[BarelyABlog] The most preposterous of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers was Julie Swetnick, who is or was a career federal-government employee and a "decorated" one at that.
What does this tell Americans about the quality of the civil servants in their government?
You might counter that the Swetnick case is an isolated incident, but the following is axiomatic; we all know this to be true:
The American government is riddled with set-asides, preferential hiring practices and affirmative action, which compromise an already compromised institution (The State).
Swetnick holds "active clearances" for her work with the US Department of Treasury, US Mint and Internal Revenue Service.
She said she also previously had security clearances with the US Department of State, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.
An active security clearance means Swetnick has been subjected to a stringent background investigation that deemed her qualified to have access to "classified national security information ... so long as the person has a need to know the information," according to the State Department website.
More shameful is that The Economist (a real news organization) was uncritical about Swetnick’s credentials. If they were minted by the US government, well then, her credentials must be stand for something:
[Charlotte Observer] A mystery came out of the ocean on South Carolina’s Seabrook Island, and authorities haven’t yet identified what some are calling "space junk."
The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network was the first to notice, posting a photo on Facebook of a "mysterious object that washed ashore" on Thursday. The island is about 24 miles south of Charleston.
The object is big, taller than a woman standing nearby, and it’s cylindrical.
It also looks like it’s made of concrete, but Marine Mammal network officials say that’s deceiving. Touch it and it feels like "a soft foam," said the network, adding that it was quickly whisked away by town officials.
#8
Most rig stuff for risers is covered more in concrete than foam. they don't want them too bouyant. And it doesn't look like the end of any riser joint I've seen.
Legal Insurrection readers will recall that California, and other areas of the country with a significant homeless population, were hit with an epidemic of Hepatitis A last fall.
This year, Pasadena is reporting an epidemic of flea-borne typhus.
Twenty Pasadena residents have been confirmed to have typhus fever in 2018, a significant increase over past years, according to the city's health department.
Confirmed cases of the disease, spread to humans by infected fleas, normally number about one to five per year, the agency said Friday. The announcement comes a day after the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it is investigating an outbreak of flea-borne typhus among downtown Los Angeles' homeless population.
Two years ago, L.A. County voters approved a $1.2 billion bond measure to build permanent housing for the homeless. But squalid camps are still popping up everywhere, so temporary shower stations are being opened.
Sadly, the open-arms approach doesn't seem to be contributing to public health. Downtown Los Angeles is also being impacted by an outbreak of typhus.
An outbreak of flea-borne typhus has hit downtown Los Angeles, the county Department of Public Health said Thursday. Health officials say they are investigating several cases of the disease that infected fleas can spread to humans, CBS Los Angeles reports.
While the fleas can come from cats, rats and opossums, pets and animals do not get sick from typhus.
In people, however, typhus can cause high fever, chills, headache and rash. It is not transmitted from person to person and can be treated with antibiotics.
"Although typhus normally occurs throughout L.A. County, we are observing several cases in the downtown Los Angeles area," Los Angeles County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement. "We encourage pet owners to practice safe flea control and encourage all cities in the county to ensure maintenance of their trash clean-up and rodent control activities."
Flea-borne typhus (also called Murine typhus), is a disease caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia typhi. Murine typhus is spread to people through contact with infected fleas. People get sick with murine typhus when infected flea feces are rubbed into cuts or scrapes in the skin. Typhus fever can cause serious complications requiring lengthy hospitalization, and rarely, even death.
The first written recordings of typhus came in 1489 and were associated with the Spanish army's siege of Granada. High fevers, rashes, delirium, and gangrenous sores were reported; and the disease was routinely associated with warfare thereafter. The term typhus stems from the Greek word typhos, meaning "hazy," which refers the delirium some develop while infected.
Typhus is now considered to be endemic only in certain areas of the world, including Eastern Africa and a few areas in South and Central America. However, that status might change unless California addresses the trash-filled squalor of its homeless camps more seriously.
Other areas with significant homeless populations may want to prepare for a local typhus outbreak. The Hepatitis A outbreak shows that diseases associated with homeless populations will spread. A literal case of laying down with dogs and getting fleas.
[DAWN] BANGALORE: An Indian bus driver who let a monkey behind the wheel of his vehicle was suspended on Saturday after a video of the incident went viral, sparking outrage and humour.
The 36-year-old driver is seen smiling and patting the langur monkey as it sits atop the wheel of the moving bus in footage shot by a passenger.
"Driver M Prakash has been taken off duty for allowing the monkey to sit on the steering wheel and handle it," T. S. Latha, a spokesperson for the government’s road transport corporation in southern Karnataka state said.
"Passengers’ safety is paramount and the driver cannot risk it by allowing a monkey on the steering." The incident took place on Monday but authorities only learnt of it after the video was shared on social media, Latha added.
There were around 30 passengers on the bus at the time and none of them complained.
Local media reports say the langur boarded with a passenger and was at the wheel for almost ten minutes.
The bus was on its regular trip around Davangere, around 170 miles (270 kilometres) from regional capital Bangalore, when the incident took place.
"So sweet. Why suspend. He should have been warned not to repeat this," tweeted Parag Heda.
Another local quipped that the driver was in the wrong profession.
"Good that action is taken and he suspended, but clearly he is in wrong job. This man is a sensitive animal lover (see how langur trusts him) and could be an asset in wildlife related jobs," he said.
The state transport authority said an investigation was being conducted.
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10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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#2
Looking at that video, one can see that the driver is firmly in control of the steering wheel with his right hand. The langur is merely sitting politely on the thing, not interfering at all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/08/2018 20:20 Comments ||
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#6
Hmm the monkey couldn't be any worse than the crowd of pale white whiners the Progs have typing for them now. Probably better even if he just hits random keys.
#2
Recently spent some time in Mongolia including 5 days on the steppe. No doubt in my mind why how the conquered so much and killed up to 40 million. Harsh people in a harsh place.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
10/08/2018 9:10 Comments ||
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[BBC] Default passwords such as "admin" and "password" will be illegal for electronics firms to use in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, from 2020.
The state has passed a law that sets higher security standards for net-connected devices made or sold in the region.
It demands that each gadget be given a unique password when it is made.
Before now, easy-to-guess passwords have helped some cyber-attacks spread more quickly and cause more harm.
The Information Privacy: Connected Devices bill demands that electronics manufacturers equip their products with "reasonable" security features.
This can mean a unique password or a start-up procedure that forces users to generate their own code when using the gadget for the first time.
The bill also allows customers who suffer harm when a company ignores the law to sue for damages.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
"WhatAboutBorderSecurity" or "BuïldTheDamnWall" are passwords I recommend.
#6
I am starting to believe some companies like Apple force you to change your password every so many months by pretending you are misremembering or mistyping it.
#9
companies haven't done anything because they don't give a shit.
And why should they? I'm a great believer in individual responsibility. The only reason I don't hate this is that weak passwords that allow hacking effects a lot more people than the idiot that put in the weak password.
#11
With the Linux operating system, the system administrator can control settings that force users to select passwords with a certain minimum length that include upper and lower case letters, numeric and special characters. We used to have security audits all the time and had to confirm that those settings were in place. It doesn't mean that Jerry Brown knows your password.
Having said that, your password won't matter if the chips on the motherboard send it to China.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/08/2018 11:38 Comments ||
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#12
35 years ago we'd get notices every week from Admin to change our passwords to something 10 characters or longer etc. etc. blah blah blah.
Only problem was that damn near every terminal had a sticky note on it with the new password.
#13
Oh, you haven't had to deal with the Mypay Account system. If you are going to make it that difficult and tedious, go back to paper, far more user friendly.
[Al Jazeera] President Ali Bongo's ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has won a legislative election by a landslide in the first round, the presidency said.
President Ali Bongo's ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has won a legislative election by a landslide in the first round, the presidency said.
"We have observed what looks like a landslide in favour of the [ruling] majority," presidential front man Ike Ngouoni said on Sunday, citing results posted publicly at voting stations.
He said the PDG had won 80 of the 143 seats in the national parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, is ready to support the introduction in the country of criminal responsibility for dual citizenship with Russia. He stated this on October 5 in the air of the TV channel "UA: Kharkov".
“I believe that we need a new law on citizenship, but with any ideas that we need to discuss, I’m strongly against even the idea of legalizing dual citizenship with the Russian Federation,” the minister said.
According to Klimkin, all cases of obtaining Russian citizenship by Ukrainian citizens "must be investigated by the special services."
As REGNUM news agency reported , a scandal broke out in Ukraine in September after it became known that the consul of Hungary gave Ukrainian citizens Hungarian passports in Transcarpathia. After that, Pavel Klimkin stated that it was necessary to hold a “thorough discussion on the issue of dual citizenship” in the country.
The number of people who evade conscription in Russia has halved in comparison with 2016. The head of the Main Organizational-Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Lieutenant-General Yevgeny Burdinsky told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview on October 6.
Burdinsky said that 132,500 people would be drafted into the army this fall. This is less than what was called out last fall (134,000), but more than what was called up this spring (128,000).
Burdinsky particularly noted that the number of draft dodgers from military draft reduced by 53% compared with the spring of 2016. The Lieutenant-General believes that this is due to the adoption of measures at the state level to increase the attractiveness of military service and improve the conditions for passing it to draftees.
[DAWN] Interpol demanded an official "clarification" from China on the whereabouts of its missing police chief on Saturday, after reports said he was detained for questioning on arrival in his homeland.
Beijing has remained silent over the mysterious disappearance of Meng Hongwei, who was last seen leaving for China in late September from the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, southeast La Belle France, a source close to the enquiry told AFP.
His wife has since reported him missing.
"Interpol has requested through official law enforcement channels clarification from China’s authorities on the status of Interpol President Meng Hongwei," Jurgen Stock, the secretary-general of the international police body said in a statement.
"Interpol’s General Secretariat looks forward to an official response from China’s authorities to address concerns over the President’s well-being."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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"...E's resting - pining for the fjords of his native China, even..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/08/2018 12:54 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] La Belle France has received the resignation of Meng Hongwei as president of Interpol with immediate effect, according to the international police agency.
The development came on Sunday shortly after China said Meng, who went missing 12 days ago, was under investigation for unspecified violations of Chinese law.
The National Supervisory Commission, which handles corruption cases involving public servants, said in a statement that Meng "is currently under investigation on suspicion of violating the law."
Earlier on Sunday, Meng Hongwei's wife, Grace, said her husband sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared during a trip to their native China.
Making her first public comments on the issue, Grace Meng told news hounds in Lyon, La Belle France, that she thought the knife was her husband's way of trying to tell her he was in danger.
She said she has had no further contact with him since the message that was sent on September 25. Grace also said four minutes before Meng shared the image, he had sent a message saying: "Wait for my call."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Jazeera] Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... has agreed to hold a second summit with US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... "as soon as possible", South Korea said, after Washington's top diplomat held "productive" talks on denuclearisation with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Kim on Sunday morning for around two hours of talks followed by lunch in the North Korean capital, before flying to Seoul as part of his three-day East Asia tour aimed at breaking a deadlock on nuclear negotiations.
Pompeo said "he agreed with Chairman Kim to hold the second US-North Korea summit at the earliest date possible," according to a statement by South Korea's presidential office, although no specific time or location has yet been announced.
The US Department of State said Pompeo and Kim had "refined options" for the location and date of the summit.
The two also discussed "denuclearisation steps that will be taken by North Korea and the issue of attendance by the US government," as well as "corresponding measures" to be taken by the US, the South Korean statement said.
The visit was Pompeo's fourth to Pyongyang, who hailed the meeting with the North Korean leader as a success.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
You know the State Department is working overtime behind the scenes to sabotage everything they can and avoid Trump getting a win.
It's a pity, it seems like the right time for North Korea to come in from the cold. But they're SO useful to globalists because they enable US troop presence where they otherwise wouldn't be.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/08/2018 13:19 Comments ||
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[PRESSTV] China's antigraft watchdog said late on Sunday that the Chinese authorities were investigating Meng Hongwei, the head of the global law enforcement organization Interpol who had been reported missing, for suspected violations of the law.
Meng, who is also a vice minister of public security in China, had been reported missing by his wife after travelling last month from La Belle France, where Interpol is based, to China.
"Public Security Ministry Vice Minister Meng Hongwei is currently under investigation by the National Supervisory Commission for suspected violations of law," the Chinese anti-graft body said in a brief statement on its website.
The statement was the first from China since Meng's disappearance had been reported in La Belle France on Friday.
When asked about the Chinese announcement on Sunday, La Belle France's Interior Ministry said it had no information.
The French ministry said on Friday that Meng's family had not heard from him since Sept. 25, and the French authorities said his wife had been placed under police protection after receiving threats.
French police have been investigating what is officially termed in La Belle France a "worrying disappearance".
Interpol had said on Friday it had asked Beijing to clarify Meng's situation. The organization had no immediate comment on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, the wife of Meng Hongwei urged national governments to intervene, saying she feared that her husband's life was in danger.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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[PRESSTV] The administration of US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... is boasting about "another step forward" in negotiations with North Korea.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that he and North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... have made progress towards denuclearization of the Asian country.
After several hours in Pyongyang on his fourth visit to North Korea, Pompeo refused to specify any details about the progress despite a request by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
"I dearly hope that your latest visit, as well as the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit, which I hope will be happening soon, will make an irreversible, decisive progress in terms of the denuclearization as well as the grinding of the peace processor," Moon said. "Since we have the media present here, I would like to ask you to disclose anything that you can open to the public here."
North Korea won’t give in to US pressure: Analyst
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to North Korea is another desperate attempt by Washington to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its military capabilities, says a former US Army officer.
Scott Bennett, a former US Army psychological warfare officer and counter-terrorism analyst, made the remarks while discussing the perceived thaw between the US and North Korea.
Pompeo held talks with the North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... for nearly two hours on Sunday morning followed by a lunch in the North's capital, before flying to Seoul on a whirlwind diplomatic visit to the region.
The North Korean leader agreed to hold a second summit with US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... as soon as possible, few months after the two leaders met in Singapore.
Kim agreed in that meeting that he would indeed stop his country’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... the North would only do that when the US holds up to its own end of the deal.
"The trip to North Korea that Mike Pompeo is taking of course is a desperate attempt to try to regain the political advantage and pressure the North Koreans to continue down the path of surrendering their nuclear weapons," Bennett told Press TV on Sunday.
He said Washington is hoping that Pyongyang would warm up to the idea that cooperating with the US allows it to enter the "American orbit of economic prosperity."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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#2
From a blurb: "Scott Bennet is a highly skilled officer, specialising in psychological warfare, who claims to have proof that the CIA is behind ISIS' funding and they are being used as pawns to fuel ongoing war, struggle and massive profits for the military industrial complex."
[Townhall] A reporter who worked for NBC affiliate KTTC-TV in Minnesota was fired on Friday for sporting a "Make America Great Again" hat while covering a Trump rally.
Jim Bunner, one of the station's multimedia journalists, covered the Trump rally in Rochester, Minnesota on Thursday. While at the rally he wore a red MAGA hat and a jacket with the station's logo.
The very next day, Bunner was let go.
"He violated our policy so he’s no longer with us," Noel Sederstrom, news director for KTTC, told BuzzFeed News. "We don’t allow our people to wear campaign clothing while on assignment."
#5
> "They stopped being journalists and began being *cheerleaders*, and became people who had a conclusion that they reached, and then searched for facts to show that Hillary Clinton was an 92, 93, 99 point 9999 chance winner, of winning this campaign."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lWZ7CsXu0
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
10/08/2018 13:20 Comments ||
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[DAWN] Ousted premier Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts... along with other members of Shahbaz's family paid the remanded opposition leader a visit at the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) Lahore office on Sunday, two days after he was taken into custody by the bureau in the Ashiana Housing Scheme case.
Shahbaz's wife Nusrat, and his sons Hamza and Salman were present during the meeting which reportedly lasted an hour and 15 minutes.
According to DawnNewsTV, the meeting was arranged on the approval of NAB Director General Irfan Naeem Mangi at the bureau's Lahore office where the PML-N president is being kept under custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2018 00:00 ||
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#2
Freeman Dyson in his book Disturbing the Universe attended one such meeting at the Pentagon. During the presentation on using tactical nukes in Vietnam without provoking the USSR. An officer slipped him a note saying, "Nuke the gooks, and polite the whites" Yet say most didn't think this was a great idea.
This was known thirty years ago, and it wasn't behind the President's back - it was put together as a matter of giving the Man all the options that were available, but it was quashed right quickly by the President's advisors.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/08/2018 20:38 Comments ||
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#5
The squishes always mistake "plan for" for "plan to". Or maybe they don't but hope they can fool the gullible.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/08/2018 21:45 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.
[Charlotte Observer] A mystery came out of the ocean on South Carolina’s Seabrook Island, and authorities haven’t yet identified what some are calling "space junk."
Legal Insurrection readers will recall that California, and other areas of the country with a significant homeless population, were hit with an epidemic of Hepatitis A last fall.
[DAWN] BANGALORE: An Indian bus driver who let a monkey behind the wheel of his vehicle was suspended on Saturday after a video of the incident went viral, sparking outrage and humour.
[BBC] Default passwords such as "admin" and "password" will be illegal for electronics firms to use in 
[Al Jazeera] President Ali Bongo's ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has won a legislative election by a landslide in the first round, the presidency said.
The number of people who evade conscription in Russia has halved in comparison with 2016. The head of the Main Organizational-Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Lieutenant-General Yevgeny Burdinsky told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview on October 6.
[DAWN] Interpol demanded an official "clarification" from China on the whereabouts of its missing police chief on Saturday, after reports said he was detained for questioning on arrival in his homeland.
[Al Jazeera] 
North Korea
[PRESSTV] China's antigraft watchdog said late on Sunday that the Chinese authorities were investigating Meng Hongwei, the head of the global law enforcement organization Interpol who had been reported missing, for suspected violations of the law.
North Korea
[Al Jazeera] The body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova was found in a park, showing signs of blows to the head and suffocation
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts...
