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Sudan's Hamdok says government ready to cooperate with ICC over Darfur
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Florida woman shoots, kills man trying to break into her home
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 10:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “This is another incidence where you just should have left,” Judd said. “But when you came back to the house that’s not your home, and you tried to break in to get a girlfriend who didn't want to go with you, and you’re shot and killed while breaking into the house with a tire iron, that was a bad choice. And it’s the last bad choice he’ll make.”

Sounds like my kind of Sheriff
Posted by: Silentbrick || 08/23/2020 11:21 Comments || Top||

#2  That calls for a drink!
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  I love a happy ending. :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 08/23/2020 14:42 Comments || Top||

#4  FWIW, this is my sheriff, you know my deputies stopped shooting because they ran out of bullets guy.
Posted by: Vinegar Spolusing6485 || 08/23/2020 18:21 Comments || Top||


Missing Brockton Fort Hood soldier a victim of ‘abusive sexual contact,' Army says
[Boston Globe] "We can confirm that there is an open investigation of abusive sexual contact involving Sgt. Fernandes," said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Brautigam.

The Brockton soldier missing for five days from Fort Hood in Texas was the victim of sexual abuse and had been reassigned to a new unit within his brigade for his safety, an Army spokesman said Saturday evening.

Sergeant Elder N. Fernandes, 23, had been transferred to "ensure he received the proper care and ensure there were no opportunities for reprisals," Lieutenant Colonel Chris Brautigam, a First Cavalry Division spokesman, said in an e-mail.

An investigation is underway into the alleged assault, he said. "We can confirm that there is an open investigation of abusive sexual contact involving Sgt. Fernandes," said Brautigam.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 10:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  was the victim of sexual abuse and had been reassigned to a new unit

No mention of a 'prior' Article 15-6 investigation into the alleged abuse. Evidently you have to come up missing or deceased. What about charging and reassigning the perpetrator(s) or jilted, burly boy friend. This LGBTQIA....Army is A-Ok !
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 10:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "An Army of One®"
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/23/2020 10:51 Comments || Top||


Louisiana Protest erupts over fatal police shooting of Black man
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — The mother of a man fatally shot by Louisiana police said her son was intelligent, shy and had sought therapy for social anxiety. Her lawyers said they plan to sue over the death of Trayford Pellerin, who police said had a knife and was trying to enter a convenience store.

The shooting Friday night was captured on video, and the state ACLU condemned what it described as a "horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person." Both the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center quickly called for an investigation.

Pellerin’s death prompted a crowd of protesters to gather Saturday and demonstrate against the latest fatal police shooting. Officers in riot gear fired smoke canisters on Saturday night to get the crowd to disperse, Trooper Derek Senegal said. No tear gas was deployed, he said.

At a news conference late Saturday, local officials said the protest began peacefully, but violence later erupted with fireworks shot at buildings and fires set in the median of the road.

"Our intent is not going to be to just let people disrupt our town and put our citizens and our motorists and our neighborhoods in danger," Interim Police Chief Scott Morgan said.

Arrests were made, Morgan said, but an exact number wasn’t immediately available.

"We do support people’s First Amendment rights," Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber said. "However, when it comes to the destruction of property, we are not going to have Lafayette set on fire."

On Friday night, Lafayette officers followed Pellerin, 31, on foot as he left a convenience store where he had created a disturbance with a knife, Louisiana State Police said. Stun guns failed to stop him, and the officers shot Pellerin as he tried to enter another convenience store, still with the knife, according to a news release.

Pellerin became anxious in groups and may have been frightened by the officers, Michelle Pellerin told The Advocate. He had sought professional help earlier this year, she said.

"Instead of giving him a helping hand they gave him bullets," national civil rights attorney Ben Crump told the newspaper. He and Baton Rouge attorney Ronald Haley said they have begun their own investigation by interviewing witnesses. Some said Pellerin was not armed, Haley said.

The family believes Pellerin may have been having a mental health crisis, Crump said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 02:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mix one Mental health crisis with a knife. High probability of dead bodies
Posted by: Dacama || 08/23/2020 2:58 Comments || Top||

#2  her son was intelligent, shy and had sought therapy for social anxiety. ... had a knife and was trying to enter a convenience store. ...family believes Pellerin may have been having a mental health crisis

He thought he's in New York?


Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/23/2020 3:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Public Service Shooting (PSS). His mental torture has ended. A threat to society has been successfully removed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 3:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Going into another convenience store with a knife in hand. WHAT did they expect.

Grew up on a farm. Soon a lot of African Americans moved in all around the farm. Saturday nights was party time for them, every Saturday night. Every Saturday night there was gun fire. Finally pop sold the farm and moved us into town after an African American cut the heart out of another African American next door to our home on a Saturday Night with a steak knife.

In general the African American cultural center piece has been violence whether you want to hear that or not. They always vote Democrat and when Democrats win all hell breaks loose. The majority pride themselves in their gangsta culture. I see no change in the future, only that that culture will be acceptable to you or else.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebbereng3110 || 08/23/2020 5:18 Comments || Top||

#5  ...and had sought therapy for social anxiety.

A 31 year old person and you're seeking therapy? What the hell were you doing over the previous 15 or so years, sitting on your ass?

Sorry - my sympathy meter's shot.
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 7:06 Comments || Top||

#6  "Instead of giving him a helping hand they gave him bullets"

Ah, you have a knife. Trouble stabbing? How can we help?
Posted by: Slats Angoling7518 || 08/23/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#7  For once somebody didn't die from COVID-19? Why the switch?
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 9:24 Comments || Top||

#8  stun guns failed to stop him

Drugs, mental health issues, and criminal behavior. When the body-cam footage comes out, we'll see the cops were doing their job but the burned out buildings and looted stores will remain. We've seen this movie before.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/23/2020 11:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Check the Cold Case Files and see if there are any unsolved stabbing murders locally...
Posted by: magpie || 08/23/2020 12:36 Comments || Top||

#10  They can continue their protest as Hurricane Marcos comes ashore tonight.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/23/2020 13:18 Comments || Top||

#11  It would be interesting to see some of the antifas come down to Lafayette, where the Cajun population has been diligently working on their hunting skills for the last 250 years or so. Also, any survivors may get to visit the Louisiana State pen at Angola, which would surely give them a fresh perspective on BLM. But antifa only plays home games.
Posted by: Matt || 08/23/2020 14:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Gators are hungry you know. And the gator hunters need some bait. Chicken goes in the pot. Antifa goes on the hook:p
Posted by: Silentbrick || 08/23/2020 20:04 Comments || Top||

#13  That cultural characteristic,
The crazy check, bounces ballistic.
One lunatic? Tragic!
A million? Add magical
Thinking and press ["Doh!"]: Statistic.
Posted by: Squinty Cherert1278 || 08/23/2020 23:34 Comments || Top||


Five arrested in Santa Cruz for looting evacuees' homes
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guess those law enforcement officers' positions were not defunded.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 9:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Looting during a evacuation is a special kind of evil. People’s entire life’s possessions are vulnerable because government ordered their departure and therefore has an obligation to protect and DETER looting most aggressively. San Francisco in -1906 had soldiers who were authorized to shoot on sight any looters. Seems about right.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/23/2020 14:35 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 14:52 Comments || Top||


Husband, 33, is left paralyzed after being hit by stray bullet in New York while walking to store with new wife
[THESUN.CO.UK] A HUSBAND who was walking with his new wife to buy toothpaste in New York was hit in the spine by a stray bullet and will likely never walk again.

Footage shows Sam Metcalfe, 33, laying on the ground at Flatbush intersection in Brooklyn, seconds after being caught in the crossfire of a gang fight.

While Metcalfe survived the shooting, an 18-year-old suspected gang member, Malcolm Amede, died.

The tragic shooting on Wednesday is the latest incident of increased gun violence in New York City, where homicides have surged by 29 percent between January and August compared to the same time last year with 244 fatalities.

The city’s five boroughs have also seen an 84.6 percent rise in shooting victims to 1,017 during those dates compared with the same period in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A GoFundMe account started to help Metcalfe and his wife, Sabrina, described how the tragic events unfolded.

Crowdfunding organizer Krysta Zagorski said the couple left their Brooklyn apartment to go to the store and get some toothpaste.

"She told him he didn’t need to come but he wanted to hold the umbrella for her because it was raining and the umbrella was broken.

"While crossing an intersection less than five minutes from their building, shots rang out and Sam was hit.

"The intended victim (not Sam) was also shot multiple times and died as a result."

Zagorski continued: "Almost immediately, Sam couldn’t feel his legs.

"We now know that the bullet hit his kidney and stopped when it hit his spine.

"They removed his kidney but his condition is too fragile to attempt to remove the bullet just yet.

"Doctors are still trying to stop the bleeding and Sam will likely never walk again."
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Obits-
World's oldest man dies four months after his 116th birthday when he complained he couldn't find any tobacco to roll his own cigarettes due to the Covid lockdown
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 12:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dying for a smoke, literally?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/23/2020 18:17 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
PICTURED: Several homeless men smoke cigarettes and sit outside boutique hotel in Brooklyn after Mayor Bill de Blasio bused them into trendy area despite promising to end controversial relocation program
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 12:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Boutique, trendy shithole.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 19:11 Comments || Top||


California loses manpower to fight wildfires after more than 800 inmates in controversial firefighting program were released due to pandemic - as the prison population makes up 43% of all responders
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 01:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is because California has no money to pay fire fighters. Kamala used inmates as a form of slavery by keeping them in jail longer than their sentences as forced labor for the government of California. But now that the government released them they have no alternate public safety solution in place.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebbereng3110 || 08/23/2020 3:12 Comments || Top||

#2  But now that the government released them they have no alternate public safety solution in place.

And no planned alternative for that situation, apparently.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/23/2020 9:22 Comments || Top||


#4  "...Governor Gavin Newsom pleaded with the president to grant the declarations Friday."

How does it feel to want, bucko?
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 12:01 Comments || Top||

#5  "...Governor Gavin Newsom pleaded with the president to grant the declarations Friday."

Gavin, buddy - you need another bailout?
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 12:10 Comments || Top||

#6  "You're a Sanctuary State that goes it;s own way? So, bye bye!"
Posted by: magpie || 08/23/2020 12:34 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Louisiana orders evacuations as twin storms take aim at U.S. coast
(Reuters) - Louisiana residents were ordered on Sunday to evacuate low-lying coastal areas as back-to-back hurricanes were forecast to bring strong winds and rain, striking the state within days of one another this week.

Tropical Storm Marco, which is forecast to hit the Louisiana coast with hurricane-force winds on Monday, will be followed by Storm Laura, now over the Dominican Republic and expected to travel across Hispaniola and Cuba and strengthen to a hurricane before striking Louisiana on Thursday.

Twin hurricanes arriving at the U.S. coast within days "could result in a prolonged period of hazardous weather," National Hurricane Center forecaster Stacy Stewart warned on Sunday.

Officials in Louisiana’s coastal Lafourche Parish ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents of low-lying areas at noon on Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard also raised its warning for the Port of New Orleans, calling for ships to make plans to evacuate some areas.

The potential for flooding and evacuations added to worries about the spread of COVID-19. Tulane University, the largest private employer in New Orleans, said it will close its testing center on Monday due to potential flooding and power outages and called on students to maintain social distancing guidelines.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 10:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


California Gov. Urges Residents to Flee as Wildfires Become Some of Largest in State History
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm currently in Wallbridge Fire Evac Warning Zone. Next 24 hrs are important. Air attack did fantastic work today and may have turned the tie in our area.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/23/2020 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm going to guess that the government in CA didn't learn their lesson about forest fire management measures last time and instead poured that money into illegals. Am I wrong?
Posted by: gorb || 08/23/2020 4:05 Comments || Top||

#3  ^ Nope
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2020 7:01 Comments || Top||

#4  California Gov. Urges Residents to Flee....

California's government has been indirectly "urging" residents to leave the state for over a decade. The tragic fires have simply upped the ante.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 7:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Can't have silly things like forest management and power generation interfere with that high speed rail project, can we?
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 7:08 Comments || Top||

#6  I think it's more a problem with the enviroweenies who won't allow clearing underbrush or controlled burns.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 08/23/2020 9:06 Comments || Top||

#7  ^^I'm surprised the Coastal Commission even allows the firefighters to dig trench fire breaks.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 08/23/2020 9:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Any twosome Newsom does not understand that government is not a suicide pact.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/23/2020 10:45 Comments || Top||

#9  You're not wrong gorb. That fuel can either be cut out or burned out. One way or the other, it's going to be removed. CA has chosen poorly.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/23/2020 12:47 Comments || Top||

#10  I love these things.

Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 13:18 Comments || Top||

#11  And for the bigger stuff you cannot haul out....We used this one to generate 21 tons of chips an hour for a chip fired heating plant.

Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/23/2020 16:36 Comments || Top||

#12  more firebreaks would help but a lot of this is because people have moved into rural areas that are difficult to protect, e.g., the two biggest fires currently are just east of the coastal range
Posted by: lord garth || 08/23/2020 20:33 Comments || Top||


Brazil is ''returning to normal'' from COVID19, says president
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other words with an 80% loss of 6 billion dollar annual tourism income and 1.2 million tourism jobs, he is opening Brazil back up regardless.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebbereng3110 || 08/23/2020 2:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Not according to wordometers. If fact, IMO, Brazil is going to overtake USA in per capita deaths by the end of this week.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/23/2020 2:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Normal? Brazil? Huh?
Posted by: gorb || 08/23/2020 4:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Are black Brazilians being disproportionately affected like "they say" about black Americans?
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 7:27 Comments || Top||

#5  ^Brazil is not America. The major ethnic groups are white European immigrants in the South and Latin immigrants in the North. The South is wealthier than the north but in places like the favelas of Rio there is a lot of violence and crime and throughout the nation where favelas exist.
Posted by: Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 || 08/23/2020 17:19 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ That doesn't answer my question, but thanks anyway.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 17:54 Comments || Top||

#7  ^Significantly higher than the larger two races, white and Latin. 1 in 3 infected Afro-Brazilians were dying earlier this year.
Posted by: Ebbomoger Speaking for Boskone4589 || 08/23/2020 19:08 Comments || Top||


Mesmerizing footage shows SIX waterspouts in the Gulf of Mexico as Houston goes on alert for double whammy from Tropical Storm Laura and Tropical Storm Marco - that could both hit as hurricanes at the SAME time on Wednesday
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cthulhu?
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/23/2020 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Throwing his hat in the ring for 2020. "What really fuels change are the sacrifices we make of people like you. We don’t have to accept a system that drowns out your voice. We can obliterate it. Join us."

https://cthulhuforamerica.com/
Posted by: Secret Master || 08/23/2020 1:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Texas? Maybe Beto O'Rourke can stop this scourge of climate change!
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 4:15 Comments || Top||

#4  If you go through and read, this storm was completely unrelated to the cyclones coming up. Just another happy day on the gulf coast. As far as the upper Texas coast, we're screwed down, but not expecting much.But then, we weren't explecting much from Harvey, either.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/23/2020 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Pumping out my ponds to fill the water wagon.
Be good to get a waterspout.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 11:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Yet another manifestation of climate change. /sarc
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 11:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Houston is safe from Marco and probably safe from Laura also.

New Orleans not so much.
Posted by: lord garth || 08/23/2020 12:42 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ New Orleans is to hurricanes
as a trailer park is to tornados
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2020 12:58 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ Ouch, Frank. The issue this time around is not so much the force of the storm(s) as the ability of the pumps to keep up with the volume of water. The recently appointed chief engineer (Korban) seems to have his head on straight, but some cynics believe that the actual pump operators just randomly push buttons. It's sort of a cargo cult drainage system.
Posted by: Matt || 08/23/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Albion College Unleashes "Mandatory" App To Track Students At All Times
[ZERO] Colleges that are reopening campuses this fall understand outbreaks of COVID-19 are certainly possible on school grounds and in the surrounding communities. To safeguard students against the virus, Albion College, located in Albion, Michigan, is requesting all students to download a smartphone app that tracks their location to create a "COVID-bubble."
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 03:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  College students say free speech is “unacceptable”
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/23/2020 6:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Not faculty and administrators too?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/23/2020 6:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Albion College, located in Albion, Michigan, is requesting all students to download a smartphone app that tracks their location to create a "COVID-bubble."


...and if they refuse this 'request'?
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 6:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Can it penetrate the Cone of Silence?
Chief and 99 want to know.
Posted by: Betty Angeck5032 || 08/23/2020 7:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Ohio State University has issued several unconstitutional undated to its students as well.
Posted by: jvalentour || 08/23/2020 8:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Students are not human - so Constitution doesn't apply.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/23/2020 8:43 Comments || Top||

#7 
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 8:48 Comments || Top||

#8  Buy a cheap, pre-paid "burner" phone and a roll of aluminum foil for when you want to 'disappear'...
Posted by: magpie || 08/23/2020 14:28 Comments || Top||

#9  The foil will keep out the mind-rays, but to really disappear, you need a Cloak of Invisibility.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/23/2020 14:39 Comments || Top||

#10  ANTI-RADIATION CELL PHONE, TABLET & LAPTOP CASES

But, it's a safety and security app!

Need 3D's trojan push.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 14:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Did you ever think about turning the phone off? Maybe take the battery out?
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/23/2020 15:37 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
At least 13 die in Peru running away from cops amid COVID-19 club raid
Cause of Death: Covid
[NY Post] At least 13 people were killed as people tried to flee as cops raided a Lima, Peru, nightclub that was open despite coronavirus restrictions, officials said.

The victims were crushed to death or asphyxiated when around 120 people tried to escape the Thomas Restobar club Saturday night through the only entrance door, national police and government officials said.
Was Great White playing?
There were also at least six people injured, including three officers, as clubgoers became trapped between the door and a staircase leading to the street.

"In these circumstances when people begin to fight to get out, it's tumultuous, everyone goes against each other," Orlando Velasco of the National Police told local radio station RPP.

Peru shuttered nightclubs and bars in March and then banned extended family gatherings Aug. 12, as the country grapples with the second-highest coronavirus infection rate in Latin America.

The country has recorded 585,236 confirmed infections as of Saturday, doubling the number on July 2, according to a tally from Reuters.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2020 12:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was Great White playing?

Tough crowd...
Posted by: Raj || 08/23/2020 13:11 Comments || Top||

#2  No, they ran that Geico commercial with Ratt in it and everyone was suddenly nauseous and had to get outside.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/23/2020 15:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Cure is worse than the disease.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/23/2020 18:12 Comments || Top||


Violence across Colombia leaves 17 dead
[Al Ahram] Three attacks in the last 24 hours have left at least 17 dead across Colombia in regions contested by narcos, criminal groups and dissidents of the demobilized FARC guerrillas, officials and local media reported on Saturday.

Separate attacks each reported leaving six people dead took place in the Colombian provinces of Narino and Cauca, while a further five people were also reported killed in Arauca province.

"We don't know if the dead form part of an organization or if they are family members," General Nairo Martinez, commander of the Army's Hercules Task Force, told local Caracol Radio in reference to the killings in Narino.

President Ivan Duque lamented the deaths in a message via his Twitter account.

"We are pained by the deaths caused by the violence driven by drug trafficking and terrorism," he said.

The attacks were also condemned by Human Rights Watch Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco.

"The security situation is deteriorating noticeably," Vivanco said via Twitter.

Eight people were rubbed out by an unidentified gang in a contested drug trafficking area in Narino province a week ago.

Another five people were killed in an attack in a neighborhood in the east of the city of Cali on Aug. 11.

Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
'Shocking betrayal:' Former Green Beret charged with spying for Russia over 15 years
[JustTheNews] Days after a major China espionage case, a former Army Special Forces officer was charged Friday with conspiring with Russian intelligence officials to leak U.S. military secrets over a 15-year period that began under President Bill Clinton
...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of the word is...
and ended under President Barack Obama
How much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then...
Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, a retired Green Beret, "allegedly conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service" from December 1996 to January 2011, the Justice Department announced in a late Friday news release.

"During that time, Debbins periodically visited Russia and met with Russian intelligence agents," the DOJ said. Debbins reportedly received a codename from the Russian government and even "signed a statement attesting that he wanted to serve Russia," the department said.

The announcement comes just a few days after DOJ announced the arrest of former CIA officer Alexander Yuk Ching Ma in Hawaii on charges of spying for China.

"Two espionage arrests in the past week — Ma in Hawaii and now Debbins in Virginia — demonstrate that we must remain vigilant against espionage from our two most malicious adversaries — Russia and China," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said Friday.

"Debbins violated his oath as a U.S. Army officer, betrayed the Special Forces and endangered our country’s national security by revealing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, providing details of his unit, and identifying Special Forces team members for Russian intelligence to try to recruit as a spy," Demers continued. "Our country put its highest trust in this defendant, and he took that trust and weaponized it against the United States."

FBI Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division Alan Kohler, meanwhile, called Debbins's alleged crimes "a shocking betrayal by a former Army officer of his fellow soldiers and his country."

Debbins could face life in prison if convicted of conspiring to provide United States national defense information to agents of a foreign government.

Debbins was accused of providing Russian intelligence agents information that he obtained as a member of the U.S. Army, including information about his chemical and Special Forces units. In 2008, after leaving active duty service, Debbins disclosed to the Russian intelligence agents classified information about his previous activities while deployed with the Special Forces.

Debbins also provided the Russian intelligence agents with names and details about his former Special Forces team members so that Moscow could evaluate whether to approach the team members to see if they would cooperate with the Russian intelligence service.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/23/2020 03:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Life imprisonment? How about a few days being stretched in half.
Posted by: Mad Eye Angonter1301 || 08/23/2020 8:51 Comments || Top||

#2  "a retired Green Beret."

Officer? CPT? MAJ? COL? Just curious.

" In 2008, after leaving active duty service...."

I can read that a couple of different ways.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Perhaps they meant... special services. Fellas who hand our basketballs at the post gym. Something not quite wright about the 'periodic Russian travel' and security clearances. I'm going with special services.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  The Washington Times has more here, Besoeker. Perhaps this will provide more insight.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/23/2020 13:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Debbins’ mother was born in the Soviet Union, and Debbins met his wife in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, where they were married in 1997, according to the indictment.

Been fed Borscht all his life.

Why did it take 15 years to find him?
Guess we'll be hearing about a trade soon.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 14:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Bes, the First Special Services Force would like to talk to you. Apparently they received multiple requests to put on concerts while they were holding part of the line above Anzio.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/23/2020 15:16 Comments || Top||

#7  This guy was working for the Russians before he graduated college. Why did his TS not catch that? He joined to be a spy for mother russia. He will have a long time to count every brick in Leavenworth...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 08/23/2020 20:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Yet another example of a PR not catching a spy. If he reported everything and all was favorably adjudicated, then, well, there we are.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 20:36 Comments || Top||

#9  “Debbins thought that the United States was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size,” prosecutors alleged.

That may be the case, but that is beside the point!
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 20:40 Comments || Top||

#10  He was promoted to Captain in 2001, same year he transferred from a Chemical WF company to Special Forces. In 2004 or 2005, he was busted for some kind of security violation, relieved of command and eventually kicked out but with an honorable discharge. In 2010, his security clearance was restored, and he was listed as in the reserves then.
Posted by: JC || 08/23/2020 20:59 Comments || Top||

#11  In 2004 or 2005, he was busted for some kind of security violation, relieved of command and eventually kicked out but with an honorable discharge.

Rank has its privileges. If he had been enlisted, things might have turned out differently.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 21:15 Comments || Top||


Belarus strongman orders army to defend territorial integrity
[Al Ahram] Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday ordered his defence minister to take "stringent measures" to defend the country's territorial integrity after mass protests erupted against his claim to election victory.

The 65-year-old authoritarian leader, who said he won a sixth presidential term with 80 percent of the vote in the August 9 ballot, made the comments during an inspection of military units in Grodno, near Belarus's border with Poland, according to the president's press service.

Lukashenko denounced the recent mass protests, which he said were receiving support from Western countries, and ordered the army to defend western Belarus, which he described as "a pearl".

"It involves taking the most stringent measures to protect the territorial integrity of our country," Lukashenko said.

Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lukashenko deploys Belarusian military Lithuanian border
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lukashenko says he will close Belarus factories that are seeing protests
[Al Ahram] Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday he would close factories that have seen worker protests, the Russian RIA news agency reported, his latest attempt to quell a wave of opposition rallies since contested elections this month.

Lukashenko also suggested he would fire the workers concerned.

"If a factory is not working then let's put a lock on its gate from Monday, let's stop it," RIA cited Lukashenko as saying in the town of Grodno near the border with Poland. "People will calm down and we will decide whom to invite (to work) next."

In the biggest challenge to Lukashenko's 26 years in power, people have taken to the streets in many Belarusian towns, including in its capital Minsk, for nearly two weeks, protesting against the result of an Aug 9 election that they say was rigged to give the president re-election.

Some workers at a number of state factories have also joined protests.

Lukashenko has denied any fraud in the vote.

His main opponent in the election, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has fled to neighbouring Lithuania. Without naming anybody, Lukashenko said on Saturday that arrangers of the country-wide rallies "are sitting abroad in neighbouring countries" and enjoying political support from those countries' leaders.

Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Russia launches a SECOND Covid vaccine: New jab developed at top-secret biological weapons plant 'avoids side-effects of first one' that Putin announced to widespread scepticism
Russia says a second Covid-19 vaccine is on its way which 'avoids the side-effects of the first one'.

Earlier this month, Vladimir Putin rushed to launch the Sputnik5 vaccine in a blaze of publicity, but criticism soon followed after test subjects reported numerous side effects.

Russia's release of the drug was met with widespread scepticism as to its efficacy and its likely the second vaccine, dubbed EpiVacCorona, will be similarly doubted.

The World Health Organization said last month that a working vaccine will not be available until at least early 2021.

Russia is developing EpiVacCorona in a former top-secret Soviet biological weapons research plant in Siberia, which is now a world-leading virology institute.

Clinical trials of Russia's second vaccine will be completed in September but 57 volunteers who used as human guinea-pigs report no side-effects, scientists have claimed.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kруто!
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  That's why they want Belorussia.
To test the vaccine.
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/23/2020 13:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Whoever made that pic of Putin better watch his tea.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/23/2020 16:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Большой рынок транссексуалов
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/23/2020 16:43 Comments || Top||


Cyber
200,000 coding students from Israel, UAE to collaborate in app development
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 12:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
[DM] Obeying orders from an authority reduces empathy and guilt-related activity in the brain, finds study that reveals why people commit immoral acts under coercion
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 12:30 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


German scientists run concert test to see how coronavirus spreads
[Deutsche Welle] Some 2,000 people attended a concert in the city of Leipzig organized by scientists seeking to study the risk of virus transmission during large events. There are high hopes as large entertainment venues remain shut.

Scientists from the German University of Halle observed conditions on Saturday at an experimental concert in the eastern city of Leipzig, where they hope to learn more about the risk of infection at large events.

The study comes as events and large gatherings remain banned in Germany until at least November. Most concert organizers and entertainment industry staff have seen their work dry up in recent months.

Popular German singer Tim Bendzko volunteered to play three separate concerts over the course of the day, which would test different configurations of the event.

CHASING AEROSOLS AND CONTACT TRACING
The experiment involved 2,000 concertgoers, who were mostly young, healthy and not belonging to any high-risk group.

Attendees had to provide a negative COVID-19 test result prior to the concert and their temperature was taken upon arrival at the venue. They wore FFP2 face masks during the event and were fitted with contact-tracing devices, which would complement sensors on the ceiling of the venue that collected data on their movements.

"We want to study how much contact the participants have with one another during the concert - which is actually still not clear," research lead Stefan Moritz said.

Fluorescent disinfectant was also distributed. "After the event, we can see with ultraviolet lamps which surfaces glow in particular, meaning they were touched particularly often," Moritz added.

Halle scientists also tracked the movement of aerosols; the smallest particles in the air that can carry the virus.

THREE CONCERT SCENARIOS
Scientists ran three scenarios at each concert. The first scenario was meant to resemble concerts before the pandemic, without any coronavirus measures.

The second scenario involved viewers following health and safety guidelines, while the third scenario involved a reduced number of attendees who were kept 1.5 meters apart from each other.

Data collected on Saturday will be fed into a mathematical model, which should help scientists evaluate the risks of the virus spreading in a large concert venue. The results are expected this fall.

The aim of the experiments is to find out whether concerts and other large events could be allowed to resume while avoiding high infection risks.

"It's all about taking an evidence-based approach," said Michael Gekle, dean of the medical faculty at Halle University.
Posted by: Clem || 08/23/2020 09:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Women’s more complicated genes help them survive COVID more than men, claims MD
[IsraelTimes] In new book ‘The Better Half’ Dr. Sharon Moalem says genes, not behavior, responsible for women’s increased longevity and immune response, but also heighten effects of ‘Long Covid’.
Long Covid as he describes it sounds exactly like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which strikes significantly more women than men, and which most often seems to be triggered when the immune system for some reason does not reset back to normal after revving up in response to an infection. And goodness knows that neurasthenic, derived from an old term for CFS, became a common descriptor in the 1920s after the Spanish flu pandemic, suggesting that it suddenly became a fairly common thing rather than the rarity it is historically. So something to look for a rash of after this is over, along with all those with the usual cardiac problems that can develop after someone has a bad flu. And hopefully the frantic research into Covid-19 disease processes and treatments will discover things that have considerably broader benefits than just this disease.
Both sexes stand to benefit from more research. We can only study one sex to help another if we accept there are underlying differences that we can’t change that have a biological origin.

The morbidity that women face because of autoimmune diseases is pretty severe. With lupus it’s a 9:1 ratio, with muscular dystrophy it’s 4:1. All of these conditions make life unbearable at times. We need to understand how it is that men don’t develop those conditions.
"and make sure they do. Equal suffering!"
Behavior aside, if we accept there are basic biological differences, if we see that the male immune system is pacifist by nature, that it doesn’t turn on itself, then we can think about how to apply that pacifism to the female physiology.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/23/2020 09:42 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 08/23/2020 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/23/2020 14:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Smack!
Posted by: gorb || 08/23/2020 20:43 Comments || Top||


Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Be Released In Florida Keys
[WIRED] Some 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys between 2021 and 2022 in an attempt to stop the spread of diseases like zika.

CNN reported that the genetically modified bugs, called OX5034, have been "altered to produce female offspring that die in the larval stage, well before hatching and growing large enough to bite and spread disease." Since it’s the female of the species that bite, they are the ones that carry diseases. Males, the outlet reported, eat nectar.

The bugs were modified by Oxitec, a U.S.-owned company based in Great Britain, and will also be released in Harris County, Texas, starting next year. As CNN reported, the Environmental Protection Agency "granted Oxitec’s request after years of investigating the impact of the genetically altered mosquito on human and environmental health."

"Winning the growing war against disease-spreading mosquitoes will require a new generation of safe, targeted, and sustainable tools for governments and communities alike. And as we’re learning with the devastating COVID-19 crisis, it is critical to aggressively address global public health challenges head-on with a broad coalition of stakeholders. Our aim is to empower governments and communities of all sizes to effectively and sustainably control these disease-spreading mosquitoes without harmful impact on the environment and without complex, costly operations. The potential for our technology to do so is unmatched, and this EPA approval will allow us to take the first steps towards making it available in the US," Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen explained when the bugs were approved by the EPA.

"This is an exciting development because it represents the ground-breaking work of hundreds of passionate people over more than a decade in multiple countries, all of whom want to protect communities from dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and other vector-borne diseases," he added.

Despite years of testing and approval from the federal and local governments, environmental activists still claim the genetically modified mosquitoes are a bad idea.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/23/2020 02:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2020-08-23
  Sudan's Hamdok says government ready to cooperate with ICC over Darfur
Sat 2020-08-22
  PDF about major Soros loss in the Supreme Court.
Fri 2020-08-21
  Ansarallah forces kill high-ranking ISIS leader in Yemen
Thu 2020-08-20
  Mali soldiers promise civilian transition after president's ouster
Wed 2020-08-19
  Ansarallah leader, who has not missed many meals, says negotiations with Saudi Arabia reached dead end, war to continue
Tue 2020-08-18
  Lebanese customs chief arrested over Beirut blast
Mon 2020-08-17
  Syrian presidency reveals conditions for direct talks with US
Sun 2020-08-16
  Erdogan accused Greece of state terrorism against Turkish/Muslim minority
Sat 2020-08-15
  Recently released ISIS terrorist beheaded his mother, father, sister & two nephews in Ain Zara Tripoli
Fri 2020-08-14
  Oman and Bahrain to follow UAE in normalizing Israel ties
Thu 2020-08-13
  Diplomatic relations between Israel and UAE
Wed 2020-08-12
  Turkish strike kills Iraqi border guards, Iraqi military says
Tue 2020-08-11
  Seattle police chief to resign following department cuts
Mon 2020-08-10
  Lebanese Prime Minister announces resignation of government
Sun 2020-08-09
  Lebanese Army evacuates protestors from government buildings

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