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At Least 73 Dead in Shelling and Clashes across Syria
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Today's Idiot
A 55-year-old man from Utica, Florida was arrested and charged with driving while absolutely blotto after police caught him joyriding during a drunken stupor. Yet, there was no car involved in this incident. That's right. Raymond Kulma was driving while really, really hammered in a motorized wheelchair. The worst part is that the wheelchair didn't even belong to him.
"Yesh, thish izh mine; I have a crafshered leg--I mean frecshared--broken."
"Shouldn't you have a cast on your leg, then?"
"It wazh... shtolen?"
"Nice try, beauzeau."

Kulma actually stole the wheelchair from James Konkel, a resident at a local retirement home. Raymond and James got into an argument outside the retirement home and Kulma got on Konel's motorized wheelchair and made like a Berkeley professor and left. Utica police arrested Kulma a little while later on Greeley Street not far from the senior living complex.
"Police! Freeze!"
"Yesh, I could shtand to beat the heat."
"Well, you can cool your heels in the hoosegow."

During his encounter with police, Raymond Kulma was found to have three sheets to the wind. In fact, he failed three sobriety tests prior to being arrested. According to Police Chief Faber, "Mr. Kulma was three times the legal limit. He didn't pass any of the sobriety tests he was given."
"What? I'm shober azh a judge, ocshifer."
"Of the Ninth Circuit Court, maybe."

Upon further investigation, the police found that this was not Mr. Kulma's first offense. In fact, this was the seventh charge of operating a motor vehicle while completely smashed since 1984. His license has also been revoked twice and suspended four times. Furthermore, he hasn't has a valid driver's license since 1993.

When asked what should happen to Raymond Kulma, the wheelchair owner, James Konkel shared his opinion. "I think he needs to be locked up for a little while. Maybe it will teach him a lesson."
Posted by: Korora || 06/13/2012 08:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He'll take a long while to walk off that hangover.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/13/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
ND voters retain state property taxes
Projection: Voters gave a resounding rejection to Measure 2 on Tuesday, opting not to be the nation’s first state to abolish property taxes.

With 43 percent of precincts reporting, 78.2 percent of voters shot down the measure.


Approximately $812 million in revenue would have been needed to be replaced retroactively by ND's part-time legislature -- these two highly significant omissions seem IMHO to be the biggest flaws in the measure.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/13/2012 11:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If them that wants ain't takin' it from them what has, then where is they takin' it from?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/13/2012 13:25 Comments || Top||


What honor looks like: The flash mob at Gate 38 of Reagan National Airport
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/13/2012 03:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just had an allergy attack reading that.
Posted by: Hellfish || 06/13/2012 12:08 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mubarak not dead yet
[Dawn] Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak was in a stable condition on Tuesday, a prison official said, after sources reported a day before that the jailed 84-year-old's health had deteriorated and that he had received treatment to restart his heart.

Speculation about Mubarak's health has swirled since he was jailed for life on June 2 for failing to halt the killing of protesters who toppled him. Hundreds were killed in the 18-day uprising that ended his 30-year rule on Feb. 11, 2011.

Mubarak's lawyer told Reuters on Monday that Mubarak's status was "very critical" and that he should be moved to a better equipped facility outside of the prison.
Posted by: Fred || 06/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Mubarak's lawyer told Reuters on Monday that Mubarak's status was "very critical" and that he should be moved to a better equipped facility outside of the prison.

So he can escape easier?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/13/2012 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Given his condition, it'd be more like 'spirited away'.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/13/2012 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam." Aviad Pohoryles, Maariv Daily
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/13/2012 9:19 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China vs EU in CO2 dispute
h/t Instapundit
China will take swift counter-measures that could include impounding European aircraft if the EU punishes Chinese airlines for not complying with its scheme to curb carbon emissions, the China Air Transport Association said on Tuesday.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/13/2012 14:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Basically, the EU is making a so-called carbon tax, and extending their jurisdiction outside their airspace. That will not fly. A global shakedown. They are playing a big game of chicken, but hats off to China for calling them on it.

Now the EUniks are trying to create a crisis and drag ICAO into it so it can be a worldwide taxing scheme. Pretty blatant to anyone but an idiot.

The EU needs a smackdown and I think one is coming, starting with China. Wonder how Russia feels about all this nonsense.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/13/2012 16:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Good on China. I wish our feckless leaders had the spine to do that.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/13/2012 19:35 Comments || Top||

#3  reading ICAO pressers, they are siding w/ China, in that the airspace over a country belongs to that country. they are NOT completely dismissing the carbon shakedown tax, however. only the outside the EU borders part.
the really funny part is that Airbus is going to be screaming really loud since China is a heavy hitter in the new aircraft market and both EADS and Boeing have new a/c to market, the A320neo and 737Max. the neo also has a 1000+ backlog, so Boeing could supply the new airframes quicker.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 06/13/2012 23:27 Comments || Top||


China's Afghan oil deal going Tango-Uniform
Sleezy Chinese hegemons meet General Dostum. General Dostum, meet Sleezy Chinese hegemons.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/13/2012 13:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
'Hope' for a Robust Recovery 'Changed'
The much-vaunted recovery began to show signs of slowing a few months ago. Even so, the revelation on June 1st that employment grew by just 69,000 in May, a 12-month low, suggested a more serious deceleration than anyone had imagined. The stockmarket plunged, giving up all its gains since January. Online punters slashed the odds that Barack Obama would be re-elected to a little over 50%.
Dreamers!
Yet hopes that 2012 would be the year when America's economy at last shook off its lethargy seem dashed. Employers and investors face increasing uncertainty in every big economy. China, India and Brazil have slowed sharply. The euro zone is dangerously close to collapse. Goldman Sachs reckons that the spillover of European stress into American financial markets will knock 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points off growth this year.

Meanwhile, tax increases and spending cuts equal to 5% of GDP a year are programmed to take effect around December 31st. Most analysts assumed this "fiscal cliff" would not be a worry until 2013. But economists at Bank of America, in a recent report, think it could become a significant drag relatively soon. The fiscal hit is huge, the date is set, and no resolution is in sight before the election on November 6th.
Uncertainty is a killer.
This all gives firms a powerful incentive to postpone hiring and investment until the resolution is known. The bank sees a one-in-three chance of recession between now and mid-2013.
Sunday, a WaPo editorial said O's downfall would be Europe, but it looks like he can crash the US, too.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/13/2012 09:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anyone who believes this will turn around is smoking crack with the chum buddies.

Marxist fools and democrats are the opposite of economies, always has been, always will be.
Posted by: newc || 06/13/2012 11:17 Comments || Top||

#2  The "much-vaunted recovery" has been a lie and a distortion all along. The US is only better off in comparison with the rest of the world, which is deteriorating much faster.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/13/2012 11:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Recovery Summer™ III, Joe Biden promises!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/13/2012 13:40 Comments || Top||

#4  "The EuroZone is dangerously close to collapse" > possible, but unlikely. IMO the EU will manage to hold or stave off any such de facto collapse -IT WILL BE THE OTHER DESIRED/PROPOSED OWG FED "UNIONS" THAT WILL BE PUT OFF OR DELAYED FROM FORMAL START-UP UNTIL SUCH TIME THE WORLD SEES THE EU EFFEC CORRECT ITS "BIRTHING/
OPERATING" PROBS + PROVE ITSELF A REAL SUCCESS.

* E.G. TOPIX, CHINA DAILY FORUM > OVERSEAS LIABILITIES RAISE UK DEBT TO 300% OF GDP.

* IIRC RENSE > US DEBT IS NOT US$15.0TRILYUHN [US$15.7T + rising], ITS US$50.0TRILYUHN, iff one uses Accrual, not Govt-beloved Cash, Methods.

The only exception I can see would be formal start-up of proposed NAU as led by the USA, + by extension so-called "Atlantic Union", SINCE THE US IS THE PER SE "TIP OF THE SPEAR/FOREFRONT" AS PER SETTING UP OWG-NWO = SPACE-GOVT-ORDER. Widout the success of US-led NAU there will be no OWG "Atlantic Union" nor OWG "Pacific/Oceanic Union".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/13/2012 22:36 Comments || Top||


Europe
Huge image of the Queen projected on Rock of Gibraltar
Should p1ss off the Spanish mightily.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/13/2012 03:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What are the Spaniards going to do, spill red ink on the Brits?
Posted by: Spot || 06/13/2012 8:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Falklands next? ;-D
Posted by: ryuge || 06/13/2012 11:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
AFL-CIO Pulling Funds From Obama Campaign
h/t Instapundit
The AFL-CIO has told Washington Whispers it will redeploy funds away from political candidates smack dab in the middle of election season, the latest sign that the largest federation of unions in the country could be becoming increasingly disillusioned with President Obama.
rats, sinking ship?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/13/2012 14:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As the Beast lies off shore, with her husband's hand on the pulse, are we soon to see a departing Light Worker?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/13/2012 14:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe. But it's quite likely the unions will:

a) funnel the money to PACs and/or

b) use the money to 'organize' 'protests' between now and November. SEIU on steroids in the face of all who disagree, across the country.

Remember, they're now threatening to "organize the unemployed"
Posted by: lotp || 06/13/2012 20:38 Comments || Top||

#3  As per "Globalism" + OWG-NWO [proto Space Govt-Order], we know what foreigners are getting from the "Globalism" - American jobs, BUT WHAT ARE AMERS GETTING IN RETURN FOR SAME, FROM SAME???

Those whom supported the merits of "Globalism", etc. NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT AMERS BEING THE ONLY ONES TO LOSE THEIR JOBS, OR LOSE JOBS + INDUSTRIES WHOLESALE.

Fortunately for the Bammer, by most accounts the He + Romney are locked in a statistical dead heat going into the Father's Day weekend, although some surveys indic the Bammer would still win iff the POTUS Elex were held today.

* FYI FREEREPUBLIC > OBAMA IS LOSING.

That sound you may be beginning to hear is Nuke-wannabe IRAN going "Yuh Oh"! iff the pro-Diplomacy Bammer's campaign base can't recover for November.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/13/2012 22:16 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Hijab, niqab raise risk of vitamin D deficiency — study
Wearing hijab (head cover) or niqab (face veil) increases a woman’s risk of vitamin D deficiency, a national study has found.

Conducted by the National Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics, the study found that 37.3 per cent of women had low levels of vitamin D compared to 5.1 per cent of men.

However, women who wear hijab or niqab are more likely to have low levels of vitamin D than women who do not cover their heads, according to the study, which was conducted to assess the vitamin D status of Jordanians at the national level and to identify groups of the population at high risk for vitamin D deficiency.

The rate of low vitamin D was 36.5 per cent among women wearing niqab, 37.9 per cent among women wearing hijab, and 29.5 per cent among women who do not wear any head covering.

The study, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, covered a sample of 5,640 subjects from across the Kingdom and involved interviews, laboratory tests and physical measurements.

According to the study’s results, a major cause of vitamin D deficiency is inadequate exposure to sunlight. Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D and foods that are fortified with vitamin D are often inadequate.

“The recommendation to avoid all sun exposure to protect against skin cancer has put the world’s population at risk for vitamin D deficiency,” the study indicated.

Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency affects one billion people worldwide, as deduced from several studies.

According to the World Health Organisation, five to 15 minutes of casual sun exposure of the hands, face and arms two to three times a week during the summer months is sufficient to keep vitamin D levels high.
Posted by: tipper || 06/13/2012 01:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Supposedly, we all came out of Africa some 50,000 years ago and evolution arranged that the farther north you went, the lighter your skin color became. Otherwise, evolution killed you off for vitamin D deficiency.

Soooo ... one way to look at this is evolution at work. Birth rates will plummet until they remove enough clothing to sop up a few photons.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/13/2012 12:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Wearing a hijab puts you more at risk from meme poisoning than vitamin D deficiency.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/13/2012 13:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Why Indiana is Paying $255 Million to Tunnel Under Kentucky Trees
Because a group of weathly homeowners sought to block a new highway by getting a pretty-plain piece of property listed in the Historical Register. KY and Ind. decided that was still the best place for the new highway, so now they have to tunnel under the trash-tree part of the 'historic' property. Indiana's 'share' of the cost is $255 million. Budget problems? Who has budget problems?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/13/2012 09:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did the world end when a lot of 'historical' buildings and sites in Europe were leveled by the 8th Air Force in 1944-45?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/13/2012 9:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Once again, wealthy elites use the law for their own purposes. You and I pay. Suckers.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/13/2012 13:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Speaking of INDIANA ...

* IIRC CHINA DAILY FORUM > US STATE OF INDIANA TO ALLOW CITIZENS TO SHOOT POLICE OFFICERS, or other Govt-Public Servants iff they perceive an "immediate" threat of "deadly unlawful force".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/13/2012 19:46 Comments || Top||

#4  This has happened all over the country for many many years.

My fav example:

Back in the 70s, the Ft McHenry bridge was going to be built but the bridge would have cast a shadow on Ft McHenry (it wouldn't have dislocated a single blade of grass) so the preservationist insisted a tunnel be built instead.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 06/13/2012 22:28 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2012-06-13
  At Least 73 Dead in Shelling and Clashes across Syria
Tue 2012-06-12
  Helicopter Gunships Deployed as More Than 100 Dead in Syria
Mon 2012-06-11
  Church Bombing Kills 15 in Nigeria
Sun 2012-06-10
  Syria Army Kills 70 Civilians in Protest Cities
Sat 2012-06-09
  Tuareg Rebels, Islamists, Clash in Northern Mali
Fri 2012-06-08
  UN monitors shot at trying to get to Syria massacre
Thu 2012-06-07
  47 Die in Hama Countryside 'Massacre' as Clashes Rock Damascus
Wed 2012-06-06
  Armed groups kill 15 Syrian soldiers in Latakia
Tue 2012-06-05
  U.S. Official: Al-Qaeda's No. 2 Killed In Drone Strike
Mon 2012-06-04
  US drone strike kills 10 in NW Pakistan
Sun 2012-06-03
  At least 12 dead in Nigerian church bombing
Sat 2012-06-02
  US drone strike kills three militants in Pakistan: officials
Fri 2012-06-01
  SCAF says it is going to end Egypt's state of emergency after 31 years
Thu 2012-05-31
  Somalia forces capture key al-Shabab town of Afmadow
Wed 2012-05-30
  19 Killed in Syria Violence

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