospital where he died of his injuries.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 00:34 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Speed cameras near schools are like hens teeth.

They're a government shake down mechanism and safety is just their excuse.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 3:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Death by Cell Phone ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Thank you, Mr. Bob.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Legit save. Good man.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/20/2020 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Thank heaven we still have heroes like this. RIP.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/20/2020 12:36 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Data Has Hydrosis. Who Knew?
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 05:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Queen BANS Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from using lucrative 'Sussex Royal' brand
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website and their hugely popular Instagram feed Couple sought to register Sussex Royal as global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and social-care services

  • Also looked to set up a new charitable organisation – Sussex Royal, The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

  • But the Queen and senior officials are believed to have agreed it is no longer tenable for Harry and Meghan to keep the word 'royal' in their 'branding'
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  looked to set up a new charitable organisation

That's the preferred vehicle of our era's Global Grifters. Clinton Global Initiative. Sussex Royal.

Basically a stalking horse that attracts deep-pocketed mercenary characters paying up for all kinds of for-profit side deals out of public view.
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  That feeling when your well-planned con gets shot down in a trademark dispute.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/20/2020 3:04 Comments || Top||

#3  They can always get one of those plastic crowns some folks like to put in the rear window tray of their cars.

Snark O'The Day
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Snark O'The Day!
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  You gave it up chum. You don't get the bennies anymore.

Good luck in private life.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/20/2020 9:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Ah, I had Suckit Boy-o in the cards.

Still, I do have a weekend position available, but I don't think they have the skill set. Perhaps they could get a job at the Bloomberg Farm?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/20/2020 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Dunno but I remember a German ice cream brand called Langnese Royal. Guess there's no trademark on that.
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 14:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Ice cream is cool, suckers are not.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/20/2020 15:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Is their a pool going for how long it will take Meghen to fly to California and divorce his ass when the cash flow is reduced?
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 02/20/2020 21:34 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Locust Update

from a UN org that reports every week I think


The situation remains extremely alarming in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia where widespread Desert Locust infestations and a new generation of breeding threatens food security and livelihoods in the region. The situation is less worrisome in Uganda and Tanzania.

infestations elsewhere include: the Sudan, the SE coast of Iran and SE Pakistan
Posted by: lord garth || 02/20/2020 12:32 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Two newborn babies are found dead hours apart at a New Jersey recycling center
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:48 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..and it wasn't the usual Planned Parenthood center.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 12:57 Comments || Top||


2,512 new virus infections per day average reported in week before Valentine’s Day, but rose to 15,148 on the day itself, another Wuhan hospital chief infected
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Related: Another Wuhan hospital chief 'is infected with coronavirus' a day after a leading doctor died of the disease
Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's strange to me so many new cases keep popping up. It has figured out how to transmit itself through video games and soap operas? Okay, liquor bottles and cigarettes maybe ... but there is really no one on the street to give you the virus.
Posted by: Beau || 02/20/2020 2:33 Comments || Top||


#3  New diagnostic methods.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 02/20/2020 6:45 Comments || Top||

#4  From Frank's link (#2) Fears over the new potential cause of spread came as Hong Kong recorded its 50th coronavirus case on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

So it may have slowed down the Hong Kong outdoor protests, but not taken out the protesters. So far.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/20/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||


#6  No issue with the spike in the infection rate, as the virus spreads the infection rate will go exponential which it apparently has

This is a major public health crisis and a pandemic in the making
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/20/2020 12:58 Comments || Top||

#7  How many years did AOC say we had left ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 13:03 Comments || Top||

#8  12
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 15:44 Comments || Top||


Oberlin College to lay off more than 100 in custodial, dining services
[CHRONICLET] Oberlin College's president said Tuesday the college is taking steps to save up to $2 million annually by outsourcing more than 100 jobs currently held by unionized workers.

For a union representative who learned of the college's proposal at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, just two hours before his membership would hear the plan, the news came like a punch in the gut, delivered in "bad faith."

In a letter posted Tuesday on the college's website, President Carmen Twillie Ambar said the college is hoping to save $2 million in salary and benefits by "formally considering contracting with outside vendors for dining and custodial services currently provided by college employees."

An estimated 52 full-time dining employees and 56 full-time custodial employees would be affected, she wrote. The timeline for the steps the college is taking is this summer, Ambar wrote.

The affected employees are represented by the United Auto Workers. Ambar said the step the college is taking "is permitted under our UAW contract, and we will begin collective bargaining with the UAW in coming weeks to determine how best to move forward."

The current contract between UAW and Oberlin College expires Sept. 30. Erik Villar, chairman of the UAW employees, said the union has had a contract with the college since 1993 that has been renewed every three years since.

Posted by: Fred || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Oberlin's scaring up cash in order to pay the Gibson's settlement...

= CanavanCanary in the coal mine?
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah, they are eating their own. Autophagic. They deserve it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/20/2020 1:19 Comments || Top||

#3  When do Oberlin's administrators who orchestrated the defamation of the bakery owners get laid off?
Posted by: Jirt Platypus8917 || 02/20/2020 2:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Call me when they start lying off administrative staff.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 2:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Hypocritical clowns.
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Correction to #1: Oberlin's scaring up cash to pay the Gibson's judgment.

It's precisely because Oberlin's idiot president and counsel refused to settle with these normal, good people who suffered their unbelievable bullying that Oberlin is in the financial straits they now face.
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Would be great if the unionized workers also sued them now. Or made life hell for the admins.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 12:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Read that the workers are UAW (yes, apparently cleaning up after snowflakes is automotive work) and the union bosses are not amused.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Oberlin got bitten hard in the butt for depriving others of their rights.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 16:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Nano-violin is all tuned up for the union slobs.
but perhaps they could be coders...….(too dumb to be farmers, according to some).
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/20/2020 19:57 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
New Estimates Suggest Chinese Tech Shipments Are About To Crash
[Long Room] Now that Apple has opened the floodgates and made it entirely clear that China's economic collapse will slash revenue guidance on the year and lead to production woes through April, an onslaughter of earnings downgrades from other top technology companies with significant operations in China could be imminent.

Evidence grows by the day of supply chains grinding to a halt as the second-largest economy in the world falters (as described here last week)...

China - Output - Supply - Chains - Companies

We've described how China's economic output remains frozen, and even if supply chains were able to restart, companies don't have enough capital to cover wages, or have delayed or stopped paying workers, suggesting that the Covid-19 outbreak has left businesses on the brink of disaster. Worse, workers can't freely move around the country, and many are subjected to travel restrictions and quarantines, which has forced a massive labor shortage.

This is creating a perfect storm that could lead to an extended period of depressed factory output, triggering future shortages of products destined for Eastern and Western markets, and even more ripples across global supply chains.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 00:45 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK. The supply chain is shattered from china. That's the reality. Now start new supply chains in the US and quit whining. Every disaster is a new opportunity. Start with pharmaceuticals. Get out from under the China boot. It's time to man up and make things happen. I hate whiners.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/20/2020 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't hold back, AP. Tell us what you think :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 5:39 Comments || Top||

#3  “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome”
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 7:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Long overdue. Get busy.
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:10 Comments || Top||

#5  I've been curious if the patented Coronavirus outbreak was CIA to break the Chinese supply chain. Or if it was a China Intel Op to break the Hong Kong protesters.

*******

"Start with pharmaceuticals" - something ridicules like 90% of all our vaccines are made in China.
Posted by: mossomo || 02/20/2020 9:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Thank goodness the world had a year’s warning to look for and set up non-China possibilities while President Trump and China renegotiated — how much worse this would have been for everybody had the process not already begun.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/20/2020 9:50 Comments || Top||

#7  /\ I've been curious if the patented Coronavirus outbreak was CIA to break the Chinese supply chain.

I discount very little. Nothing personal, but I fear this one defies a certain degree of logic.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 9:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Unfortunately, Bexoeker, defying a certain degree of logic seems to pretty much define the whole world right now.

Just look at the Dems running for Pres or Zippy playing the neo-Ottoman card or the "nuances" of Brexit etc. etc.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/20/2020 10:10 Comments || Top||

#9  /\ Unfortunately, Bexoeker, defying a certain degree of logic seems to pretty much define the whole world right now.

No argument there AlanC. Orville Redenbacher crop dusting popcorn fields with Agent Orange.... Sort of where I was coming from.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 10:15 Comments || Top||

#10  Huh...Moss, I thought I was the conspiracy guy.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:18 Comments || Top||

#11  The fallout against America's markets will be labeled as Trump's fault in 3 - 2 - 1
Posted by: warthogswife || 02/20/2020 12:29 Comments || Top||

#12  I severely doubt the CIA has the capability to do something like that. Among other things.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/20/2020 22:34 Comments || Top||

#13  I severely doubt the CIA has the capability to do something like that. Among other things.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/20/2020 22:34 Comments || Top||

#14  I also have NO sympathy for Apple, among many others.

Apple has 245 billion dollars worth of cash in the bank. they have NO excuse for being vulnerable in this fashion.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/20/2020 22:35 Comments || Top||

#15  I've been curious if the patented Coronavirus outbreak was CIA to break the Chinese supply chain.

One argument against CIA involvement is that the operation seems to be successful.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/20/2020 23:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Pigeons Wearing Tiny MAGA Hats Are Pooping All Over Dem Debate in Vegas
[PJ] 2020 is shaping up to be an epic election year, full of absurdity that even Marianne Williamson couldn't dream up. While the Democrat candidates gear up to yap onstage in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening, they should watch where they walk near the venue because some pranksters have unleashed a flock of pigeons wearing MAGA hats (and one in a blonde Trump wig) to perch around the Democrat debate and trigger (or poop on) attendees as a form of protest.

The group that is responsible calls itself Pigeons United To Interfere Now (PUTIN). According to sources, the group members washed some doves and then used eyelash glue to attach the accessories to their heads.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 01:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The group that is responsible calls itself Pigeons United To Interfere Now (PUTIN)

Wonder what Vlad will do when he finds out.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  "Animal cruelty" complaint in 3-2-1...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/20/2020 7:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Feels like we've entered a Thomas Pynchon novel...
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:06 Comments || Top||

#4  "Animal cruelty" complaint in 3-2-1..

PETA already has started howling. Most of the pigeons used were rescues anyway. But PETA is still having a cow.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/20/2020 9:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Targeted bio-weapons!

Birds and their droppings can carry over 60 diseases
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Missed this one. Had it pegged as the Bee.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/20/2020 11:46 Comments || Top||

#7  grand idea, but who has the time and inclination to rescue pigeons? may as well spend time rescuing rats FFS
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 02/20/2020 13:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Hopefully, the training included marksmanship
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
14 killed, hundreds fall sick from "apparent toxic gas leak" in Pakistan
[CNN] "Unknown Gas leak"...Uh huh Authorities have been unable to explain the origin of an apparent gas leak that has killed 14 people and left hundreds more sick in southern Pakistan since Sunday.
Concerns are growing in the port city of Karachi in Sindh province that toxic gas could still be leaking as officials scramble to find the source of the problem.
Dr. Zafar Mehdi of Sindh Province's Health Department said 14 people had died from toxic gas exposure in Karachi and that 500 others were affected by the gas to varying degrees, including some who are in intensive care.
Mehdi said autopsies had been carried out on the dead and that post-mortem reports were expected in 72 hours.

Residents in Karachi demonstrate against the government on Tuesday. Sundus Rasheed, who lives in Karachi's seaside neighborhood of Kemari, told CNN that residents were panicking.
"At around 10 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) on Sunday, we got a call that there had been some sort of gas leak and people are dying. Hordes of people [were] coming with their faces covered, ambulances rushing towards the port. Our car windows were rolled up but eyes were irritated and burning; something is clearly wrong. We've evacuated our home," Rasheed said.
Images from Karachi show small protests against the government, with demonstrators wearing face masks and demanding answers from officials.
Karachi officials have said they cannot find any evidence of a leak
Posted by: Frank G || 02/20/2020 10:41 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Corona gas?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Goat cheese....
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Terrorist attack
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/20/2020 22:21 Comments || Top||


India is hastily building a brick WALL to block Donald Trump's view of the slums ahead of visit that could attract up to seven million people
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Typical. They forgot Air Force One has windows. He can't avoid a slum if he wanted to.

"What's that there ?"

"That ? Err... it's just an encampment of err... Nudists ! It's like a seasonal thing. Huhh... yes."

Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 3:32 Comments || Top||

#2  One of the (many) things that surprised me when I went to India 15 years ago: In America, there are rich sections of town, and poor sections. They are often separated by distance. In India, I stayed in a four star hotel. Two blocks away, there were people living in corrugated metal shacks, next to a stream that was essentially an open sewer.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/20/2020 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  If they can build a wall that quickly, we should subcontract the Southern Wall to them.
Posted by: Mercutio || 02/20/2020 13:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Paging Mr. Potemkin...
Posted by: European Conservative || 02/20/2020 14:14 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Criminals have 'smaller BRAINS': Scientists claim the 'handicap' which can be spotted in early childhood may explain why life-long offenders lie, steal and are violent
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 12:14 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Criminals that GET CAUGHT
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 13:16 Comments || Top||

#2  There is also correlating evidence that most career criminals have had sever trauma as children which is also known to effect brain development and growth.

Posted by: DarthVader || 02/20/2020 13:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Forget criminals. I wanna see research on liberals. The results would raise new questions into what amount of regressive mutation can be considered compos mentis.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 02/20/2020 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought we finished with that Lombroso shit in 19th century?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 16:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Let's not forget the ultimate gateway drug...MILK. Have you ever encountered a criminal who never drank milk? Don't even start on H2O, I think we all know where that leads.
Posted by: Cesare || 02/20/2020 17:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Also, phrenology.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/20/2020 18:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Funny: my daughter with Down syndrome doesn't steal and isn't violent, though her brain is a bit smaller than average. (She does lie and cheat at card games though.)
Posted by: Secret Master || 02/20/2020 19:31 Comments || Top||

#8  God bless you Secret Master.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 19:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Bless you and your family, S.M.
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 19:49 Comments || Top||

#10  ^Don't worry guys. He did.
Posted by: Secret Master || 02/20/2020 20:48 Comments || Top||


Countries with the fastest internet speeds revealed: Taiwan, Singapore and JERSEY top the list but the UK languishes in 33rd place and the US sits slightly higher in 15th
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:50 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I heard this stuff before on a tech telecast. The promoter waxed about how South Korea had a faster net as well. Skip the fact that South Korea was the size of Kansas with a quarter of its population in one geographical location, Seoul. He also ignored that South Korea was not divided into 50 separate mini-countries each with their own public utility commissions to work through in delivering the service. To put some serious broadband internet through most of the fly country will require a federal effort like the Rural Electrification Act of the '30s.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/20/2020 12:52 Comments || Top||

#2  and everyone should have a motorway to their doorstep.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/20/2020 13:15 Comments || Top||


Live Science: Live updates on Corona Virus including vulnerability by age group
Posted by: Thrains Snons8194 || 02/20/2020 10:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Speculation:

I wonder if some of the older patients were exposed to a pathogen somewhat similar to COVID-19 a couple of decades ago.

Some of the severe health complications could then be the result of an allergic overreaction of the immune system triggered by partial immunity acquired decades ago.

This would be an explanation for COVID-19 apparently not causing any serious health issues in the 0-9 y/o age group.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 02/20/2020 13:41 Comments || Top||


A belated Happy 100th Birthday to the iconic Citroën
It was actually 2019. A belated thank you as well for your assistance during WWII.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 02:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sent this to a former French colleague in Austria last evening. He remarked that "the Citroën was a favorite staff car of the Gestapo." That distinctive grill and windscreen, an indicator of the arrival of bad company, had one been seen rumbling about the village.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 8:18 Comments || Top||

#2  At the preserved site of the massacre in Oradour-sur-Glane located NW of Limoges in central France, there is a rusted-out Citroen body in the center of the town square, left there exactly where it was along with many other ruined artifacts - bicycles, a sewing machine - as a memorial to the 642 men women and children slaughtered by the Waffen-SS on 10 June 1944
Posted by: Lex || 02/20/2020 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  In Bridgehampton, NY on the main street (Montauk Highway) is a restaurant named Pierre's. The owner is French - Pierre Weber. He has an iconic yellow 2CV that is always parked in front of the restaurant. Better than a neon sign to find the place.
Posted by: Solomon Snore8345 || 02/20/2020 9:36 Comments || Top||


Bizarre surgical mask printed with your face protects from 'viral epidemics' and claims to unlock your smartphone
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 00:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Structure of Coronavirus.
[LiveScience] Coronavirus 'spike' protein just mapped, leading way to vaccine
Grab a coffee before reading this long article at the link
The coronavirus uses this protein to invade human cells.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/20/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Butto target this protein, you need to know what it looks like.

Bull. You don't need the structure. People been doing passive* or active immunizations long before they knew what a protein is let alone their structure.

*You produce a lot of protein. You inject it into rabbits. Isolate the resultant antibodies and give them to sick people.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/20/2020 2:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Not with this one, not easily.

Whether naturally evolved or, as seems quite likely bioengineered, Covid-19 is highly optimized to attach to the ACE2 human cell receptor.
Posted by: Spirt Black7191 || 02/20/2020 9:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I had to look it up.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:24 Comments || Top||


#5  Now Ah'm looking for survivors to slowly expire from cardiac and renal decay.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/20/2020 11:30 Comments || Top||

#6  So the death by reinfection is not a new infection but a follow on effect
Ladies and Gentlemen this virus was designed from the get go as a killer make no bones about it

It was designed to be a weapon

This is not a research project
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/20/2020 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Notice how govt and media discussions appear to...fade away from origins? Call me paranoid, but i'm generally attentive to what is NOT being discussed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/20/2020 13:29 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-02-20
  Turkey asks NATO to provide air support for the operation in Idlib
Wed 2020-02-19
  Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghan presidential poll, Abdullah rejects results
Tue 2020-02-18
  LNA claims to destroy Turkish arms ship in Tripoli harbor.
Mon 2020-02-17
  24 Killed In Brutal Terror Attack On Burkina Faso Church; Local Pastor Targeted
Sun 2020-02-16
  Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack
Sat 2020-02-15
  Six Cartel Kidnappers Busted with Mexican Border City Victim in Trunk
Fri 2020-02-14
  US navy ship seizes 150 Iranian-manufactured anti-tank guided missiles after boarding a vessel in the Arabian Sea
Thu 2020-02-13
  Hafiz Saeed sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for terror financing
Wed 2020-02-12
  Sudan will hand over Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court
Tue 2020-02-11
  Russians bomb a joint Turkish & Jihadi column
Mon 2020-02-10
  Ehsanullah Ehsan sends greetings from Turkey, thumbs nose
Sun 2020-02-09
  Multiple US troops killed during shootout in eastern Afghanistan
Sat 2020-02-08
  Khalid Haqqani and Qari Saifullah banged in Kabul
Fri 2020-02-07
  Syria says its troops enter the strategic city of Saraqib in Idlib and begins ‘combing’ its neighborhoods
Thu 2020-02-06
  Hazim Al-Halafi, a senior commander of Saraya Al-Salam dead


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