[Daily Gazett] SARATOGA SPRINGS — Shaun Wiggins, a former CIA operative and local business owner who previously ran unsuccessfully for seats on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors and the Saratoga Springs school board, has been accused of using his influence to "groom" a woman he allegedly raped more than half a dozen times, according to a civil lawsuit filed this week.
Wiggins, the president and CEO of Soteryx Corp., a Saratoga Springs-based analytics firm, is accused of coercing the woman into having sex with him under the guise that he was preparing her for a career with the CIA through "fabricated and extended ’training exercises’" that included teaching the woman how to use her body "as a weapon."
The 58-page civil lawsuit, filed this week in state Supreme Court in New York County and first reported by the Daily Beast, claims that Wiggins sexually assaulted the woman, a Saratoga Springs resident listed only as Jane Doe, more than six times between 2017 and 2018 in New York City and other locations across the state, including the alleged victim’s Saratoga Springs apartment.
"Defendant Wiggins was operating as a ’groomer,’ using his position of actual and apparent authority and power to cause Plaintiff to accede to his repeated sexual assaults," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also claims that the woman, who was hired as a customer-relationship manager for Soteryx in August 2017, was never compensated for her work and was only paid in small increments after Wiggins assaulted her.
Jon Bell, an attorney for Wiggins and Soteryx, said the accusations are "baseless and untruthful."
"My client denies the allegations against him. The allegations are baseless and untruthful," Bell said. "We expect that Mr. Wiggins will be fully exonerated."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/26/2023 18:28 Comments ||
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#5
In a world where a morphodite Arawak
Is Lovecraft [full frontal of tallywhack],
Why can't Agent Wiggins [cue blues by Joe Liggins]
School beauties in duties? ["Black Sparrowhawk!"]
[Washington Examiner] Mexican cartels are quietly expanding their global criminal empires to include mass theft operations targeting big-box stores, luxury retail brands, and small businesses, then selling the stolen goods online and laundering the profits through Chinese brokers.
The same transnational criminal organizations, known as cartels, that have facilitated the greatest-ever human smuggling operation across the U.S.-Mexico border over the past two years and simultaneously caused the fentanyl epidemic in America now have a hand in organized retail crime.
"It’s a $70 billion a year enterprise — organized retail crime," said Eric DeLaune, special agent in charge at the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, arm within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during an announcement this week of a public-private partnership between HSI; U.S. attorneys in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi; and industry leaders from Albertsons, Home Depot, and Walmart to create an Organized Retail Crime Alliance.
These organized theft rings are not merely shoplifters — they are part of a larger band of criminals that has infiltrated every state.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Several people were injured in a shooting at a hospital in Cedar Hill, Texas. This was announced on July 25 by the local police department on social networks.
It is specified that the police went to the scene at about 12:17 local time (20:17 Moscow time). The police indicated that the shooting took place inside a medical facility.
The exact number of victims and the circumstances of the incident are being established. The suspect in the shooting has been arrested.
Earlier, IA Regnum reported the death of at least four people as a result of a shooting in the US state of Georgia. An unknown person opened fire on people in the city of Hampton, Henry County, and fled the scene.
It is also reported that in New York as a result of a shooting arranged by a man on a scooter, one person was killed and three were injured. The police detained a 21-year-old man who fired, the attacker's actions are called accidental.
#2
The US ranks 3rd in murders in the world.
If you take out -
Chicago
Detroit
Washington DC
St Louis
New Orleans
The US would rank 189 out of 193.
Generational Blue Cities with strict gun control laws (disarming the law abiding).
#3
The hospital in Walnut Creek, CA where my wife and son received cancer treatment was also a trauma center for Oakland. There were several times when security procedures changed for visitors due to treatment of gangland perps and/or victims.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 13:02 Comments ||
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[NYPOST] A dipshitpervert sicko flashed a 10-year-old girl and performed a disgusting lewd act in front of her inside a Staten Island store earlier this month, cops said.
The girl was inside the Family Dollar store on Jersey Street near Benziger Avenue in New Brighton around 8:30 a.m. July 22 when the nasty depraved stranger approached and exposed his doinkercrank genitals to her, police said late Monday.
The perv began to flog his dongstretch his baloneywhack his pud masturbate before bravely running awaydeparting expeditiously leaving the variety store, authorities said.
Surveillance photos released by the NYPD show the degenerate sleazy suspect inside the store sporting a full beard and wearing dark clothing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2023 00:00 ||
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[NYPOST] A 17-year-old boy was shot as he sat inside a car in Brooklyn early Tuesday, police said.
The teen was a backseat passenger of a vehicle at East 29th Street and Clarendon Road in Flatbush around 12:30 a.m. when a bullet flew into the car and struck him in the back, cops said.
He was taken in a private vehicle means to the Kings County Hospital Center, where he was listed in stable, pH balanced condition.
Police could not immediately confirm whether he was the intended target, and the motive for the shooting is under investigation.
Two men fled in an unknown direction and no arrests have been made, cops said.
The shooting came less than an hour after a 27-year-old man was grazed in the back at the corner of West 112th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2023 00:00 ||
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[ABC] The Marine Corps has identified the three Marines who were found dead inside a vehicle in North Carolina over the weekend.
Camp Lejeune identified the men as Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Merax C. Dockery, 23, from Pottawatomie, Oklahoma, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Ivan R. Garcia, 23, from Naples, Florida and Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, from Madison, Wisconsin.
The Pender County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a call at 9 a.m. on Sunday to look into a report of a missing person.
During their investigation authorities discovered the bodies of the three men inside a car at a Speedway convenience store in Hampstead, North Carolina, Pender County Sheriff's Office said in a press release on Tuesday.
"We do not suspect anything as far as foul play in that matter," Sgt. Chester Ward of the Pender County Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press.
[Breitbart] Actress Haley Atwell, co-star of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, has said that Hollywood has become "an industry on its knees" as writers and actors strike for better pay and benefits.
Atwell gave her diagnosis on the film industry, which has been crippled by the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike and the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) strike, when speaking at the London Equity actor’s rally last Friday. She quoted research from Deadline when saying that "87% of SAG-AFTRA members don’t earn enough to qualify for health insurance."
"There is an illusion that if you are seen on telly, then you’re fine, but for most people, that is not the case," she said. "This is not an industry that is thriving. It is an industry on its knees."
#1
When a pair of movie tickets, popcorn and a drink run close to $50. And you know you are feeding and supporting the FAR LEFT Agenda that the Hollywood is constantly is seen doing for attention.
Many are saying screw it, wait and Red-box it.
The only movie we have seen in the last 4 years in a theater, since Hollywood started playing vocal far left liberal politics, has been Sound Of Freedom.
It seems many other are Streaming movies using a Fire Stick, loaded with an app called Cinema-HD, ran over a VPN. Then watch the movie for free at home on the LCD 60+", along with drink and bag of pop-secret for under $5.
All without the constant distractions of cell phone blues lights, and other disruptions.
#2
We're about 2 generations away from doing it mostly in CGI and AI without a lot of these people. They won't disappear, but the traditional industry will shrink much like auto production or newspapers have since the 60s.
#10
As someone pointed out "Back then (Medieval times) being a fool was a job..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 16:41 Comments ||
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#11
Watch "Get Shorty"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/26/2023 18:29 Comments ||
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#12
^ Dammed if I won't. Been slipping through the cracks for a couple of years now and fits with a bunch of neo-noir (thanks, MM et al) I'm finally getting to. Wait, there's a series?
EV fire sale.
[BBC] fire on a cargo ship carrying almost 3,000 cars off the coast of the Dutch island of Ameland has left one sailor dead and 22 other crew members hurt.
Some of the crew leapt 30m (100ft) into the sea to escape the blaze.
A major salvage operation is in full swing in the North Sea and rescue teams fear the fire could burn for days.
Members of the crew initially tried to douse the flames themselves, but were overwhelmed and were eventually forced to flee.
Seven of them jumped into the water, said the captain of the Ameland lifeboat, Willard Molenaar.
"One by one, they jumped and we had to fish them out of the water," he told public broadcaster NOS. "They were really desperate so they had to jump - you don't just do that for the sake of it."
Photos shared by the coastguard showed the Panamanian-flagged Fremantle Highway engulfed in smoke, with flames licking the deck in an area of the North Sea.
The coastguard told Dutch news agency ANP the fire could continue for days. The sides of the ship were being doused with water to cool it down, but rescue boats avoided pouring too much water on board because of the risk of sinking.
The cargo ship left the port of Bremerhaven in northern Germany at about 15:00 local time on Tuesday on course for Port Said in Egypt.
It ran into trouble overnight, about 27km (17 miles) north of the Ameland in the Wadden Sea, on the edge of the North Sea designated a World Heritage site.
The coastguard said the cause of the fire was unknown, but had earlier suggested it might have been an electric car.
About 25 of the vehicles on the ship were electric.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 12:33 Comments ||
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#2
Al Ahram informs us that the ship was delivering the cars to Egypt. This suggests to me that the cars may have had irregular ownership... and possibly therefore irregular maintenance.
[Epoch Times] The IRS has announced a major yet "common-sense" policy change that will put an end to most unannounced agent visits to taxpayers’ homes, mostly because of security concerns.
The move, effective immediately, reverses decades of policy that saw IRS revenue officers knock on the doors of taxpayers’ homes without forewarning in attempts to resolve delinquent tax matters.
The reason for the change, according to a statement by the agency, is to lower the risk that anxiety-provoking surprise home visits by tax enforcement agents could spiral out of control, posing a hazard to both taxpayers and agency field officers.
"These visits created extra anxiety for taxpayers already wary of potential scam artists," IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement. "At the same time, the uncertainty around what IRS employees faced when visiting these homes created stress for them as well. This is the right thing to do and the right time to end it."
Part of the problem, according to the IRS, is that there has been a rise in recent years of scam artists posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for both taxpayers and local law enforcement.
The change comes amid the IRS’s recent rollout of a new Strategic Operating Plan, which seeks, in part, to put a kinder face on the tax enforcement agency. The rest of the story --
The union for tax agents, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), praised the decision to shift policy regarding unannounced door knocks.
"We applaud Commissioner Werfel’s quick action after hearing the safety concerns raised by NTEU leaders and IRS Field Collection employees who faced dangerous situations that put their safety at risk," Tony Reardon, president of the NTEU, said in a statement.
He blamed "false, inflammatory rhetoric about the agency and its workforce" for adding to the danger facing field agents.
While Mr. Reardon didn’t elaborate, his remarks suggest a reference to Republican allegations that part of the recent $80 billion funding boost would be used to hire an "army" of new IRS agents who would target lower-earning Americans with audits.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/26/2023 10:35 ||
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[8 views]
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#1
It would be interesting to see a map of the US overlayed with a dot for every one of those visits. I suspect that there are big population centers with few visits.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 12:32 Comments ||
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#2
Glad work for cash ans cash only.
Posted by: Chris ||
07/26/2023 13:10 Comments ||
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[USNI News] The Marine Corps stood up its first-ever Tomahawk cruise missile battery at Camp Pendleton, Calif., last week.
Alpha Battery, which falls under the 11th Marine Regiment, is the first of three Long-Range Missile (LMSL) batteries that the service plans to procure starting in FY 2024.The Long-Range Fires Launcher will use the same ROGUE-Fires carrier of the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) and mount a single Mk.41 vertical launch system cell, according to budgetary documents. Each LMSL battery will have 16 launchers, former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said in a statement before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"This is a historic chapter in the Marine Corps and the 11th Marine Regiment. The American people expect the Marine Corps to prepare for war," said Col. Patrick Eldridge, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Regiment, in the activation ceremony’s press release.
USNI News previously reported that the service was pursuing a JTLV-based Tomahawk launcher in 2020. This concept was tested last year, with May’s Force Design 2030 Annual Update stating "conducted a ground launch of a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile mounted on a remotely operated mobile launcher."
The Marine Corps has described the LMSL batteries as a way for the service to "provide Combatant Commanders with the ability to employ an agile, mobile, land-bases system, capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles to complement surface and sub-surface launched missiles."
Tomahawks are one of the key assets being procured to achieve a long-range fires capability as the service gears up for challenges in the Pacific through Force Design 2030.
"These Marines have done phenomenal things. They took an idea and are making it work. The job just started, but this capability will be able to reach out and provide devastating and lethal fires," Capt. Justin Hillebrand, Alpha Battery’s first commander, said in the activation ceremony’s press release.
Alpha Battery is the latest development in the Marine Corps’ anti-ship efforts. A few days prior to the activation, the 11th Marine Regiment also conducted a NMESIS live fire at Point Mugu. This was the first firing of the service’s Naval Strike Missile in two years, the last occurring in 2021.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 07:22 ||
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#1
Wait. Doesn't the name of that missile offend the indigenous genes of Senator Warren?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/26/2023 9:11 Comments ||
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#2
So there will be Marines fighting from an air conditioned office?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 12:38 Comments ||
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#3
More like an air-conditioned shipping container. And the AC is for the computers.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 12:49 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds like the Navy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 13:21 Comments ||
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#5
The USMC had Defense Battalions before and during WW2 especially in the Pacific. The job of garrisoning and defending naval anchorages and airfields is a valid task.
#6
Now that TLAM-N is back on the table, the Marines could be in the strategic forces game.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 17:21 Comments ||
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#7
"... use the same ROGUE-Fires carrier of the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) and mount a single Mk.41 vertical launch system cell,"
So if the current munition --and importantly munitions developed in the future -- can fit in a VLS cell the Marines will be able to launch it. This flexibility seems to be very important for the future.
#3
Traditionally, Paraguayan and Bolivian gangsters and drug traffickers have flown their wives to Texas where they give birth in Houston hospitals. This facilitates parents movement in and out of USA.
#4
I think the Constitution would need to be amended.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 12:57 Comments ||
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#5
"the Constitution would need to be amended"
Just like separation of church and state which does not exist in the constitution or bill of rights. You would be surprised in how much of life is interpretation.
#6
^ strictly speaking, yes. However, the intent of the wording was to prevent states (whose names we do not mention) from restricting the definition of citizen from former slaves. Anyone who that was intended to protect from that has long since died.
Are children of diplomatic personnel in the US, who are born here, citizens by the current interpretations? Are the children of military members who's spouse delivers in a foreign country, foreign nationals or American citizens? Something seems inconsistent and subject to illogical rationalizations. The key is what is pointed out in #1.
#7
So, we get the return of the "one drop rule," and suddenly 23andMe discovers everyone on the planet has some Norte Americano DNA.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 13:51 Comments ||
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#8
It is simple and a part of US Common Law for 200 years, BEFORE the LSD's agenda adjusted it.
Criminals are not allowed to keep the benefit shalt by their crime.
Otherwise, a bank robber would be allowed to give part of the stolen $$$$ to the DA/Judge for Immunity.
Hence, why ILLEGALS playing this LSD created loophole should NOT be allowed to do so.
[AFRICANEWS] The Congolese soldier allegedly responsible for a family massacre that killed 13 people including nine children on Saturday in Ituri, in the north-east of the DRC, was arrested and will be tried on Tuesday, we learned Monday from a military source.
According to testimonies collected on Sunday, this soldier had not supported that one of his children, who died in his absence, was buried without his being informed. Returning to the locality of the death, the fishing village of Nyakova, in the territory of Djugu, he opened fire on the people gathered for the mourning of the child.
Thirteen of them, including at least nine children, were killed, according to a report released by concordant sources. According to an army front man, two of the soldier's own children were among the dead.
Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, front man for the army in the region, clarified that this soldier was a private assigned to the 332nd naval force of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... ), based in Tacoma, on the shores of Lake Albert, bordering Uganda.
According to him, after the killing, the soldier fled and hid in Tchomia, where he was found on Sunday evening and "placed at the disposal of justice for trial". Chomia is 2 km from Nyakova.
"The military prosecutor is preparing the file for a trial which begins in flagrante this Tuesday in Tchomia," Colonel Magistrate Joseph Makelele, senior military prosecutor at the military court in Ituri province, told AFP. Called Babby Ndombe Opetu, this 32-year-old soldier is being prosecuted for murder and "violation of instructions", he added.
A civil society source said on Sunday that a 14th victim had died from his injuries, which has not been confirmed. On the other hand, according to another source, a neighbor of the scene of the tragedy, panicked by the shots, had a heart attack and died.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/26/2023 00:00 ||
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[Antiwar.com] CIA Director William Burns says the spy agency is 'making progress' in China
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday that Beijing would take countermeasures in response to the CIA saying it’s making progress on rebuilding spy networks inside China after losing assets in the country over a decade ago.
CIA Director William Burns made the comments last week at the Aspen Security Forum. "We’ve made progress, and we’re working very hard over recent years to ensure that we have strong human intelligence capability to complement what we can acquire through other methods," he said, according to The South China Morning Post.
Responding to Burns’ comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, "This is rather concerning. The US on the one hand keeps spreading disinformation on so-called ’Chinese spying and cyber attacks,’ and on the other hand tells the public about its large-scale intelligence activities targeting China." She added that China will "take all measures necessary to safeguard national security."
According to a 2017 report from The New York Times, China broke up an American spy ring by killing or imprisoning more than a dozen CIA sources between 2010 and 2012. In 2018, a Foreign Policy report said the number of CIA assets caught in China was around 30 and said the spy ring was discovered due to a botched communication system.
#4
LOL, they couldn't cut the mustard in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, and now they are going to try it in a totally different culture, etc., etc. Laughable.
#5
Dear citizens of China, give now often the American administrations have compromised 'contacts' in other countries, you probably be signing your own death certificate playing this game. About the only ones our guys could sign up would be 'double agents' working for the other side.
#8
The idea of this update is dumb. Glad the Biden Administration remains consistent.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 12:49 Comments ||
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#9
Why they don't just rent out a few hundred billboards near interstate highways and put this news out there that way? So glad the 'adults' are back in charge.
[Shafaq News] U.S. Southern Command chief Army Gen. Laura Richardson said China's growing presence in the Americas is a "pacing challenge" for the U.S. military.
In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Richardson, who became only the second woman in history to be promoted to the rank of Army general in October 2021 and the third to lead a combatant command, said China is using its Belt and Road Initiative to invest in infrastructure across the region, and that the U.S. needs to offer competitive options.
"If you're picking a company that's under a communist government that doesn't honor the human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... of their own people, they're certainly not going to honor the ones of your people," Richardson told Newsweek. "And the backdoors into government networks, that becomes a challenge."
Richardson said China is also expanding its military presence in the region and that the U.S. needs to be prepared to counter that.
"With the largest military buildup in mainland China of conventional and nuclear forces in the last couple of decades," Richardson said, "you have to ask yourself, 'Why such the investment in critical infrastructure across the globe?'"
"What I worry about is the dual use flipping to the military application if needed," she added. "They've already got their hooks in the critical infrastructure and that's my biggest concern as a military commander and as SOUTHCOM commander."
Richardson said the U.S. is working to rally regional partners to join "Team USA" to "push forward the democratic agenda for a free, secure, prosperous Western Hemisphere."
"This is what it's all about," she said "We're trying to get after it as fast as we can and bring this economic investment to the beachhead."
[ZERO] As the federal government expands overseas sales of firearms, Sig Sauer, a gun maker in New Hampshire, has emerged as the leading exporter of pistols.
"The economic and political forces driving those sales were set in motion after the US assault-weapons ban expired in 2004. But they've reached new heights since gunmakers in 2020 won a decade-long battle to streamline export approvals," Bloomberg said.
After the ban was lifted, exports of semiautomatics skyrocketed to 3.7 million units -- more than doubling in the past six years.
#5
^ for an almost 6 year old article, it is at least a bit more factual.
A few engineering revisions have occurred since then. Just sayin'
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 8:52 Comments ||
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#6
So Enver, are you a Beretta 92 fan or a Turkish 1911 aficionado? SIGs seem to get you worked up. Or are you a Glock person? There are plenty of articles about cops shooting themselves accidentally with their Glocks. And they didn't even have to drop them.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 8:54 Comments ||
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#7
There was never a recall on P320 triggers. A voluntary upgrade program was instituted. How many replaced their triggers? Even w/ the fix, new problems cropped up.
2021: About Those SIG P320 Lawsuits None of the current lawsuits appear to be in any way related to the now-fixed drop safety issue and most, if not all of the allegations seem to involve upgraded pistols or those produced after the drop safety problem was identified by SIG.
The current allegations, then, are different, claiming that the P320 is prone to “un-commanded discharges.”
#9
At this point it's lawyers chasing an "unintended acceleration case." They are sure there's a contingency pony under that pile somewhere...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 9:47 Comments ||
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#10
Israeli Carry for my Glock 23 .40 caliber about 99% of the time these days. On the few occasions when I have heightened situational awareness I will rack the slide, keenly away of the chambered round. Seems to have worked for me for many, many years. I do confess I have very few occasions these days to feel the need for heightened awareness.
[People] The crackdown on cruises is expanding to another major city.
In a multi-step effort to tame what they call "nuisance tourism," leaders in this tourist-favorite city are looking to place limits on cruise ships.
Amsterdam city officials confirmed Friday that they voted to ban cruise ships from disembarking passengers in the downtown area or docking at a terminal near the center of the Dutch capital.
The ban comes as the latest effort by city officials to cut down on the high volume of tourists coming into the city each year and to prevent air pollution.
The political party D66 said in an announcement on Thursday that a majority of the city council voted in favor of the proposal. The liberal political party has a strong focus on combating climate issues.
"Cruise ships in the center of the city don't fit in with Amsterdam's task of cutting the number of tourists," said D66 party leader Ilana Rooderkerk.
Rooderkerk also recently compared cruise tourists to a type of "plague of locusts" when they descend the ship to spend a short time in the city all at once.
[NYP] Long gone are the days of spontaneous holidays overseas.
Beginning in 2024, the European Union will require visitors to get pre-approval via the European Travel Information and Authorisation System — and that goes for summer jet-setters from the US.
Before securing tickets, lodging, or a reservation at that trendy hotspot you saw on TikTok, vacationers will need to submit an ETIAS application for approximately $8.
Applicants will need to provide travel documentation, such as a passport, as well as personal information, education level, current occupation, anticipated trip details, and any criminal convictions.
While most applications are processed within minutes, some take longer to yield a decision and the European Union advises visitors to apply "well in advance."
A response is promised within four days but could be extended by 14 to 30 days depending on the circumstance.
Once the authorization is secured, however, it is valid for up to three years or until the visitor’s passport expires.
#2
Wie Du mir, so ich Dir. No surprise. The US has been doing the same bullshit for years to travelers to the US. See Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
#3
Been there seen that. Given the eurines' ongoing dislike for America and Americans, I'm no more likely to spend money to go there again than to see a Hollywood movie or drink Bud Light.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 6:43 Comments ||
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#4
/\ The epidemic of 'class envy' knows no global boundaries.
More normalcy, less dependence on the Biden administration’s condenscension.
[IsraelTimes] Israel has finalized a free trade agreement with Vietnam, the Prime Minister’s Office announces.
The deal was signed by Economy Minister Nir Barkat and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Hong Dien at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang.
The Prime Minister’s Office says the agreement, which was signed thirty years after Jerusalem and Hanoi established diplomatic ties, includes a reduction of customs duties and will make it easier for Israeli firms to do business in Vietnam.
"I expect to expand our relations on innovation in all areas in which we can improve the lives of citizens in both countries," Netanyahu is quoted saying in a statement from his office. "The cooperation between us opens new horizons."
#1
If they are not using USD to settle accounts (I couldn't see that detail though may just have missed it), then this is another chip away at dollar dominance in international trade.
Posted by: Tom ||
07/26/2023 12:31 Comments ||
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[Dawn] An Ahmadi place of worship was vandalised in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... ’s Drigh Road area within the limits of Shah Faisal Colony, police and spokesperson for the community said on Tuesday. Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tariq Nawaz told Dawn.com that around four persons damaged the minarets on Monday.
He said that police had taken cognisance of the matter and asked a member of the community to lodge a first information report (FIR).
The senior officer said that a person identified as Bilal was in touch with the Shah Faisal Colony station house officer (SHO) till Monday night and officials had advised him to lodge a report.
"As many as 10 Ahmadi places of worship have been attacked during the current year and so far, none of the aggressors have been held," the blurb said.
He said that police had received an application regarding the vandalism, adding that the complainant stated that an FIR would be registered after consulting with the Ahmadi community.
Amir Mehmood, a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community, also said that an application for registering a FIR had been submitted to the police.
The spokesperson said around a dozen people had entered the place of worship at around 3:45pm on Monday and destroyed the minarets with hammers and put "hateful graffiti on the walls".
He recalled that a few months ago, two places of worship in Saddar and Martin Quarters were vandalised. He said that FIRs were registered in both the cases but police had yet to inform them of the progress in either of them.
He said that the place of worship in Drigh Road had existed since Pakistain was created. "The government has utterly failed to provide security to Ahmadi places of worship," Mehmood said.
In Pakistan if you’re not the Master Religion, you’re nothing.
GOVT URGED TO PROVIDE SECURITY
Separately, a blurb from the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Pakistain spokesperson called on the government to provide security to the community’s places of worship.
Strongly condemning the incident, the spokesperson said the community’s opponents had "crossed all limits of decency" and the "hate campaign against Ahmadis now knows no bounds".
"As many as 10 Ahmadi places of worship have been attacked during the current year and so far, none of the aggressors have been held," the blurb said.
The spokesperson said Ahmadis were feeling "an extreme sense of insecurity" while living in their own homeland and the actions of hatemongers were ruining the country’s international image.
"It is high time that such hate mongers are put behind bars so they cannot undermine the fabric of religious harmony in the country any further."
The spokesperson claimed that miscreants had "finalised plans to attack the Ahmadi places of worship" in various cities and towns across the country in Muharram, adding that announcements for such attacks were being openly made on social media platforms.
The blurb said it was the government’s responsibility to arrange security for the community’s worship places so miscreants were unable to harm them.
The drive against the Ahmadi community, which has become a regular feature in Punjab, is not only bringing a bad name to the country, but also inviting the ire of UN bodies. After a campaign last month to stop Ahmadis from offering sacrifice on Eidul Azha, the latest drive launched against the community involves demolition of the minarets of their places of worship. The drive is being spearheaded by the Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistain (TLP).
A Barelvi version of the Muslim Brotherhood founded in 2015 because the existing Pakistani political parties were not radical enough, TLP wants to make Sharia law preeminent via politics — their previous project being the 2021 protests that drove Prime Minister Imran Khan out of office.
[Epoch Times] The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that cases of dengue fever could reach record highs this year. Dengue rates are rising globally, with reported cases since 2000 up eight-fold to 4.2 million in 2022, a WHO official said on July 21.
Dengue fever can be caused by the dengue virus 1, 2, 3, or 4, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The illness is transmitted primarily via the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which the CDC says is active during the day.
The most common symptom of dengue is a fever with nausea, vomiting, rash, aches, and pains, including eye pain, muscle pain, and bone pain. Symptoms generally last between two and seven days, the CDC says.
Most patients who contract dengue fever recover without hospitalization, said Dr. David O. Freedman, a former professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But the rest of the world needs a vaccine!
Meanwhile, drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said earlier this month that it has voluntarily withdrawn its application for its dengue vaccine candidate, following discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Japan-based company cited data collection issues, which cannot be addressed within the current review cycle.
Takeda’s vaccine, branded as QDENGA, was authorized in the European Union last year for use in those aged 4 and older to prevent any of the four so-called serotypes of dengue. It has also been approved in the UK, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, and Thailand, according to the company.
Sanofi’s Dengvaxia, the world’s first dengue vaccine, was licensed in 2015. However, the use of the French company’s vaccine was scaled back considerably after it emerged that it increased the risk of severe disease in "seronegative" children, or those who had no prior dengue exposure when they got the shot.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/26/2023 10:22 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under:
Confirmation bias is a real thing—we tend to notice things that reinforce our preconceived notions.
But damn. Cruising through Twitter I saw not one, not two, but three stories about prominent people being treated for life-threatening blood clots all posted within an hour. And, of course, some very prominent people who you would not expect to have heart attacks (can’t think of any names right now, can you?) have been collapsing before our eyes.
Yes, confirmation bias is real. I could be just noticing things, although I really haven’t been thinking about blood clots or heart attacks without prompting.
In a world with 7 billion people, even improbably things happen.
But damn, there sure SEEM to be a lot of prominent people with serious circulatory problems all of a sudden. And they tend to be young. It’s not like getting the news that a 90 year old dropped over dead. These are often kids and young adults.
#4
3 of our 11 our Medical nurses, LEO's, Firefighters Active Duty / Retired DOD that were forced, or took the Vax-ccident and boosters for medical reasons, have developed heart / blood relates issues and 1 has strangely developed a sudden body wide Lymphoma cancer, despite regular 6 month checkups.
#6
Honestly we've reached Unit 731 level of behavior by our 'experts'. If we had a real republic, the legislative branch should be preparing the legal ground work for crimes against humanity tribunals.
#8
^ Now there is condunrum for Black-America which overwhelmingly votes Democrat. The party that supported the KKK, Jim Crow laws, funded the racist run PPH and conception to 9 month abortions.
BTW: Look up the abortion demographics. It seems the Democrats pro abortion agenda has eliminated about 4.5+++ millon Black births.
#9
So, the dems tie one hand behind their backs and electorally beat the Pubs senseless.
Nice work.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 8:50 Comments ||
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#10
There was a great deal of concern voiced at one point about low levels of vaccination — and high levels of vaccination refusal — in the African-American population.
On the other hand, the pressure on athletes, both professional and amateur, to get the shots was really high.
#3
Yes, and how long before they can be used to induce stress or fatigue as well?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/26/2023 8:57 Comments ||
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#4
So then or course we'll get a "malingering number" defined by a board somewhere.
("Take your amphetamine! You will give 110%.")
Posted by: ed in texas ||
07/26/2023 12:46 Comments ||
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#5
If you just make yourself angry periodically, will it look to AI like your working - asking for a friend.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/26/2023 13:07 Comments ||
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#6
Any excuse to buy crap from some friend of the administration with backchannel rewards already set up. If your Platoon Sergeant can't give you this, get rid of him and find one who can!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Washington Examiner] Mexican cartels are quietly expanding their global criminal empires to include mass theft operations targeting big-box stores, luxury retail brands, and small businesses, then selling the stolen goods online and laundering the profits through Chinese brokers.
[NYPOST] A 
[NYPOST] A 17-year-old boy was shot as he sat inside a car in Brooklyn early Tuesday, police said. 
[Epoch Times] The IRS has announced a major yet "common-sense" policy change that will put an end to most unannounced agent visits to taxpayers’ homes, mostly because of security concerns.
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka 
[Antiwar.com] CIA Director William Burns says the spy agency is 'making progress' in China
[Epoch Times] The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that cases of dengue fever could reach record highs this year. Dengue rates are rising globally, with reported cases since 2000 up eight-fold to 4.2 million in 2022, a WHO official said on July 21.
