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Today: 64 articles and 182 comments as of 9:28.
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Iran, Turkey criticize US plan to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terror group
Today's Headlines
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-Obits-
Retired Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell dies in East Alabama tragic accident
EUFAULA, Ala. (WRBL) - Former Delta Force Commander and retired Major General Eldon A. Bargewell has died, age 72, Barbour County Coroner Chip Chapman confirmed.

Bargewell died in a lawnmower accident at his Eufaula, Ala., home on Monday.

Bargewell was pronounced dead at 9:36 p.m. CDT, following when a lawnmower rolled over an embankment behind his house on Barbour creek, said Chapman.

He was an American soldier who fought on the nation's battlefields from Vietnam to Afghanistan.\

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger has known Bargewell for 45 years.

"I remember in 1974 as a young Ranger in the still-forming 2d Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis seeing and meeting quite a few legendary and highly decorated officers and non commissioned officers. Among those was Lt. Eldon Bargewell," Mellinger said. "Eldon stood out even then amongst those giants, for he had earned a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in 27 September 1971 as a Staff Sergeant while serving with Command and Control (North), Studies and Observations Group, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sad, for such an ungallant passing.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 3:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Died active, working at a late age, improving his environment. Nothing wrong with that.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2019 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Eufaula is a beautiful small town on Lake Eufaula. There are many old houses that could be considered small mansions built for retired sea captains, all with a Widow's walk for the retired gentlemen to walk and look out over the lake,
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/02/2019 14:54 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Three selfie-crazy Indian teens crushed by train
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Three teenagers were killed while taking selfies on a railway track in India, the country which researchers say has the worst record for selfie-related deaths.
"Aaaiiieee! We are undone!"
A fourth youth managed to jump to safety before the accident in Panipat city in the northern state of Haryana, a police officer told AFP Wednesday.
"Whoa That was a close one!"
“The victims were busy taking selfies and when they saw a train approaching they jumped to a second track without realizing another train was coming on that,” M. S. Dabas told AFP.
"The train! The train!"
"The other train! [CRUSH!]"

The group had come to Panipat to attend a wedding. Two of those killed were 19 years old and the third was 18.
"Ayup. Struck down before they even reached their prime, they wuz!"
Experts warn that youngsters obsessed with social media are going to extreme lengths in order to post selfies seen as daring and risky.
That's why we have experts, to tell us things like that.
A study last year by researchers from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences said 259 people across the world had died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017.
Across the world? Over six years! An average of 43 and a sixth people a year, out of a world population of seven and a half billion... Shucks, that's one out of every 172,000,000 people, which is probably about the same odds as dying of lobster bites.
The highest number of incidents and selfie deaths were reported in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan, the study said.
Odd. China's not on the list, despite their high population.
In 2017 three students were killed on a railway track in southern Karnataka state, while a man died in Odisha after an elephant wrapped its trunk around the man and crushed him to death as he tried to take a selfie with the animal.
Important safety tip there.
Last year Railways Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to warn people against risking their life for the sake of photographs.
If you gotta be warned, the warning probably isn't gonna do any good.
"Here, hold my methyl-alcohol-adulturated illegal hooch"
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Odd. China's not on the list, despite their high population.

They don't selfie in China.
Chinese selfie on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 3:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Delightful commentary. You still got it, Fred!
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2019 9:17 Comments || Top||


World Nuke Stockpile according to Plowshares.
[Ploughshares org]

Graphics don't copy to the burg. Go to link.
Nine countries in the world possess a total of 13,850 nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia account for 92 percent of them. Since their peak in the mid-1980’s, global arsenals have shrunk by over three-fourths. More countries have given up weapons and programs in the past 30 years than have tried to acquire them. The direction is positive, but when you are fleeing a forest fire it is not just direction but speed that matters. Ploughshares Fund is committed to reducing nuclear threats before it is too late.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Hailed as a Hero: UNC Charlotte attack
[MSN] Heroes emerged from the bursts of gunfire that killed two UNC Charlotte students and injured four others in their classroom late Tuesday afternoon, stunning a sprawling campus of nearly 30,000 students on the last day of spring classes.

Two students, Ellis Parlier, 19, of Midland, and Riley Howell, 21, of Waynesville, had been fatally shot. Four more were injured: Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudi Arabia; Sean Dehart, 20, of Apex; Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte; and Drew Pescaro, 19, of Apex. Dehart has been released from the hospital and the other wounded students are expected to recover, Chancellor Phil Dubois said Wednesday.

But the toll could have been much worse, Putney said. Howell tackled the shooter and saved other lives, the chief said.
Bless him for having the courage to do what had to be done.
The athletically-built young man "took the assailant off his feet" before campus police officers arrived, Putney told reporters. Howell was apparently the second student to be fatally shot, he said.

Howell "did exactly what we train people to do you're going to run, you're going to hide and shield, or you're going to face the assailant," Putney said. "He did the latter (and) his sacrifice saved lives."
John 15:13-17 (KJV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Posted by: Woodrow || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Amen
Posted by: newc || 05/02/2019 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  It's not just courage. It's processing what's going on and deciding.
Lord, give me the strength if my time comes.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/02/2019 5:54 Comments || Top||

#3  If Howell had lived he probably would have been expelled for "unnecessary use of force". /sarc

Brave young man.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/02/2019 7:35 Comments || Top||

#4  When will this toxic masculinity end! /sarc
Posted by: Snusoper Phons4593 || 05/02/2019 8:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Riley was a brave young man. God bless the heroes.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/02/2019 11:06 Comments || Top||

#6  UNCC is, of course, a gun-free zone. Somehow the shooter didn't choose to obey the law (surprise.)
Which just goes to show the idiocy and danger of gun-free policies.
Posted by: Tom || 05/02/2019 12:06 Comments || Top||


Britain
UK’s May sacks Defense Minister Williamson over Huawei leak
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sacked Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson following a probe into the leak of news that Britannia had conditionally allowed China’s Huawei to develop the UK 5G network.

"The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defense Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet," said a spokeswoman from her Downing Street office.

May said in a letter to Williamson that the investigation "provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure" from the April 23 meeting of the National Security Council.

"No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she added.

Britannia’s already splintered government was rocked by the scandal over who leaked news that May was to let Huawei develop Britannia’s 5G network.

The bitterly disputed decision was reportedly made at the April 23 meeting.

National Security Council discussions are only attended by senior ministers and security officials who first sign the Official Secrets Act that commits them to keep conversations private or risk prosecution.

But The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that May approved granting Huawei permission to build up "non-core" elements of Britannia’s next-generation telecommunications network.

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did he get a bigger briefcase full of money from China for all that military tech than may did?
Posted by: Omorong Black8889 || 05/02/2019 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Huawei is connected to May&Cameron
Posted by: Phurt Grundy5275 || 05/02/2019 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  They're trying to avoid equipment backdoored by the NSA.

Can't blame them. Frankly, the 'intelligence community' is a greater threat to the world than China will ever be.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 8:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Equipment backdoored by the NSA? I dunno, Herb. Sounds more like Obama's NSA than Trump's. And is the NSA worse than GCHQ? Do you have any evidence to substantiate this assertion? And, if you're gonna get backdoored equipment, are you gonna chose China's? Isn't that kinda like treason?

May should get the sack for being in bed with Huawei. Williamson might have decided to take a bullet so he could let the world know.

The biggest scandal is that anybody in any western country would give a job like this to the Chinese.

Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/02/2019 10:42 Comments || Top||

#5  I mean, we have private vendors like Cisco who compete with Huawei. I won't say Cisco never did any work for the NSA but if they gave NSA a backdoor then we're all backdoored and it's for damn sure that Huawei's backdoor leads directly to Beijing. If May doesn't know that she's felony stupid.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/02/2019 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Rumour mill says he opposed EU defence force and this was used to remove him.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2019 11:31 Comments || Top||

#7  So we know for a fact that Wikileaks confirmed the NSA spies on us? Despite the NSA director testifying before Congress that they didn't? Lying is a crime, and he got away scot-free?
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 13:51 Comments || Top||

#8  Just because they spy doesn't mean they use Cisco equipment to do it. But, yes, Rice, Clapper, Comey and Brennan should be in jail.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/02/2019 15:55 Comments || Top||

#9  And remember, they used British GCHQ to spy on Trump. Now, whose equipment GCHQ use to spy on Trump?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/02/2019 15:57 Comments || Top||

#10  May should get the sack for being in bed with Huawei.

Sack? I'm thinking blanket party.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/02/2019 20:07 Comments || Top||

#11  Despite the NSA director testifying before Congress that they didn't? Lying is a crime, and he got away scot-free?

If that was a crime, all of Congress would be in prison.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/02/2019 20:08 Comments || Top||

#12  Rumour mill says he opposed EU defence force and this was used to remove him.

Boris is a combination of clown and sackless wonder. He should have been PM.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/02/2019 20:11 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Internet connectivity was restored in #Venezuela at 9:05 p.m. Tuesday, about 20 minutes before a live-streamed speech by Maduro
[TWITTER] Purely a coincidence
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


US military prepping for Guaidó takeover in Venezuela
[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The commander of U.S. forces in Latin America told Congress Wednesday that the military is developing plans to be immediately ready for any contingency if Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ousts dictator Nicolás Maduro from power.

Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee he believes it is only a matter of time before Guaidó, president of the country's National Assembly, takes control. Guaidó encouraged Venezuelans to take to the streets starting Tuesday, saying that the final phase of "Operation Freedom" had begun.

"[T]here is going to be a day when the legitimate government takes over, and it's going to come when we least expect it," said Faller. "And it could be right now, so we are calling it 'day now' planning."

Faller told the committee that repairing Venezuela's dilapidated economic and energy infrastructure after years of corruption and mismanagement won't be a sample task. "[T]he magnitude of the misery is going to require every element of international unity that currently exists," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Yay, a new war! This one will cost us plenty. Good thing all our problems at home are already fixed. Yes sirree, it's time to start yet another war.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 3:30 Comments || Top||

#2  A professional military plans "for any contingency", handwringer
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Not necessarily war, just preparing for "any contingency" which is his job, just in case. It can range anywhere from giving aids (food, shelter and medical assistance) to preventing spillover violence, etc..
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/02/2019 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry Frank, I didn't see you already commented on this.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/02/2019 10:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Absolutely no problem - you expanded better
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 10:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Contingencies, like if the Russians were to install nukes in Venezuela, kinda like they did in Cuba.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/02/2019 11:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Shoot I have a plan if this spring fog turns into an ice storm - pros better have a plan.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2019 12:10 Comments || Top||


New game in Venezuela Military - points for shooting reporters.
[twitter]


Posted by: 3dc || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Well...yeah.
Posted by: Hupinetle Dribble8709 || 05/02/2019 1:18 Comments || Top||

#2  How does one score this game?
Do miss, wing, hit, kill take different point values? Are the points accumulated per firing or can you kill one and wing another and get the points for both with the same round?
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 3:24 Comments || Top||

#3  So we are just posting pro-coup propaganda now?
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 5:03 Comments || Top||

#4  ...no just posting another example of Freudian Projection of the Left. Scroll today to see who the real racist, anti-semite, et al are. The Left here denounces Trump for inciting violence against the Legacy Infotainment Enterprises. In reality, its their own that shoots first those that don't carry the party narrative.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2019 5:23 Comments || Top||

#5  can we bring that game here
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2019 5:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Herb seems to have gone pro driving APCs over civilians now.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2019 5:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Look, the media and US intelligence community are trying to topple a government right now. Crap like this just plays into their hands. "They're killing journalists, OMG it's an emergency, we have to invade them or we'll lose!"

So are there a lot of neo-cons on Rantburg? Do you people actually support overthrowing foreign governments that never attacked us?
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 6:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Herb is pretty obviously a commie symp
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 7:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Neo-Cons *Snicker* wrong - decade, tool. Guaido was elected. Maduro was faked into the position, but you know and disregard that. That makes you a commie symp.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 7:29 Comments || Top||

#10  We should not send the military, we should pass out popcorn and watch. These people need to fix their own problems. Then they can't whine about it that we didn't fix it right when they line up behind a new dictator.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 05/02/2019 8:10 Comments || Top||

#11  I would strongly support a global approach to #10.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 8:54 Comments || Top||

#12  Punt like an Oakland Raiders kicker on this one - it's their problem, not ours.

Of course, the Great Satan (us) is going to get blamed regardless of what we do or don't do.
Posted by: Raj || 05/02/2019 9:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Well - that didn't take long...
Posted by: Raj || 05/02/2019 9:38 Comments || Top||

#14  Do you people actually support overthrowing foreign governments that never attacked us?

2010 Venezuela Seizes Oil Rigs Owned by US Company

2017 Venezuela seizes GM plant as crisis escalates

This has been a long time coming, Erb.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 10:26 Comments || Top||

#15  So are there a lot of neo-cons on Rantburg?

Nah, we're more like Ghengis-cons. Death to our enemies, both foreign and bureaucratic! America, F**K YEAH!
(sorry. I get carried away)

Look, Venezuela is going down whether we do anything or not. And I doubt we are, given that our Intel Community seems too preoccupied with overthrowing Trump to get involved elsewhere. Plus, they seem to be ineffective wankers.

Anyone familiar with the history of Central/South America has seen this movie:
Commie Strongman takes over "For The People!!"
Strongman gives out free stuff, messes up the economy.
Everyone unhappy except Strongman & cronies who get rich.
Anti-commie Strongman takes over, free helicopter rides, better economy.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2019 10:44 Comments || Top||

#16  In Maduro Venezuela, panning shoots you.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2019 12:14 Comments || Top||

#17  So we're going to invade Venezuela to protect the interests of US corporations? Is this some kind of bad left-wing joke out of the 1960s?

Jesus Christ I'm no friend of socialists. But fuck, what the intelligence community is doing in Venezuela is wrong, wrong, wrong. Stay the hell out of their business. America first.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 13:49 Comments || Top||

#18  I will agree to one reason for us to invade Venezuela. IF and ONLY IF we are to invade, they must become a US territory with an American governor and in no less than 30 years, they must hold a vote to become a full US state or be totally cut free.

Those are the only conditions we should invade someone who has not directly attacked us. And no, I'm not a Neo-Con. I'm the sole member of the Imperialist Warmonger Party and I believe we should conquer the world, using this process. You want the big US Daddy to save you, you gotta pay the price.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 05/02/2019 13:58 Comments || Top||

#19  As for those who attack us. Their country needs to look like the surface of the moon, patrolled by flamethrower and autocannon armed autonomous death machines.

Posted by: Silentbrick || 05/02/2019 14:02 Comments || Top||

#20  You can't sit on the fence when Russia is digging in your backyard.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2019 16:18 Comments || Top||

#21  Of course digging in Russia's backyard gets yours dug over as well.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2019 16:21 Comments || Top||

#22  You can't sit on the fence when Russia is digging in your backyard.

Succinctly said, European Conservative. It is being said that President Maduro was ready to leave the country the other day, airplane on the tarmac, when the Russians told him to stay.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2019 16:40 Comments || Top||


Manuel Cristopher Figueroa, SEBIN director until today, flipped and now supports Guaid
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


La Carlota Air Base, National Guard troops crackdown on the protesters
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Fresh clashes between protesters and security forces have begun in #Caracas
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


BTRs have been deployed in Bolivar state#Venezuela
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Looks like the right flag in the background, but the formation looks like parade parking - flags are limp, exhaust straight up, crews posing.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2019 12:24 Comments || Top||


#Brazil's President @jairbolsonaro says he has information there are dissidents in the Venezuelan army and the govt could "collapse"
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  That man isn't the president and Reuters is parroting propaganda. Disgraceful.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 5:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Genuflect before your Commie Dictator. Blame America. Macro that shit, Herb, it'll save you carpal tunnel
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 7:33 Comments || Top||

#3  "Herb McCoy", with your head up your ass you didn't notice dozens of Venezuelan military personnel storming the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas the past few days asking for assylum did you, and indeed a direct source of such information for the Brazilian Ambassador in return for protection.
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 05/02/2019 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/05/01/report-venezuelan-soldiers-storm-brazilian-embassy-asking-for-asylum/
Posted by: Ebbavirt Clunk4147 || 05/02/2019 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I read it as Venezuela's president. My mistake.

I can't help but notice the increasingly deranged tone of spittle-flecked invective. "Genuflect before your Commie Dictator."?
Look, our CIA are evil incarnate and are attempting to invade and conquer a country that's done nothing. Rantburg never used to be like this. What happened to the collegial days of Rantburg U?

Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 13:46 Comments || Top||

#6  I read it as Venezuela's president. My mistake.

An easy mistake to make, what with these foreigners all having funny names.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2019 14:00 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Thug Russian Mafia Regime threatens the USA
[twitter]


Posted by: 3dc || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Oh boy, another new war! I can't wait to invade another sovereign country! Raytheon is going to make a mint.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 3:26 Comments || Top||

#2  And now we have a reason to not engage in the Ukraine.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 3:29 Comments || Top||


Europe
Yellow vest protesters join unionists, environmentalists for May Day march in Paris
[DW] French police have clashed with protesters during the annual May Day rally in Gay Paree, organized by unions but joined by other groups. More than 7,400 officers were deployed onto the streets of the capital.

Gay Pareeian police fired tear gas and made arrests as protesters threw stones and set fires on the fringes of Wednesday's May Day rally.

Yellow vest (gilet jaune) protesters joined the ranks of the traditional march, organized by trade unions in Gay Paree and other French cities on Wednesday.
There were festivities in the Montparnasse district where hundreds of anti-capitalist "black bloc" activists pushed to the front of the crowd. Bottles and other projectiles were reported to have been hurled at police with a parked police van set alight in the street.

The demonstration came days after the anti-government movement rejected a package of tax cuts by French President Emmanuel Macron. The president's policies are widely seen as favoring big business while reducing quality of living for ordinary people.

At least 330 people had been incarcerated
You have the right to remain silent...
by the evening, according to police.

Across La Belle France, at least 164,500 people took part in the demonstrations organized by trade unions, with 28,000 of them in Gay Paree, BFMTV reported, citing the authorities. Other estimates suggested 40,000 demonstrated in the capital.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had warned that up to 2,000 "radical activists" might try to hijack the Gay Paree event and team up with "radicalized" protesters from within the yellow vest movement
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2019 03:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Science & Technology
NASA Says Metals Fraud Caused $700 Million Satellite Failure
[Bloomberg] A metals manufacturer faked test results and provided faulty materials to NASA, causing more than $700 million in losses and two failed satellite launch missions, according to an investigation by the U.S. space agency.

The fraud involved an Oregon company called Sapa Profiles Inc., which falsified thousands of certifications for aluminum parts over 19 years for hundreds of customers, including NASA.

The bad parts were used in the making of Taurus XL, a rocket that was supposed to deliver satellites studying the Earth’s climate during missions carried out in 2009 and 2011. The launch vehicle’s fairing, a clamshell structure that carries the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere, didn’t fully open, causing the unsuccessful launch, according to a statement from NASA.

“When testing results are altered and certifications are provided falsely, missions fail,” said Jim Norman, director for launch services at NASA in Washington. He added that years of scientific work were lost because of the fraud.

FAKE TESTS
News of the satellite failures comes a week after Norsk Hydro ASA, the current parent company of Sapa, agreed to pay $46 million to NASA, the Department of Defense and others to resolve criminal charges and civil claims related to the fraud, which took place from 1996 to 2015.

The company admitted that employees had faked test results related to the metal’s strength and reliability under pressure. Sapa Profiles, now known as Hydro Extrusion Portland Inc., also agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and is barred from U.S. federal government contracting.

“Corporate and personal greed perpetuated this fraud against the government and other private customers, and this resolution holds these companies accountable for the harm caused by their scheme,” said Brian Benczkowski, assistant attorney general of the criminal division at the Department of Justice, in an April 23 statement.

A spokesman for Norsk Hydro said the case has been settled. Last week, it said it has invested “significant time and resources to completely overhaul our quality and compliance organizations.”

Posted by: 3dc || 05/02/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life,

#1  Jail
Posted by: Slats B. Hayes1535 || 05/02/2019 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Greed suggests top management, not some schuck in quality assurance.
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2019 6:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Jail
Posted by: Uleck Spererong9442 || 05/02/2019 7:18 Comments || Top||

#4  ...falsified thousands of certifications for aluminum parts over 19 years for hundreds of customers, including NASA.
RICO. Followed by jail time for the entire management team, present and retired. We are talking about aircraft grade aluminum parts which are installed in aircraft. Hang these people by their ankles from the nearest bridge!
Posted by: magpie || 05/02/2019 9:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Apparently, according to Bloomberg, Norsk Hydro ASA (parent company of Sapa Profiles Inc. which is now called Hydro Extrusion Portland) already settled this by agreeing to pay $46 million to the federal government and other customers.

The original article where I found most of the information, with links to other news articles on this subject: newser.com

So far no one went to jail despite causing more than $700 millions in damage and lost productivity.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/02/2019 9:37 Comments || Top||

#6  The NASA report on the failure (PDF)
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/02/2019 9:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Near as I can figure, the settlement was made in 2015-2016, during the Obama administration.

Interesting Wikipedia information on the parent company, Norsk Hydro, note no mention made of the fraud!
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/02/2019 10:20 Comments || Top||

#8  No criminal charges?
Posted by: Woodrow || 05/02/2019 12:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Must be too big to fail, right? Or maybe something else?
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2019 12:37 Comments || Top||

#10 
Jail, indeed. This was a corporate decision. And it went on for 19 years! No accident there.

Posted by: Roger Smith || 05/02/2019 19:28 Comments || Top||

#11  AMEN
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2019 20:37 Comments || Top||


Government
Inside the secret world of the CIA's social media team
[The Hill] A government agency known for its secrecy is making a splash in a very public forum: Twitter.
Because our day job is so boring.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been raising eyebrows with its increasingly conversational and pop culture-filled social media presence, in recent months giving shout-outs to hit Hollywood films, game show hosts and other buzzy bits. And just last week, the agency added an Instagram account to its growing social shop.

"We’re trying to be as transparent as possible with the constraints that the CIA currently has," agency press secretary Timothy Barrett says.

Tweeting to the world isn’t exactly cloak-and-dagger, and the aim for a public face is an undertaking that has unique quirks at one of the most secure places on the planet. But when ITK wanted to know how the social media sausage was made, to our surprise, Barrett invited us to Langley, Va., to speak with the some of the secretive squad about how the CIA gets its message out online.
Leaflet drops and sound trucks are so old school.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 04:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nobody reads newspapers or watches CNN anymore. They had to modernize their disinformation venues.

Not mentioned here, but it might be instructive to remember the target audience.

Be real nifty if they'd get back to what they were hired to do, collecting foreign intelligence and conducting analysis & assessments.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 4:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Brought to you by the same people who overthrew the democratic government in Iran.

The world would be a safer place without the CIA proxy wars. Also individual freedoms would benefit from a reduced NSA spy network gathering information on millions of decent Americans and American allies. Stop bugging our allies offices and personal phones.

The American deep state has become the 1984 ministry of truth and it needs to be reduced and controlled for the sake of world freedom.

Does the United States require seventeen intelligence agencies that alone cost more than Russia spends on defence? Particularly when they have a long history of lying, incompetence and in some cases criminality (torture, murder, support of genocide, etc.).
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 05/02/2019 5:06 Comments || Top||

#3  What's next - a Muslim outreach program or assessing the threat of 'climate change' on national security?
Posted by: Raj || 05/02/2019 5:36 Comments || Top||

#4  What's next - a Muslim outreach program or assessing the threat of 'climate change' on national security?

Tasks already undertaken by Barry Soetoro, Val Jar, and Brennan.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 7:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Tasks already undertaken by Barry Soetoro, Val Jar, and Brennan.

And NASA.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2019 10:16 Comments || Top||

#6  #1 Nobody reads newspapers or watches CNN anymore.

Why pay to be lied to?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/02/2019 11:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Here We Go – FBI Admits Using Spies Against Trump Campaign…
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2019 18:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Ref # 7: Obviously the group (CIA, DOJ and FBI) who constructed the political surveillance and spy operations are trying to present their side of the story, prior to investigation by AG Bill Barr and the soon-to-be-released IG report.

My take on it as well. Deep State advance damage control.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2019 18:13 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-05-02
  Iran, Turkey criticize US plan to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terror group
Wed 2019-05-01
  Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated businessman Malek sentenced to 25 years in prison
Tue 2019-04-30
  Gunmen kill pastor, worshippers in Burkina Faso church
Mon 2019-04-29
  Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seen in new video for first time in five years
Sun 2019-04-28
  Father, brothers of alleged Sri Lanka bombing mastermind killed
Sat 2019-04-27
  Sri Lanka - Inside help?
Fri 2019-04-26
  Jihadists 'blow themselves up' as soldiers raid suicide vest factory in Sri Lanka
Thu 2019-04-25
  Trump says sending ‘armed soldiers’ to US-Mexico border
Wed 2019-04-24
  Saudi Arabia beheads 37 for terrorism crimes, most of them minority Shiites
Tue 2019-04-23
  IS claims Sri Lanka blasts
Mon 2019-04-22
  Sri Lanka explosions, 24 arrested, 290+ dead, 8 kabooms
Sun 2019-04-21
  3 churches bombed at Easter services in Sri Lanka 262 Dead
Sat 2019-04-20
  Woman killed after shots fired during violent riots in Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Fri 2019-04-19
  Islamic State Declared A New Wilaya In Africa
Thu 2019-04-18
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