Sexual misconduct allegations flood statehouses
Statehouses from Boston to Sacramento have been rocked by an onslaught of sexual misconduct allegations, creating unprecedented pressure on state legislative leaders to take immediate action.
Kommie Icon Hamilton Fish going down (so to speak)
They told the women that he had grabbed the neck of a high-ranking female employee at The Nation Institute nearly 10 years ago, back when he was president of the nonprofit media organization. They told the women he could be demeaning, even creepy. It was the least they could do. The Nation Institute had parted ways with Fish — about two years after the neck-grabbing incident — but he left under cover of a sprawling non-disparagement provision. Nation Institute vets could warn his future charges only in secret.
Uma Thurman: When I’m Ready, I’ll Say What I Have to Say
Actress Uma Thurman says she’d like to comment on Hollywood’s ongoing sexual misconduct scandal but will wait a little while longer, until she is less angry, to do so.
Weinstein recommended for No-Fly list by NYPD
Homeland Security is now watching America's borders to make sure that Harvey Weinstein doesn't try to flee his impending rape charge, it has emerged.
Alex Baldwin questioned sexual harassment victims
Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento and Patricia Arquette — whose sister Rosanna also accused the disgraced film producer of sexual misconduct — are both on the attack against Alec Baldwin for his comments regarding victims of sexual harassment and rape taking settlements.
Venit, the head of talent agency William Morris Endeavor's motion picture group, was identified by Variety as the powerful executive whom Crews accused on Twitter of groping his privates.
Jessica Barth sez her agent drugged and attacked her
'Ted' star Jessica Barth has accused talent agent David Guillod of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2012, and now the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating her claim.
Guillod, the co-CEO of talent and literary agency Primary Wave Entertainment, announced Friday he would take immediate leave from his company while it investigates Barth's accusations stemming from a dinner date in May of 2012.
Kris Nixon was working in central London when the Hollywood star was artistic director at the Old Vic, and alleges he was invited back to his flat for a party.
#1
Yeah, but it's what the defense contractors want to sell, and that's what's important.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/06/2017 18:27 Comments ||
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#2
...Actually, it's what the USN wants to pay for.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/06/2017 18:29 Comments ||
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#3
From the author's LinkedIn entry:
I have an MA in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University, and served as university instructor for the Peace Corps in the beautiful deserts of Gansu, China
This guy obviously has no background in military procurement. Neither have I. But unlike him, I can count. His background leads him to visualize an end-point and gather data from there. Me? I just look at the data presented and think about why people who have done this their entire lives might rationally have come up with this particular end product. This fella? He probably thinks we should not have a navy, let alone build any new weaponry for it.
The LCS is expensive because so much stuff is automated. The Perry-class frigates had a crew of 215. The LCS was supposed to have a crew of 40, which expanded to 70+. At a fully-loaded cost of $150K per person (including housing benefits, PX access, back-loaded bennies like VA benefits, veteran pensions, etc) that's a payroll savings of $20m per year. My SWAG is that these ships are supposed to last a minimum of 20 years. That's $400m in savings per ship.
The reason for some of the equipment problems probably relates to new design problems. They're shoehorning large numbers of new features into a single ship. No real surprise that there would be problems along the way. Given that this is a peacetime procurement process, i.e. there is no pressing need to push cookie cutter designs into service to replace vessels destroyed by enemy action, new features stemming from new requirements are being slip streamed into each new iteration. The added complexity means even more problems. But that's the benefit of peacetime development. It's more expensive, but you get to work the kinks out, instead of having large numbers of sailors killed due to a feature that doesn't work because it wasn't properly tested. Many bugs can't be known beforehand until the equipment is tested in extended operation.
If they can really operate the ship with 1/3 the crew of a Perry-class vessel, this is a real revolution. The engines are probably brand new designs, given that the two models can operate at 45 knots, compared to the Perry's 29. These are PT boat speeds, except PT boats are 1/5 the length, and 1% the displacement.
[Zero Hedge] The shocking latest twist in what has been a chaotic weekend in Saudi Arabia is news that a helicopter transporting 8 high-ranking Saudi officials (including prince Mansour bin-Muqrin) has crashed in the south of the Kingdom, near the border with Yemen.
#12
Bad things named Stinger, Redeye, and Strela.
Although, as I recall, this used to happen a lot around Saddam. (Safety wires? We don't need no stinkin' safety wires!)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/06/2017 18:37 Comments ||
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[WSJ] During the worst of last month’s wildfires in Northern California, Dick Fredericks got a phone call that passed on "some magical words": His house was safe.
The message from a private firefighting service hired by his home insurer, Chubb Ltd. CB -0.66% , was accompanied by an email with some two dozen photos, including one of the service’s firefighters pumping water from Mr. Fredericks’s swimming pool to extinguish a brush fire on his Sonoma Valley property.
Increasingly, insurance carriers are finding wildfires, such as those in California, are an opportunity to provide protection beyond what most people get through publicly funded fire fighting. Some insurers say they typically get new customers when homeowners see the special treatment received by neighbors during big fires.
"The enrollment has taken off dramatically over the years as people have seen us save homes," Paul Krump, a senior executive at Chubb, said of the insurer’s Wildfire Defense Services. "It’s absolutely growing leaps and bounds."
The services are complimentary to policyholders in certain ZIP Codes or states that are prone to wildfires. Some insurers require policyholders to enroll in the programs in advance, to give permission for workers to access the property and to obtain contact information.
Chubb’s service, which began in 2008, is offered in 15 states. American International Group Inc. AIG -4.59% launched its Wildfire Protection Unit in 2005 in 14 California ZIP Codes. The unit has since expanded to 385 ZIP Codes in California, Colorado and Texas. Other insurers extending services includePrivilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange, or PURE, and USAA.
#2
The important point is that most properties are saveable with appropriate actions and property owners are mostly at fault for not taking the right actions.
A pet issue of mine in Aus. Where bushfires feed the media's cult of the victim.
#5
Soon we will be taught that it is unfair and probably racist for some rich people to get more firefighting benefit than what is provided to the average person. And besides, it infringes on the firefighters' union contracts.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/06/2017 10:44 Comments ||
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#10
One concern is that when the private firefighters get in trouble - serious personal danger - they will call on the regular crews to come to their aid in what would have otherwise been an area they would write off as too risky.
#11
here in Sun Valley Idaho it is common practice to send private firefighters to help with insured expensive homes, esp considering the folks who have homes here, Jawn Kerry, Oliver Stone, Tom Hanks, The Wrigley's,Herbert Allen, Clint Eastwood (the only Republican), and the list goes on and on........ just sayin
#12
I've read somewhere that it is possible to buy an outdoor sprinkler / fire suppression system using foam/water material to give minutes to hours protection of real estate from wildfires. You can imagine what that costs if even the multimillionaires don't want to pay for it.
#14
& #12
(search wildfire suppression systems for outdoors)
onestopfire.com
homefirefightingsystems.com
*not endorsing either location and/or products, just a good starting point for what is out there and some price points.
So for about $5000 you get a portable pump, hose, and foam or gel, which you want, nay need one or the other unless you plan on fighting the fire with that machine, to which I suggest uploading your will to the cloud beforehand.
Not sure what an outdoor system would run, but retro-fitting houses sucks money just in labor.
Either way there are going to be water issues - cannot depend on the faucet to be on - and powering the pumps so gasoline supplies as well.
Now that portable rig is 200 lbs. -before- water gets into it, and it looks like it does not off road at all, and 100' of hose is probably not going to do it. Pretty labor intensive.
And swimming pools do not have as much water as it seems when it comes to wetting a property. Much better to hit hot spots and make wet lines. Keep vegetation away from defending structures and cut low, trim tree branches at least 6' to 10', embers are your enemy so fire rated roof and gutters clean chimney closed go a long ways. Keep the big fire away, and make sure it can't creep into your siding by the foundation and we're doing good.
When the wind is doing 70, time runs quick and embers definitely hate you, and spraying into the wind, they way you need to, just doesn't work. We got a lot of finger wagging about where were our firebreaks? Wellfokmahn, we could have fallen back to the Missouri River and still got jumped. But the humble plow and keeping the big fire loads away from structures saved quite a few buildings - some with people sheltering in it. Plowed the ground, especially on the windward exposures, and the fire had virtually nothing to eat near the structure.
#15
Most of the really expensive modern homes I see are designed to impress the neighbors with conspicuous consumption doo-dads rather than the non-glamorous stuff that really makes a building valuable, safe & useful.
#16
Organized firefighting originated in England after the Great Fire of London. It was private enterprise, exactly light what is reported here. In fact today, one can collect old 'fire marks'. Each company gave out these marks to their customers to put on their buildings so that the fire companies would know whether to fight their fires. They were also advertising for the fire companies. Actually they evolved into fire insurance companies, and some still exist today.
Posted by: Daniel ||
11/06/2017 19:34 Comments ||
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#17
Yup, though I have seen a walk-through of a really nice house, wish I remembered whose because he had the auto-sprinklers, large water tank and swimming pool (+ equipment to draft), all the cogs and sprockets needed to run a hose effectively, and his own brush truck he could and did operate on his own, never mind having help. Nice little barn which looked more like a pool house.
#18
The pictures at those links, nice houses, but played a good game of Where's Waldo with all the fire dangers. Geesh, trim those trees back just to keep the sap from falling all over everything.
[Al Jazeera] Sacked by Spanish authorities, ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has turned himself in to Belgian police after an EU-wide arrest warrant was issued.
Four other cabinet members also turned themselves in at 9.17am local time on Sunday, according to the Belgian prosecutor's office.
The five are due to appear in court later in the day when an investigative judge will decide whether to detain or release them.
The arrest warrant, which Puigdemont is expected to contest, was issued on Friday. He was wanted by Madrid for "lying" and "disobedience".
Al Jazeera's David ChatEx-Catalan leader turns self in to Belgian police
er, reporting from the Brussels prosecutor's office, said: "[Puigdemont] was saying all along he was going to cooperate with the judicial authorities here. He is now in the hands of police having surrendered himself.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAILYCALLER] A moderately prestigious university in Germany has instituted a religious code of conduct in response to complaints about Muslim students caterwauling praying noisily in the library and flooding campus bathrooms with water as they ritually cleanse their feet.
The University of Hamburg is the site of the new set of religion-related rules, reports Times Higher Education, a London-based education news website. The 42,890-student university is the first in Germany to institute such a code.
The University of Hamburg’s executive board determined that the religious code of conduct is necessary after receiving numerous complaints. In addition to the bathroom flooding and the loud library praying, people described as “external Salafists” have demanded that female Muslim students wear veils on campus, according to school president Dieter Lenzen.
“To date, there have been no complaints about Buddhist students, just a few about Christian students, but a great many about Muslim students,” Lenzen also said, according to Times Higher Education.
Muslim students have been “disturbing university life,” Lenzen said.
The University of Hamburg’s new religious code of conduct — released in October — forbids students from hollering praying loudly anywhere on campus. However, “quiet prayer may be acceptable in the library.”
The code also outlaws “discrimination against male or female visitors by dividing the room according to sex/gender” in the school’s Room of Contemplation, an area reserved for religious observance.
Prior to the implementation of the new code, and without permission from school officials, some Muslim students at the University of Hamburg had installed a curtain separating men and women for prayers in the Room of Contemplation.
Another part of the religious code of conduct formally allows campus restaurants to ignore requests for food items “in line with religious dietary guidelines and restrictions.”
Still another code section states that students cannot request time off for religious festivals and holidays. Students must “bear the consequences” if professors don’t want to make special accommodations.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2017 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
leave masses of debris in 'prayer rooms'
pile woolen carpets at their convenience
block fire exits and access
crowd halls and stairways to their 'special place'...
#1
Link don't work. I used Google-fu to find this tidbit: "where people without toilets risk having their welfare benefits taken away and can be barred from running for public office." I was curious how you could shame someone who is OK with taking a dump in public.
[PJMEDIA] "The Church of England claims it has not changed its doctrine but its practice on the ground has already changed: clergy are adopting lifestyles which are not biblical and teaching that such lifestyles are holy in the sight of God," the document explains. "This revisionism is causing a crisis not only in Southwark Diocese but across the whole of the Church of England."
The document issues a very hefty charge. "When the church redefines sin and eliminates repentance, it can no longer offer the good news of eternal salvation from sin in Jesus; the church no longer remains distinctly Christian; it is no longer salt and light in the world," the declaration reads.
This document ends with a clear Reformation-style challenge. "Where leaders refuse to repent and submit themselves to the Word of God, the Lord raises up new leadership for His church and new structures: just as He did through Martin Luther 500 years ago."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Martin Luther did not nail anything to asy door you idiots. He sent two letters to the Head Bishops of the horrible Catholic Church in his time.
The Lord holds nothing against you but your own ignorance on how you do treat others and how you handle the card you were dealt.
Proven Personally in Faith, absolved you of your problematic issue.
Just keep the bedroom in the bedroom and no one should say a word about it.
According to one account, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. Scholars Walter Krämer, Götz Trenkler, Gerhard Ritter, and Gerhard Prause contend that the story of the posting on the door, even though it has settled as one of the pillars of history, has little foundation in truth.[36][37][38] The story is based on comments made by Philipp Melanchthon, though it is thought that he was not in Wittenberg at the time.
It seems there's no evidence to the door nailing thing. IF there is, I haven't found/seen it so far. Then again I spend a total of some fifteen minutes doing this search so...
[2acheck] In addition to our own research Second Amendment Check has decided it is worth sharing the work of others. Therefore, we are sharing the NRA-ILA’s lists of:
"Anti-Gun National Organizations"
"Anti-Gun Corporations/Corporate"
"Anti-Gun Publication and Media Outlets"
"Anti-Gun Individuals & Celebrities"
At Second Amendment Check we always attempt to source our material in our quest to provide objective and credible information. Again, these lists have been compiled by the NRA-ILA, whom we recognize as a credible source of information. Having said that, the exact criteria for making it onto the list are unclear, and the claims of being "Anti-Gun" have not been independently verified or validated by Second Amendment Check.
Also, after having had these lists published on their public website for many months, they have been removed after receiving some recent attention in the alternative media. As noted in the Feb 11, 2013 update in this this Huffington Post article, the NRA-ILA has quietly removed the list from their website, but it can still be found in a web archive from January. The reason for the removal of this list is not yet known. Speculation suggests that the NRA ILA didn’t want to call unwanted attention to itself, or perhaps that it is reassessing or updating that list. Second Amendment Check will attempt to get to the bottom of this mysterious disappearance. They missed Mila Kunis who was addressed on the site yesterday. Got a few dead ones there also. But it's a start.
Extensive. Somebody has been taking copious notes.
#2
I used to work for one of the anti-gun engineering firms, and they got the name of the president correct - for 20 years ago. The firm was swallowed up over 15 years ago and ceased to exist.
I hope the rest of the names and addresses are more accurate!
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/06/2017 18:23 Comments ||
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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.
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.
[DAILYCALLER] A moderately prestigious university in Germany has instituted a religious code of conduct in response to complaints about Muslim students 
[PJMEDIA] "The Church of England claims it has not changed its doctrine but its practice on the ground has already changed: clergy are adopting lifestyles which are not biblical and teaching that such lifestyles are holy in the sight of God," the document explains. "This revisionism is causing a crisis not only in Southwark Diocese but across the whole of the Church of England."
