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Iran Revolutionary Guards
Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Grandmother fatally punched in French Quarter
[NOLA] The brother of an Alabama-born grandmother who was fatally punched on a French Quarter street last week is trying to understand what motivated her killing, but he expressed relief Wednesday that police had captured a suspect.

"We have no earthly idea why this happened," said Jeffrey Johnson, brother of Margaret "Jane" Johnson Street. "It won’t bring my sister back, but it helps knowing who did it and that they have him."

New Orleans police say Johnson Street, 61, got into an argument with Jeremiah Mark, 23, in the 100 block of Royal Street on April 18 at about 7:45 p.m. Details about the argument haven’t been available, but Mark punched Johnson Street in the face, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the concrete, police wrote in a sworn statement filed in Criminal District Court.
"Booyah, did you see me put the lights out on that old lady? Like a champ!"
She was taken to University Medical Center, where staffers diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury. She died April 20, and her death was classified a homicide after an autopsy two days later, police said.

Police said they didn’t immediately know Mark’s name, but they released a photo of him to the public and asked for help in identifying him because they wanted to question him. Mark saw the picture in the news media and met with Sherlocks April 22. Police said he told them "he used his hand to push [Street] in the face."

They booked him with manslaughter, which Louisiana law defines as an unintentional yet unjustifiable killing. Magistrate Court Commissioner Jonathan Friedman set Mark’s bail at $100,000, and he remained in jug Wednesday evening.

Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hate crime. Nationwide protests sure to follow
/s
Posted by: Creash Brown5037 || 04/30/2021 3:05 Comments || Top||

#2  "We have no earthly idea why this happened,"

I certainly do, but I shall keep my thoughts to myself.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  I won’t keep my thoughts to myself. Black Entitlement and poor impulse control.
Posted by: Chesney Henbane8088 || 04/30/2021 4:41 Comments || Top||

#4  ^ Exactly
Posted by: Dacama || 04/30/2021 7:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Fed by a media in the grand tradition of Julius Streicher of installing racial hate in one community upon another.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/30/2021 10:05 Comments || Top||

#6  100 block of Royal Street

That's just off Canal, and in kind of a sketchy semi-tourist area.

Lotta folks 'just hangin' out', so one should try to avoid it.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/30/2021 14:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, the punch sucked, but I understand they found the fall was what was causing all the damage during Knockout Game; the uncontrolled fall and the head striking a hard surface, such as pavement.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/30/2021 16:26 Comments || Top||

#8  That's just off Canal, and in kind of a sketchy semi-tourist area.

New Orleans is a sketchy semi-tourist area, more or less.

I'd talk about how it used to be an actual normal city but noone's going to believe me.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/30/2021 20:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Ah, New Orleans, to eat fried dough in the most corrupt city on earth. I love Nola, but it's a messed up place.

Gosh, Uncle Thing, was New Orleans really a normal city once?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/30/2021 21:07 Comments || Top||

#10  ^ Do you mean normal normal, or New Orleans normal?
Posted by: Matt || 04/30/2021 21:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Once upon a time my momma and her little brother would go to the movies by themselves. I think she was ten at the time, and the movie was Frenchman's Creek.

I can't imagine that today.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/30/2021 22:16 Comments || Top||

#12  Whatsamovie?
Posted by: Pliny Darling of the Munchkins3593 || 04/30/2021 22:57 Comments || Top||

#13  Royal News, and then on to the Acme--
"But only one dozen!"
Exactly. I backtracked to Mena's--
"Cheap gumbo. Not heinous."
Next, poboys at Johnny's--
"Said 'hi' to the honeys?"
Sure. Zigzagged to Buster's--
"O locus augustus!"
For sausage and beans--
"Too expensive!"
Plus greens. Skipped Napoleon House--
"Cuz it wasn't!"
Don't grouse. Cuz I'll get muffalettas for breakfast.
"Wow, reckless!"
Now, finally, at Fun's, 'twas chop suey-- oops! [runs]
"Bet that bucket of soup tasted nothing like poop. Hey, but wait! No beignets?"
Through a sugary haze, by the dawn's early light, I popped in for a bite at La Patisserie, kicking B. in the... knee. Then, bulging a-ventral, I blew up to Central to get two, to go, though my Progress was slow. Having broken my fast at the Commerce at last, I was almost at peace... for an hour at least! Oh, and nary a jackass attacked me.
Posted by: Spusomp Hupoluque5907 || 04/30/2021 23:44 Comments || Top||

#14  Mind you, that'd the real "lead paint chips and rice for 75 cents" Buster's, not the Jax travesty.
Posted by: Spusomp Hupoluque5907 || 04/30/2021 23:54 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Deputy kills attacking dog, then kills angry owner, police say
[MLive] A man and his dog were shot and killed by police Wednesday evening when an animal-at-large complaint quickly escalated into an animal attack followed by a police shooting in Hillsdale County, police say.

A Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy was dispatched at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, to a dog-at-large complaint at a residence in the 6500 block of S. Edon Road in Reading Township, according to the Michigan State Police.

The deputy arrived at the home and was immediately attacked by the dog and bitten, leading the deputy to fatally shoot the animal, police said.

The dog’s owner, 32-year-old Oscar Herrera, was upset the deputy shot his dog and confronted him armed with a knife, according to police. The deputy shot Herrera as well, police said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The deputy was taken to an area hospital to be treated for dog bite injuries. Beyond stating the deputy has more than seven years of experience in law enforcement, he is not being identified at this time, police said.

Detectives with the Michigan State Police First District Special Investigation Section are investigating the shooting and will submit its finding to the Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office for review once completed.

The deputy is on administrative leave with the shooting investigation remains open, police said.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

Anyone willing to bet some idiot out there feels the Police officer had an unfair advantage Firearm vs. Knife.

Wait for it ... Some idiot will be demanding Police should carry Knifes.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 04/30/2021 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Killing the dog will cause the most outrage by far.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/30/2021 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  What color was the dog? (aka Black Labs Matter)
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/30/2021 18:28 Comments || Top||

#4  "And your little dog fat-assed owner too!"
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/30/2021 19:49 Comments || Top||


Volunteers spend five days digging out perfectly-preserved WWII TANK that has been buried 30ft beneath Cambridgeshire Fens for 74 YEARS
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

Tank or APC
Posted by: NN2N1 || 04/30/2021 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Amphib. You can video videos of Marines in WWII hitting the beaches in them. Wiki:

LVT-4 Water Buffalo, British designation Buffalo IV (1943)

FMC modified an LVT-2 in August 1943 by moving the engine forward and adding a large ramp door in the rear,[17] allowing troops to exit from the rear of the vehicle. Capacity went from 16 troops in the LVT-2 to 30, making earlier LVTs largely obsolete. This innovation also greatly facilitated the loading and unloading of cargo. Some vehicles received armor kits. It was by far the most numerous version of the LVT, with 8,348 units delivered; the US Army received 6,083, and the British Army 500. Many of the British LVT-4 were armed with a 20 mm Polsten cannon and 2 × .30 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns.

Since no major changes were made to the engine and transmission of the LVT-2, the LVT-4 was completed much quicker than the LVT-3, with the first machines going into action at Saipan in June 1944.
Posted by: Sneart Thromonter8301 || 04/30/2021 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  /\ Nicely done ST.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 8:05 Comments || Top||

#4  "journalism 101"

if it has tracks its a tank

if he/she is a non-socialist Caucasian he/she is a white supremacist
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/30/2021 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  There you go again P2K...assuming my pronouns!

/Sarc off
Posted by: Warthog || 04/30/2021 9:41 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Florida set to approve sales of 'alcohol to-go drinks' beyond pandemic
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 11:54 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We did this last night, with dinner, and Texas is also talking about making it permanent.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/30/2021 13:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Colorado is doing this as well. Glad to see the old prohibition laws dying out.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/30/2021 16:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Remember - don't drink and drive. You'll hit a bump and spill it all over yourself.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/30/2021 18:37 Comments || Top||

#4  In a perfect world, we would have gyro-stabilized cup holders.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/30/2021 19:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Lemme know when Florida and Texas have drive-through daiquiri stands. Wannabes.
Posted by: Matt || 04/30/2021 19:39 Comments || Top||

#6  In a perfect world, we would have gyro-stabilized cup holders.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 19:41 Comments || Top||


Pentagon launches investigation into 'directed energy attack' near the White House that sickened National Security Council official and another in Virginia
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • US government departments are investigating two incidents, one which reportedly took place near the Ellipse, the lawn to the south of the White House last November

  • A National Security Council official has been struck down with a mystery illness after the alleged energy attacks

  • Earlier attack took place in 2019 and was reported by a White House official who was walking her dog in a Virginia suburb near Washington

  • The invisible strikes, which can involve directing microwave energy at a target, have previously caused a number of US personnel overseas to become sick

  • The attacks on US soil have been linked to the 'Havana Syndrome', a mystery illness that caused US diplomats in Cuba to develop hearing loss and 'brain fog'
Any idea who is supposed to have done this, dear Reader? The article doesn’t say.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmm, a head-scratcher. What are they lying about now?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/30/2021 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I blamed careless handling of both passive and active Technical Surveillance Countermeasures for the USEMBASSY Havana incident. Countermeasures more commonly referred to in the community as 'Operational Security (OPSEC) and Signatures Reduction'.

Mine is a 'lone voice in the wilderness' theory, but I'm sticking with it. My runner-up theory involved targeted electronic signals collection.

Neither theory involved the Russians or other foreign intelligence services. A default frequently used by the Deep State compliant medial.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 3:36 Comments || Top||

#3 


Wait For It.
Will we be soon hearing this is the reason Biden has mental issues. That Trump, Harris, or Nancy are behind a failed "Assassination attempt"..

Regarding the cited weapon.
All the modules to build a 4000watt 100yd MW beam weapon can be purchased COTS for around $2,500.

eg. Sites like "Amazing1-dot-Com" usually have most of what is needed.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 04/30/2021 7:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Anyone read Larry Collins' Maze?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/30/2021 13:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Must be rare! It costs 354 ... Rupees? About $5 US?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/30/2021 14:11 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ Late 80s speculative fiction, Bobby.

It was about Soviet research producing a ray tuned to the specific frequencies of targeted brains to make them overreact to stimuli. The Russians drive the American Prez into fits of rage, trying to make him nuke Qom, Iran. A must read.

I don't have an e-copy or I'd share it.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/30/2021 16:13 Comments || Top||

#7  The Russian approach should be to merely let the people currently in charge destroy America on their own. This weapon is not necessary.
Posted by: Airandee || 04/30/2021 16:59 Comments || Top||

#8  you'd be amazed how sick people will feel after you asked them how sick they feel
Posted by: Retard Strength || 04/30/2021 18:42 Comments || Top||

#9  The Russians drive the American Prez into fits of rage, trying to make him nuke Qom, Iran

Would that work, do you think?
Asking for a friend.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/30/2021 18:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Asking for a friend.

Ah'll send a note to P.Trump
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 19:51 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Texas pushes closer to dropping handgun license rule
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 11:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Texas Neanderthals! But wait ...
Texas would join about 20 states that allow some form of unlicensed handgun carry

Oh, so it's no big deal.. But wait - it would be by far the biggest in terms of population.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/30/2021 14:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Tennessee recently went to a Constitutional Carry Law (no permit). There is still an enhanced carry permit in place. It is a good idea to have if travelling to states with reciprocity agreements.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/30/2021 16:36 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
California man pleads guilty to defraud Afghanistan of more than $100 million
[KhaamaPress] A man in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, pleaded guilty in a scheme to bilk the Afghanistan government out of more than $100 million in a phony bid to build an electric grid.

Sayed Ismail Amiri a 38-year-old man from Granite Bay entered a plea in Los Angeles federal court for being convicted of wire fraud, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.

Amiri could face up to 20 years in Jail, following his sentence in August of this year.

Amiri’s Afghan company, Assist Consultants Incorporated (ACI) is involved in the scheme, a federal prosecutor told VOA.

In 2015 and 2016, Amiri and his company tried to win a contract funded by the US to build electric power substations in Afghanistan, he had submitted fake work history and phony supporting documents showing that the firm met the requirements of the contract, prosecutors said.

ACI in its proposal stated that the company had been a subcontractor on substations for a cement factory in Uganda and a textile company in Nigeria, VOA reported.

But findings indicated that ACI had never worked in Africa and that two companies mentioned does not exist.

The investigations continued following Afghanistan’s national power utility request for more documents to verify ACI’s activities and work history.

Amiri sent more false and altered documents, including photographs, false bank statements, and a purported letter from a Ugandan government official, the statement said.

After facing law enforcement at U.S Embassy Amiri withdrew the ACI bid for defrauding Afghanistan of more than $100 million.

"This criminal scheme literally spanned the globe — from Kabul to Africa to California — threatening one of the most important priorities of Afghanistan’s reconstruction — the electrification of a country with infrastructure devastated by decades of war," John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan stated.

"This case demonstrates the reach and doggedness of SIGAR criminal Sherlocks, who are committed to bringing to justice anyone who seeks to gain from crimes against the American taxpayer", he added.

Amiri, ACI’s owner had received over $250 million in US-funded contracts in Afghanistan since 2013, court documents indicated.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And that's a bad thing?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  SIGAR criminal investigators, who are committed to bringing to justice anyone who seeks to gain from crimes against the American taxpayer

Really? Wow.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/30/2021 1:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm impressed. Defrauding Afghanistan must be like winning at Three-Card Monte.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/30/2021 1:48 Comments || Top||

#4  I anxiously await the discovery of a Hunter Binden-Sayed Ismail Amiri connection.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 3:21 Comments || Top||

#5  How much did Afghanistan defraud from the U.S.?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/30/2021 9:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Was looking for Hunter Karzai.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/30/2021 18:56 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Kenya tells UN it will shut two camps with 410,000 refugees by June 2022
[AlAhram] One of the two refugee camps in northern Kenya, Dadaab, close to the sensitive border with war-racked Somalia, was set up in 1991. In 2011, amid famine and chaos in Somalia, it was the world's largest camp

Kenya said on Thursday it had told the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
it will shut by June 2022 two camps holding over 410,000 refugees who fled from wars in the east and Horn of Africa, adding it planned to repatriate some and give others residency.

The interior ministry made the announcement on Twitter about five weeks after ordering the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps and giving the United Nations two weeks to present a plan to carry this out.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) replied by asking the government to ensure that vulnerable refugees would still be protected under its timeline for the closure. A Nairobi front man for the UNHCR did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest announcement.

Thursday's announcement appeared to be the decisive step by Kenya after years of discussion about closing Dadaab. The interior ministry tweet included a photo of a meeting between Minister Fred Matiang'i and UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.

"Among the precursory activities in (the government's) roadmap is repatriation of refugees to countries of origin and socio-economic integration of some of them through Work/Residence Permits (in Kenya)," the tweet read.

Legal challenges could follow. Earlier this month, a Kenyan court ruled against the closure of the camps.

Authorities in Nairobi first announced their intention to shut the Dadaab camp back in 2016, citing national security concerns over infiltration by forces of Evil from the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
Relations between Kenya and Somalia have deteriorated badly in the past year since Mogadishu cut diplomatic ties with Nairobi, accusing it of interfering in its internal affairs.

Kenya contributes troops to the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
peacekeeping force deployed in Somalia to curb the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab that seeks to topple the government. In a sign of the tense relationship, Somalia said in January it had lost confidence in Kenyan troops serving in the peacekeeping mission.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Tempers flaring as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan comes to deadly blows
Moved to non WOT
[EurasiaNet] The armed forces of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan engaged in their most vicious bout of fighting in years on April 29, exchanging automatic rifle, machine gun and artillery fire in an hours-long battle over a strategic water facility.

At least five people have reportedly been killed and several dozen injured in the clashes across a disputed border where southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan intersect.

Both governments appear on the face of things to be seeking a rapid de-escalation.

The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry announced in the evening that it had agreed with its Tajik opposite party on a ceasefire to take effect from 8 p.m. local time and for forces to withdraw.

Bishkek-based news website Kaktus reported, however, citing local officials in southern Kyrgyzstan, that gunfire could still be heard after that hour. Meanwhile, a reporter who managed to reach Chorkuh, a Tajik town on the border, told Eurasianet he heard intense artillery fire until the ceasefire hour and that it then stopped.

Popular moods will be more difficult to contain.

An ill-tempered crowd was still assembled late in the evening in front of the regional headquarters in Batken, the capital of the eponymous southern Kyrgyz region where the fighting is taking place. A Eurasianet correspondent watched as men in the throng issued angry demands that the authorities give them weapons so that they too could join the fight.
More at the link

Also:

From Russian military journalist Aleksandr Kots:

"Tajikistan continues massive shelling with mortars, machine guns and machine guns at the Golovnaya water intake located in the village of Kok-Tash in the Batken region" - the border service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan.

From a translated article which appeared in regnum.ru :
The Kyrgyz and Tajik sides pledged to cease fire at the border from 20:00 (local time) today, April 29, the press service of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said.

The corresponding agreement was reached during the talks by the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Ruslan Kazakbaev and Sirojiddin Mukhriddin .

The parties undertook to withdraw the security officials "to the places of their previous deployment" immediately after the onset of the agreed hour . We add that the negotiations between Bishkek and Dushanbe took place in several stages.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: badanov || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea reportedly testing 'suicide' drones to spy on, attack enemies
[NYPOST] North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
has reportedly finished testing "suicide" drones that can spy on and then attack the Hermit Kingdom’s enemies.

The new "miniaturized unmanned drones" are capable of "precision reconnaissance of areas deep within the frontline" — ending with "pincer attacks," meaning strikes from both flanks, sources told Daily NK.

Military authorities raced through testing of the drones after dictator Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
called their development an "important task" for the country, the report said.

The despot then reportedly sent a personally signed "grateful message" to the team, saying the successful tests "establishes yet another cornerstone to promote the advancement and strength of the Korean People’s Army."

He thanked the "hard work of all on-site researchers and [test] reviewers, who took the lead in ensuring our Party’s historical military advance [is based] on the strongest of military power," the Korean outlet said.

Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  "pincer attacks," meaning strikes from both flanks

There's a fat arse Kim joke in there somewhere.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/30/2021 1:11 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Frank G || 04/30/2021 7:01 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mount Meron tragedy: 44 killed, over 150 injured in Lag Ba'omer stampede
[JPost] - At least 44 people were killed on Thursday night after a stampede broke out as massive crowds gathered at the Mount Meron religious bonfire-lighting ceremony for the holiday of Lag Ba'omer, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "heavy disaster."

Rescue operations were underway Friday morning to evacuate the thousands of people who were still at the scene. The Transportation Ministry sent 300 empty buses to rescue the worshippers, but they were reportedly stuck in traffic due to the lack of police management of the event.

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had thronged to the Mount Meron tomb of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai for annual Lag Baomer commemorations that include all-night prayer, mystical songs and dance. Most of the dead were said to be from the Toldot Aharon hassidic sect, based in Jerusalem.
Update at 12:30 pm ET: Lord Garth gives us the Times of Israel take on the story, which describes the problem area in detail:
And at around 1 a.m. Friday morning, as large numbers of those participants made their way along a metal-floored walkway on the exit route, a disaster unfolded. The crowds were pulsing, the floor was slippery, police officers apparently blocked the exit from the narrow walkway for a time.

"There's an aluminum-floored walkway, then a stairway, and then there was a barrier," said Eli Pollack, the head of the United Hatzalah emergency rescue service. "It was a death trap."

The crush grew heavier, people fell and were trapped, a stampede ensued. "People didn't realize what was happening until it was too late," the ultra-Orthodox journalist Yaakov Eichler, told Israel's Channel 12 news hours later.

By the time they did realize, at least 45 people were dead, and dozens more were injured, many of them seriously.
The ceremonies at Meron are based on a legend that second century rabbi Shimon ben Yochoi emerged from a cave having written (or spoken) the Book of Glory (Zohar) which is a foundational Kabbalah text. Of course the Zohar using vocabulary not in existence during be Yochai's life is generally considered to be a 13th century text)
Update at 12:40 pm ET: Skidmore give us the Daily Mail’s report, which has photos, videos, and the names of the first of the dead to be identified.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/30/2021 02:27 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lag Ba'omer: What's Toldot Aharon, hassidic sect whose members were killed?

It is perhaps the most insular, well-organized and cohesive of the groups that make up Israel’s haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community; any type of intervention in its domestic affairs is tantamount to a total usurping of the community's belief system.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/30/2021 2:31 Comments || Top||

#2  ....any type of intervention in its domestic affairs is tantamount to a total usurping of the community's belief system.

A similar tribal 'belief system' exists (albeit conveniently not discussed) in Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and elsewhere.

'Mote in thine own eye' theory precludes unilateral condemnation of the Haredi.

Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 3:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Gamers are right: lag can get you killed.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/30/2021 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  When hysteria and hysteresis combine.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/30/2021 10:13 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Brazil rejects Sputnik V vaccine, says it's tainted with replicating cold virus
From Ars Technica

I have come to dislike Ars Technica for their unrelenting leftism, but I sometimes use them as sources because they're a prime example of how leftists sometimes notice the individual facts, right before they fail to integrate them.
Ouch. You’ve sharpened your scalpel to a fine edge, Snowy Thing.
Adenovirus-vector vaccines are supposed to be engineered so they can’t replicate.

Health regulators in Brazil say that doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine contain a cold-causing virus capable of replicating in human cells.

The unintended presence of the virus in the vaccine can "lead to infections in humans and can cause damage and death, especially in people with low immunity and respiratory problems, among other health problems," Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency, Anvisa, said Wednesday in a translated statement.


Russia has unequivocally denied the claim, lobbed legal threats at Anvisa, and accused the respected regulators of being politically motivated to reject the vaccine.

Still, Brazil’s findings raise serious questions about the quality and safety of the vaccine, which is now being used in many countries. The findings also support concerns of Slovak regulators, who said earlier this month that batches of Sputnik V they received did not "have the same characteristics and properties" as the Sputnik V vaccine that was described in a peer-reviewed publication and found to be 91.6 percent effective.

Moreover, quality-control issues weren’t the end of Anvisa’s concerns. In an overall evaluation of the Russian vaccine, Brazil’s regulators found its safety and efficacy were based on insufficient, limited, and sometimes faulty data and analyses. "Flaws... were identified in all stages of clinical studies," Anvisa said. The agency also reported that its inspectors who traveled to Russia to assess the vaccine’s production were barred from vaccine facilities at Gamaleya Institute, which developed Sputnik V.

In a vote late Monday, Anvisa’s five directors unanimously denied the importation and use of the Sputnik V vaccine in Brazil. Prior to the decision, 14 states and two municipalities had requested imports of the vaccine, Anvisa said.

Dire state

Brazil is currently being ravaged by the pandemic coronavirus, including a more-transmissible variant, P.1, which may evade some immune responses. The latest surge of infections peaked late last month at over 100,000 new cases in a single day. In turn, deaths peaked at over 4,000 a day in early April. New daily case counts have now fallen to a seven-day average of around 57,000 cases, which is still very high. To date, more than 14.5 million people have been infected in the country of around 211 million. Nearly 400,000 people have died.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/30/2021 11:22 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Commies


People of Color Breathe More Unhealthy Air from Nearly All Polluting Sources
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/30/2021 09:20 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scientific American, 4/28/2021. Who would have known that air pollution is racist (sarc)?
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/30/2021 9:24 Comments || Top||

#2 
White people taking in Oxygen and breathing out CO2 is endangering people of color, who produce little to no CO2. Papers are in, the science is almost settled.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/30/2021 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  The new "women and children hardest hit."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/30/2021 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  It never ends
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 04/30/2021 11:24 Comments || Top||

#5  I would say this is substantially true, at least based on my observations along the lower Mississippi River. But it's an economic thing, not a race thing - property next to industrial sites or under flight paths is cheaper, both to buy and to rent.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/30/2021 11:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Duh. There are more of them in the inner city in poor areas where things are cheap and shit. Agree with Glenmore, more an economic thing.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/30/2021 16:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Taking the breath so the rest of us don't have to.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 19:43 Comments || Top||

#8 


Some Generalities
1. Minorities tend to congregate in Metro-areas.
2. Metro-areas tend to have the most air pollution.
3. Metro-areas tend to have lower living conditions.
4. Most US Metro-areas are Democrat controlled.

Summary: The Democrats have provided their Minority Voters an unsafe living environment.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 04/30/2021 20:08 Comments || Top||


Russian Northern Fleet starts removing oldest ballistic missile subs
[BarentsObserver] Time has come for the Russian navy to withdraw from service the last class of Soviet-era strategic submarines. Phase-out, however, will take time and happen over years until all new modern Borei class submarines are delivered from the shipyard in Severodvinsk.

“Ekaterinburg” is first of the six Delta-IV subs to be decommissioned some time in 2022, according to state-affiliated news agency TASS. The submarine has been laid-up at the shipyard in Severodvinsk for the last two years, but no formal announcement on decommissioning has been made.

The submarine started to sail for the Northern Fleet in 1986, and is the second oldest in the class. In December 2011, “Ekaterinburg” made world-wide headlines as a fire broke out while the vessel was dry-docked at shipyard No. 82 in Roslyakovo north of Murmansk. It later turned out that the nuke-missiles were not removed as required before the sub entered the dry-dock. The fire was finally extinguished with seawater by lowering the dock.

A Delta-IV class submarine can carry 16 Sineva or Liner missiles, which each carry four nuclear warheads.
Posted by: badanov || 04/30/2021 05:12 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It later turned out that the nuke-missiles were not removed as required before the sub entered the dry-dock.

'Do not fire bullets at the nuclear missiles!'
Posted by: Raj || 04/30/2021 9:16 Comments || Top||


Russian frigate narrowly avoids blasting ITSELF in failed weapon test as cruise missile spins in the air before exploding in the sea just yards from the vessel
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

Wondering out loud ....Could the aircraft video taping the launch, maybe have jammed the GPS guidance system? ☺
Posted by: NN2N1 || 04/30/2021 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Shitty Russian quality control. My guess is the booster rocket thrust vectoring controls got stuck after actuating to tip the missile over.

The Russians also like to cold launch missiles (not in this case). One of the hazards of cold launch missiles is it falling back on you if it fails to ignite.
Posted by: Sneart Thromonter8301 || 04/30/2021 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I blame secret IDF advanced satellite dynamic re-tasking software.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2021 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  The Marshal Shaposhnikov frigate is being renamed Kursk II
Posted by: Frank G || 04/30/2021 9:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Ha ha ha ha

-goes back to switching out US Navy semaphore flags with LGQWERTY flags-
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/30/2021 13:31 Comments || Top||

#6  Could the aircraft video taping the launch, maybe have jammed the GPS guidance system?

Maybe the aircraft was targeting the Frigate, to keep an eye on it, and the missile picked up on it.
Not a military person myself...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/30/2021 13:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Think ST8301 has it; and like a bad firework I kept waiting for the missile to skip across the water and into a ship, but the captains didn't seem too concerned.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/30/2021 14:49 Comments || Top||


China takes a step closer to its 'space dream' after launching the core module of its ISS rival space station 'Heavenly Palace'
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/30/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  ...September 13, 1999: Never forget....

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/30/2021 8:24 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
6Islamic State
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5Antifa/BLM
3Commies
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3Govt of Iran
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2Govt of Syria
2Hamas
2Human Trafficking
2Taliban
1[untagged]
1Govt of Iran Proxies
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Narcos
1Palestinian Authority
1Fulani Herdsmen (Boko Haram)
1Govt of Iraq
1Houthis

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2021-04-30
  Iran Revolutionary Guards
Raid President and Foreign Minister's Offices
Thu 2021-04-29
  Boko Haram Releases Photos Of Tanks, Vehicles Captured From Nigerian Army
Wed 2021-04-28
  Afghanistan: US Will not Provide Air Support after Withdrawal
Tue 2021-04-27
  Explosive-laden balloons launched from Gaza towards Israel
Mon 2021-04-26
  Pak: National Counter Terrorism Authority sez more than 19,000 social media accounts taken down for inciting hate and spreading terrorism
Sun 2021-04-25
  Sri Lanka arrests top Muslim leader over 2019 Easter attacks
Sat 2021-04-24
  German court convicts ISIS woman of crimes against humanity for Yazidi enslavement
Fri 2021-04-23
  Nigeria: At Least 83 Killed As Bandits Strike Again in Zamfara
Thu 2021-04-22
  Israel retaliates after Syrian missile lands near nuclear reactor
Wed 2021-04-21
  'Unbearable' conditions push Biden administration to close Houston migrant center
Tue 2021-04-20
  Chad's president Deby dies after fighting rebels on battlefield- Army
Mon 2021-04-19
  Khartoum, ICC Agree to Try Bashir
Sun 2021-04-18
  Mozambique: Terrorists Destroy Over 100 Cabo Delgado Schools
Sat 2021-04-17
  Iran Starts Enriching Uranium at 60%, its Highest Level Ever
Fri 2021-04-16
  Russia downs American spy plane - correction: "Escorted"


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