[Powerline] BlogReuters’ Greg Roumeliotis has reported within the past few minutes:
Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is poised to agree a sale to Elon Musk for around $43 billion in cash, the price the chief executive of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has called his "best and final" offer for the social media company, people familiar with the matter said. How many Twitterites will quit?
Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, the sources said. It is always possible that the deal collapses at the last minute, the sources added. The shareholders would be nuts to turn down this deal.
Musk, the world’s richest person according to a tally by Forbes, is negotiating to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla is not involved in the deal.
Twitter has not been able to secure so far a ’go-shop’ provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed, the sources said. Still, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party by paying Musk a break-up fee, the sources added.
Complete with the marijuana joke embedded in the share price...let the meltdown begin.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
fyi, the marijuana joke is that april 20 is 'marijuana day'
april 20 = 4.20
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/26/2022 8:44 Comments ||
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#2
The meltdowns are going to be epic today.
Posted by: Chris ||
04/26/2022 9:31 Comments ||
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#5
My question is, How does Elon Musk think he's gonna make money out of this?
He didn't get to be that rich by blowing cash on losing propositions. He must see something renumerative in the distance.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/26/2022 9:57 Comments ||
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#6
He has said this is a matter of principle, ed, so perhaps he isn’t thinking of principal this time. At a certain point one has enough money, as someone said, and other parts of his conglomerate are apparently finally throwing off profits.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2022 11:36 Comments ||
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#11
Kek
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/26/2022 14:38 Comments ||
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#12
OK, here's the thing. Musk won the bid by getting over $25bil in support from Morgan Stanley and other banks. Banks, as a rule, aren't terribly impressed your principles. They like to see a positive cash flow. And Twit hasn't been terribly profitable.
Now, at some point, Musk has told them, "You know I'm good for it."
I also note that Tesla stock trended down thru this. I'm wondering if maybe he's decided to sell off Tesla and go on to the next shiny thing...
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/26/2022 14:55 Comments ||
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#13
I think it's more about buying some insurance that there's still a USA to sell Teslas and SpaceX rocket launches to.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/26/2022 15:00 Comments ||
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#14
Maybe Musk will make money because the woke, pain-in-the-ass deadwood will be departing.
[The Burning Platform] Neither NATO nor Russia is telling us what really happened with the Moskva, the legendary admiral ship of the Black Sea fleet.
NATO because in theory, they know. Moscow, for its part, made it clear they are not saying anything until they can be sure what happened.
One thing is certain. If the Russian Ministry of Defense finds out that NATO did it, they will let loose all the dogs from Hell on NATO, as in "asymmetrical, lethal and fast".
On Moskva’s location: it was positioned near one of 3 drilling rigs, used for monitoring a whole sector of the Black Sea with hydrophones and NEVA-BS radar, the most westward one, BK-2 Odessa, approximately 66 km northeast from Snake Island. The whole thing was integrated in the regional monitoring systems. As in everything, literally, was monitored: ships, low flying targets, smaller echoes, even the bobbing head of an unsuspecting swimmer.
So there was a quite slim chance that anything — not to mention subsonic Neptune missiles and Bayraktar drones — could have slipped through this aerial net.
So what could have possibly happened?
It could have been some kind of underwater drone, released either from some sneaky sub, or by a SBS team, coming from the western coast, with a stopover at Snake Island. Then that drone somehow managed to drill itself through the Moskva’s hull from below — and exploded its payload inside.
What follows comes from a top source in Brussels: serious, trustworthy, proven record spanning nearly two decades. Yet he may be just spreading disinformation. Or bragging. Or that may be rock solid intel.
Before we start, we should point out it’s hard to believe the Neptune/Bayraktar fairytale angle. After all, as we’ve seen, the Russian fleet had established a multidimensional surveillance/defense layer in the direction of Odessa.
#4
The Russians clearly believe it was done by Neptune missiles -- the next day they bombed the plant where they're made, despite leaving if untouched up to that point.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/26/2022 6:30 Comments ||
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#5
I'm assuming no alien involvement rules out a Tucker Carlson segment.
If this theory is true what are the odds that
the deadly March 3rd aircraft crashes in Romania were caused by Russian foul play and that the Moskva strike was NATO's retaliation?
#8
I don't understand the desperation to enlarge this story. The Moskva was operating near the coast; the Ukrainians had a decent idea where it was. The drones they licensed were reported -- by Russia -- as "harassing" the Moskva before the explosion. The next day the Russians struck a munitions plant they had previously ignored -- the very one that makes the Neptune missile.
The only open questions are: what happened to the Moskva's own active defenses, what happened to its escorts and their defenses, and what happened to the Moskva's damage control.
I guess spinning conspiracy theories attracts eyeballs, but it doesn't enlighten anyone. Just the opposite, in fact.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/26/2022 7:36 Comments ||
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#11
The USS Stark got hit despite its sensors and defense. The missile came in the one blind spot and its active defenses were not turned on until it was too late.
I suspect a similar round of incompetence happened on the Moskva.
#12
Darth, was Stark escorted or, itself, an escort?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/26/2022 8:51 Comments ||
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#13
Here's a conspiracy theory: The fleet's air defense systems were undermined by the theft of 70% of the fleet's air defense budget. But we know that kind of thing could never happen in Putin's Russia.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/26/2022 8:51 Comments ||
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#14
Well, given the Russian Army's various failures, is it too outlandish to think the Navy might also have screwed the pooch?
#18
In reading the full article from Burning Platform, several points it makes seem relevant. While not defining the number of drones initially involved in the precursor attack, it does suggest they caused significant physical damage to onboard antenna arrray leaving the ship "half=blind". Additionally, it suggests that the missile strike may have used external (possibly NATO) guidance to avoid using the internal missile guidance radar, thus reducing the warning time onboard Moskva to as little as 45 seconds. If the CIC was overwhelmed with damage control or sensor input overload, it may explain the failure of CIWS to prevent the Neptune impacts. To me, it seems these make the Ukrainian story reasonable, when added to the reasonable possibility of drone attack on sensor arrays onboard. But I'm not a alumnus of Canoe U so I look to others for thoughts more maritime.
#20
Active Defense Fail could be simply a chain of 'Unfortunate Events' such as corrupt manufacturing practices, failure to properly maintain the onboard arsenal and just bad training... All properly documented (AKA 'paper over') as being in "good working order" by the officers involved.
#22
Some conspiracy mongers were worked up that A P-8 had been in the area. I don't know if it was there at the time of the event, but if so, it would have seen things. But it's not an AWACS. It can't direct things. Not non-US made weapons things, at any rate.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/26/2022 12:59 Comments ||
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#23
Usually anti-ship missiles fly out to a programmed location before they search. Ships don’t change locations far or fast. I could be wrong. I have not studied the Neptune.
Keeping damage control parties trained with people rotating in and out in a conscription situation would be difficult. Not sure the Russian Navy would be up to that readiness challenge. The Soviets used to just anchor and rust.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/26/2022 13:16 Comments ||
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#24
If the Moskva put to sea shorthanded, you can toss their readiness and damage control standards right out the window.
#26
Good article at Burning Platform!
Just thinking out loud... Perhaps the reason the Russians are not saying anything is because they know NATO was responsible/complicit and now is not the time to respond.
Also, why isn't JTOL (Just Thinking Out Loud) a standard internet acronym?
#27
Perhaps the reason the Russians are not saying anything is because they know NATO was responsible/complicit and now is not the time to respond.
I don't think so. Already Russian internal propaganda is already framing this war as one between Russia and the NATO "Infrastructure" and I doubt for one minute that Putie-Pie wouldn't scream bloody murder if NATO helped sink the Moskva.
For me that plants this firmly into Russia knowing that the crew was short handed and not trained and incompetent. Either a mishap or not being able to stop two anti-ship missiles is enough of a black eye for Russia not to respond.
#29
Keep in mind the Moskva doesn't function equivalently to an aegis destroyer; it doesn't have 360 degree coverage of the airspace around it with a phased array radar, and the close-in weapons don't have their own search radars the way the phalanx system does on an American ship. (Oh, and all those have failed on American ships before). Based on the descriptions I read, it had the same radars etc. it had back in the 80's. Which weren't up to standard with an old western AEGIS sysem built then. I think the "We could surveil everything in the area" argument is inaccurate.
#30
Moskva is an old ship from 80's. If the attack was with Neptune it should have still downed a couple of them, albeit not knowing radar and weapons status in the ship
Still it is clear they did not know what attacked them. The radar directors are all in default position so it appears there was no defence engaged.
#31
I'm thinking back on the Falklands war when the General Belgrano got hit by a torpedo? and could have survived except the water-tight doors couldn't be sealed because they had year after year of paint on them without anyone ever chipping the paint off first. From what I've seen of the Russian land forces that kind of thing seems very possible.
#32
Neptue is roughly equivalent to a US Harpoon missile, some say its basically a copy with modern electronics due to access to western tech. Also it appears a nearly identical missile, named the Kumsong 3, has been seen being tested in North Korea as far back as 2014.
I believe it is also a sea skimmer, and uses Inertial nav and then a terminal acvtive radar homing for the final attack.
It doesnt require a conspiracy for these to have been effective. Look to the FAA accident reports and the "swiss cheese" model of root cause analysis.
First off, if the missile took a dog-leg course in to come from an unexpected azimuth, one designed to avoid most detection, that would account for the lack of timely defensive actions. The fleet also demonstrated poor security (see the Russian landing ship destroyed in port_prior to this), the primary threat orientation axis wat likely focused toward the coast, and the presence of a Bayraktar TB2 in the area (possibly as a spotter) being a big distraction as well (to the wrong axis), add to thtat the demonstrated poor command and control capabilities of Russian command and staff (meaning the distraction would have drawn too much attention away from other threats until too late), and the Russian reputation for poor maintenance in peacetime, and absolutely terrible damage control capability...
You don't need a conspiracy at all. Just luck and timing to sink the Moskva. Its not one of those things the Ukrainian could depend on, like an Alpha Strike from a carrier group, but it's one of those "keep throwing stuff until something gets thru" moments that can happen in a war.
The article is full of far less probable and sensational fantasy tales. Sometimes the truth is rather simple and obvious if one looks at all the available data.
Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
[Chervonec] The truth about the provocation in Bucha is revealed. The Guardian publishes the first results of a forensic medical examination of the bodies found in Irpen and Bucha. Despite the general propagandistic presentation of "Russia is to blame", amazing things are being revealed!
1) even if the Ukrainian forensic experts are to be believed, people were not killed by bullets, but by fragments of anti-personnel shells - during shelling (the Ukrainian side announced the execution of civilians)
2) Such ammunition is not prohibited by conventions, but their use in cities is a violation of humanitarian law.
3) Photography experts have determined that such “darts” are used in the 122-mm ZSh-1 projectile
4) The projectile approaches the D-30 howitzer, which is in service with both Russia and Ukraine (about this, that this may be Ukrainian ammunition - not a word in the article)
5) With a huge degree of probability it was Ukrainian artillery - the shelling of Bucha, occupied by the RF Armed Forces, was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and no one particularly denies this from the Ukrainian side.
All this suggests that the world media lied to us massively about the "mass executions", and with a careful approach, it turns out that it is much more likely that these fragments are from the arsenals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ammunition with such a filling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been regularly used by the Ukrainian side during the conflict since 2014.
Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxons stubbornly write that it was the Russians who criminally fired upon themselves, "a few days before they left Bucha."
The Ukrainian side is playing an information war game, not disdaining performances and fakes, and creating an alternative universe for the population of Ukraine. In this metauniverse, Ukrainians feel good and comfortable, but it will be all the more painful to feel the revealed reality. Because you can't lie forever.
As for the few people who were shot with white armbands and with their hands tied, these are the victims of the Ukrainian police forces who entered the city to clean up and chase everyone who was without a blue bandage.
Remember? Bucha. We listen :
- There are boys without blue armbands, can I shoot at them?
- And then, damn it!
And then you hear requests not to kill and the sound of gunshots.
#1
This blogger I do not believe. Anyone the report saids that some of women were raped before they were shot. Does not sound like Ukrainians to do the raping. Plus many of the bodies were burnt. Read on
This guy is pure Putinist; he'll say anything, no matter how ridiculous, to support his tsar.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/26/2022 6:27 Comments ||
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#3
You got your pure Putinists and your pure Bidenists. Honestly, I don't know which is worse. We've all heard it said before: The first casualty in war is the truth. Also: The winner gets to write the history books.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/26/2022 13:16 Comments ||
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Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] 1. Mariupol.
The humanitarian corridor did not work as expected. It is obvious that Ukraine is not capable of negotiating. Slow fighting continued in the northeastern part of Azovstal. According to the mayor of Mariupol, it will not be restored. And here is the plant. Ilyich and Azovmash will.
2. Zaporozhye.
On the line Vasilievka-Orekhov-Gulyaipole without changes. The Russian flag was raised in Vasilievka. To the east of Gulyaipole - fighting. The Armed Forces of Ukraine celebrate the advance of the RF Armed Forces by 7-10 km. The main advance is between Gulyaipole and Velikaya Novoselka. The pace of progress is low.
3. Ugledar.
Serious fighting in the area of Novomikhailovka and Velikaya Novoselovka. There is no significant progress.
4. Marinka.
There is no significant progress in the village, as before, positional battles are going on near the waste heap.
5. Avdievka.
In the industrial complex of Avdievka, there are no changes. The battles for Novoselka-2 are intensifying. The DPR army will clearly seek to cut the Konstantinovka-Avdievka highway. In the direction of New York, no change.
6. LPR.
Fighting in the outskirts of Rubizhne and on the outskirts of Severodonetsk. In Popasna, the LPR army has a small advance in the city center. Just now they took Novotoshkovskoye, where a powerful fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was located.
7. Izyum.
The troops continue to advance towards the Barvenkovo-Slavyansk highway. The fighting is going on in the area of the villages of Kurulka and Pashkovo. The village of Zarechnoye was taken, after which a direct exit to Krasny Liman was opened. The enemy is trying to strain the open flank of the advancing group by attacking from the west and claiming to occupy the village of Zavody to the west of Izyum.
8. Kharkov.
Positional battles to the north and east of the city. Attempts to advance in the direction of Goptovka ended with heavy losses for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Shelling of the village of Nekhoteevka on the territory of the Russian Federation is noted. The battles here are mostly positional in nature.
9. Nikolaev.
The parties do not conduct an active offensive, being engaged in the accumulation of forces. In the tactical confrontation in the settlements between Kherson and Nikolaev, the front line moved somewhat towards Nikolaev. Attempts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack from Novovorontsovka were reflected. Gauileter of Krivoy Rog says that the Russian Armed Forces are preparing an attack on Krivoy Rog.
10. Odessa.
Without changes. The enemy does not rule out the possibility of a landing and continues to strengthen the defense of the city, although part of the forces had previously been transferred to the Nikolaev region. Through the Odessa region, Ukraine continues to receive fuel and lubricants from Moldova and weapons from NATO countries.
[Front Page] I'm just back from Florida where I had the great honor of speaking at a "Club 45" event that had two speakers: myself and former President Donald J. Trump. Thousands of tickets sold out in 20 minutes. We had a wild, raucous, standing-room-only crowd inside the ballroom of the Palm Beach Airport Hilton.
The main themes of the back-to-back speeches of Trump and myself were A) the possibly rigged, stolen 2020 election and B) the purposeful destruction of America that is being carried out by Joe Biden, who I believe to be the illegitimate president of the United States, and his radical handlers.
I pulled no punches. I described Joe Biden as a "old, weak, feeble, brain-dead sock puppet with dementia, hiding in the basement with a mask and diapers." As a bonus, he's also the most corrupt politician in history, and owned lock, stock and barrel by China and the Chinese Communist Party.
I described the Democrat Party as, "A party of evil, radical, communist, fascist, racist, Godless, America-haters who can't figure out which bathroom to use... and who believe people are like frogs... and they can change their sex on an hourly basis."
I told the crowd, "We are in a war between good and evil. This is a battle of normal all-American patriots versus confused, bizarre, mentally ill weirdos who are drunk with power... and want to enslave us, ban us, censor us, brainwash us, ruin our careers and destroy our country.
[GEO.TV] Throughout Pakistain’s turbulent political history, no prime minister has been able to perform his/her duties for a full term. The recurring political crises within Pakistain withhold the state from initiating a provincial and federal concerted effort towards eliminating human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations.
History suggests that members of the government and even the opposition remain occupied in short-sighted politics for political gains as opposed to effectively working towards breaking systematic and structural barriers to the implementation of human rights legislation.
With each incoming government, Pakistain witnesses the passage of several human rights legislations. Several federal legislations on women and kiddies’s rights were enacted under the government led by the former prime minister of Pakistain, Imran Khan ...aka The Great Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality disorders... These legislations require extensive systematic changes in the criminal justice system (CJS) and massive budgetary allocations to be effectively implemented. These include: the Zainab Alert Response and Recovery Act 2018 (’Zainab Act’), the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Act 2020 (’Legal Aid Act’) and the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021 (’Anti-Rape Act’).
The Zainab Act is named after a seven-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and brutally killed in January 2018 in district Kasur. Zainab’s case led to massive public outcry and protests across Pakistain on the inefficiency of the police and gaps in the protection of missing children in the CJS. The Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA), mandated under Section 3 of the Zainab Act, was launched by the Ministry of Human Rights on October 15, 2020.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
Everybody give us money and just maybe you won't hear of us raping our kiddies and womyns!
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.
...aka 
