[Jpost] Activities in nursing homes usually consist of games like bingo, but in Colombia, things were a little different. According to reports, a woman "suffered a heart attack after a crazy party was held at the nursing home where she lives."
Elderly people living in the "Ona Manu Amiga Foundation" nursing home in El Prado, Cartagena, Colombia, participated in a party that included a number of male and female dancers dressed in revealing costumes. However, things got too heated, when it seemed that one of the people in a nursing home had a heart attack in the middle of the party while three men danced around her.
The event was recorded and the photos were spread on social media.
Oh Great! Video at link
[Fox4News] A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian.
EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal.
"There’s a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That’s a new challenge that our firefighters haven’t faced before. At least on this kind of scale."
"It takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely," he continued in a follow-up tweet. "Thanks to [North Collier Fire Rescue] for their hard work."
[FoxWeather] One Great Plains farmer says beef prices would need to go up by 30% just for his ranch to break even.
Drought is taking its toll on corn crops across the Great Plans and threatening to take cattle ranches down too. For more than two years, at least 40% of the U.S. has endured a moderate drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Now the prolonged rain shortage is causing the dominoes to fall across the area. Corn makes up about 95% of the primary feed grain for cattle in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hogs and poultry also eat corn.
CORN PRODUCTION AND QUALITY DOWN
The USDA reports that corn production is 172.5 bushels per acre, down 8% from last year. The agency even downgraded its own estimate from last month by 2.9 bushels per acre as drought conditions persist. Making matters worse, only 54% of the year’s corn crop is reported in good to excellent condition.
More farmers find themselves victims of drought. In recent years higher corn prices due to strong domestic demand for livestock feed and ethanol prompted many farmers to shift from other crops to corn, according to the USDA.
But, drought conditions have caused a pullback. Just in this past year of drought, the USDA data shows areas planted in corn dropped 5% to 80.8 million acres – that is down 1 % from last month and down 5% from what was harvested last year. That further drops the corn supply.
BEEF PRICES ALREADY UP SINCE 2021
Beef and veal prices are already up 2.5% since last August per the USDA. The agency forecasts a further increase of 5.5% to 6.5% through the end of the year.
While shoppers have noticed the increase in prices, a bigger hike could be on the horizon. Farm-level cattle prices are up 17.6% from last year reports the USDA. Unfortunately for Felt Farms, the price is well below the 30% Felt is hoping for.
Western ranches have already started culling their herds on cattle ranches and dairy farms due to drought.
Keeping beef prices lower in the short term, while dairy prices climb.
Around 40% of domestic corn goes to feed corn. Almost 45% goes to fuel ethanol production. Traditionally, 10% to 15% is exported.
NEWS FLASH: Poor people in Third World countries starve!
The amount exported could change due to the war in Ukraine. The country is traditionally a significant corn producer. The rest is used for seed and industrial uses like sweeteners, according to the USDA.
[ZeroHedge] Back in January, in what was a rare showing of consensus on a global security topic, the United States, Russia, China, the UK and France jointly agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. The pledge, the result of months of talks, was summarized by a senior U.S. state department official at the time as: “an acknowledgement that it is something that we want to avoid”.
Now though, with increasingly threatening rhetoric from Russia, U.S. President Biden has said that Putin is “not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons", warning: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon”. Adding historical context, Biden said: “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Currently, as Statista's Martin Armstrong notes, there is estimated to be almost 13,000 nuclear warheads in the hands of nine countries.
At the top of the list, as compiled by the Federation Of American Scientists (FAS), are of course Russia and the U.S. with a combined arsenal of over 11,000. The FAS warned in late 2021 that “instead of planning for nuclear disarmament, the nuclear-armed states appear to plan to retain large arsenals for the indefinite future. All continue to modernize their remaining nuclear forces…and all appear committed to retaining nuclear weapons for the indefinite future.”
However, Armstrong goes on to explain that in 2019, a NATO-affiliated body released and subsequently deleted a document that apparently confirmed something that had been suspected for a long time - U.S. nuclear weapons are being stored at air bases in several European countries. A copy of the document was published by Belgian newspaper De Morgen which stated that B61 nuclear bombs are stored at six bases in Europe.
As a factsheet from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation details, the bases in question are Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi in Italy, Volkel in the Netherlands and Incirlik in Turkey.
#1
...Well, one of those is one I never heard of before, and the other one I knew about....but whose continued existence leads me to seriously doubt the intelligence of our military and political leadership.
#5
There were protests in then West Germany around early 1987 with lefty / commie groups going apeshit over the announcement of Pershing II's being deployed to West Germany. It made for one interesting night in Hannover for this cat.
[YouTube] The Renew Democracy Initiative brings you the third episode of our video series on the war in Ukraine in collaboration with New Debate and General Ben Hodges. Join General Hodges as he walks through what he believes to be a new phase of the war, the most recent updates on Ukraine's counteroffensive, and the path forward. We offer an inside look into Russia's deteriorating situation, the Kremlin's use of sham referendums and mass mobilization, the importance of Western resolve during the upcoming winter, and whether or not Russia will use a nuclear weapon.
The Kremlin recognizes that the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating for them. General Hodges states that a lack of trust within Russia and severe corruption within its Ministry of Defense defines this new phase in the war. He notes two recent events that help identify the Kremlin's worsening situation. First is the incoherent and sloppy call for the partial mobilization of Russian civilians. The second event is the occurrence of sham referendums and attempted illegal annexations of the four oblasts, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kherson. Both actions violated international law.
The Russian Ministry of Defense’s mobilization order was uncoordinated and poorly orchestrated. Instead of marshaling a patriotic and coherent response from its civilians, thousands of fleeing men met the call for mobilization to desperately avoid conscription. On Russia’s forceful and illegitimate land grabs, numerous heads of state, leaders of international organizations, and the UN Secretary-General have all declared the referendums a sham and refuse to recognize the results.
These referendums and the subsequent annexation of Ukrainian territory are used to explain the defense of stolen territory and to justify the necessity of the Kremlin’s partial mobilization. Russia’s sham referenda and partial mobilization indicate that the Kremlin does not care for any real form of democracy and that Putin is desperately trying to hold on to his regime and salvage the situation.
The annexation of Ukrainian territory has raised fears of Russia using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, as any attack on the Russian motherland could be used as a pretext for a nuclear strike. General Hodges believes this is unlikely, as using a tactical nuclear weapon would not offer Russia a plan with strategic options and would only offer downsides. For a nuclear strike to be beneficial for Russia, it would have to create an opportunity for Russian troops to move through a gap created by the nuclear weapon. Russia does not have the forces necessary for this.
Furthermore, the Kremlin knows they cannot use nuclear weapons without forcing the United States to respond proportionally. This response could range from the destruction of vital Russian Federation forces, such as destroying the Black Sea Fleet or even attacking the Russian navy base in Tartus in Syria. However, while Putin may be evil, he and the Kremlin are not suicidal. Therefore, Hodges believes that Russia will not resort to a nuclear option.
Ukrainian forces continue to make steady progress in the country's southern and eastern territories. Having recently recaptured the city of Lyman, Ukrainian troops continue to repel Russian forces and gain irreversible momentum with each city they liberate. Hodges is confident that Ukrainian forces will push Russian troops back to the lines on February 23rd, 2022, and that by the summer of 2023, Ukraine will regain control of the Crimean Peninsula. Winter is nearly here, and as energy prices increase across the globe, it will be a harsh one. However, General Hodges argues that this sacrifice is necessary and that the West must maintain its support for Ukraine this winter and allow them to continue their counteroffensive and retake control of their land from the grip of Russian tyranny.
#4
From those that were closer to Putin, they say he is very brave, until he is close to the event. Then he is pragmatic and won't risk himself or his family.
If he could launch nukes an be safe, he would. Otherwise he will be reluctant.
#5
Putin doesn't launch nukes. Launch officers launch nukes upon orders. So a guy who really does have the button is looking around.... He's okay. His family is okay. If he follows orders, then he and his family are dead within half an hour.
For what?
As a general rule, this sort of thing is done when..."NUKES INCOMING!", or when you have been told you can do a successful decapitating strike. Won't be anything back.
Nope. Not seeing it, even if a nuke strike is ordered.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/11/2022 23:45 Comments ||
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[YouTube - GoodTimesBadTimes] What can happen if Russia breaks the nuclear taboo? Can you properly prepare for its nuclear blackmail? The attempt to answer these questions is not simple and straightforward, but it must be faced.
A walkthrough of the escalation ladder and how things might play out.
#1
Biden will crap his diaper and go on TV to tell the world that Puty is a bad bad man. Shame on him. Then he'll leave via the wrong exit and get found wandering around the white house lawn 8 hours later.
#2
I've got an idea: let's not wait for this to happen, but pre-emptively attack them instead! After all, Putler is a madman who invaded Ukraine completely unprovoked, just because he is evil and likes to tie maidens to train tracks and twirl his moustache. Let the nukes fly now! Don't think of what the consequences might be!
#7
Do or do not. What's going to happen will be a very rapid escalation of countries with nukes for their own sovereign security. No reliance upon 'others' for your protection. Suddenly, you have several dozen states with nukes. What could go wrong? Then its just a short matter of time when they start popping all over the place. You don't game escalation because if you are last you are toast.
#9
I think we could catch the Ruskies with their pants down! Do I need a /sarc tag here?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/11/2022 12:03 Comments ||
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#10
I don't want to walk through the escalation ladder. I want to somehow get it through Joe Biden's head that Donbas and Crimea are not worth it. I want American foreign policy makers to understand that every little conflict in the world does not have to involve Americans.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/11/2022 12:19 Comments ||
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#11
Locally, those who were flying the Ukraine and semaphore "K" flags have them down, with some replaced by college sportsball flags.
Yes. The Stand with Ukraine or Die people in my circle are more concerned with a 20 year old being able to throw a ball against 3-4 defense.
First: Overload of the Ukrainian air defense system (already on).
Second: Plunging Ukraine into the Dark Ages (already in progress).
Third: Destruction of all major military installations (the next wave).
Ukraine is about to embrace nearly total darkness in the next few days. Politically, that opens a completely new ball game. Considering Moscow’s trademark “strategic ambiguity,” this could be a sort of Desert Storm remixed (massive air strikes preparing a ground offensive); or, more likely, an ‘incentive’ to force NATO to negotiate; or just a relentless, systematic missile offensive mixed with Electronic Warfare (EW) to shatter for good Kiev’s capacity to wage war.
#14
Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin said yesterday the way out of this conflict is for Russians to leave Ukraine. By that she seems to assume that Ukraine's borders are not in dispute which ignores the low level war that has been fought in eastern Ukraine since the Maidan coup in 2014, a coup in which the American State Department is implicated. Also ignored is the status of Crimea which Catherine the Great won for Russia, not Ukraine, in 1783. Further, she ignores Putin's concern about NATO's continued movement to the east and the threat it poses to Russia's security.
Being as how she is so much closer to the situation than we are, it's surprising that she would ignore pertinent facts that way.
Nonetheless, the question is: Are you willing to negotiate these issues in the interest of peace or do you believe these far away places about which we know so little are worth risking nuclear war?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/11/2022 13:54 Comments ||
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#15
Why would Russia use nukes unless it was in response to NATO aggression.
I dont see a scenario where UKR by itself is going to threaten RUS to such an extent that the only option is nuclear.
The real question is: How will the West respond to Russia using nukes in response to NATO escalation in UKR.
Posted by: James ||
10/11/2022 14:35 Comments ||
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#17
I could see Putin using tactical nukes in defense of Crimea should Ukrainian forces fight their way onto the peninsula. I would hate to see it. I worry that he might get pushed to that point because his conventional forces are so weak. I would prefer that he submit to defeat because the escalation from that point could be catastrophic for the whole world. But he might feel like he has no other option. I would assign the blame equally between Putin and Biden. If we were to find that Biden really has deployed American CIA or spec op forces in Ukraine, I would blame Biden exclusively because that would be naked aggression against Russia on his part. Even without that, I believe it is criminally insane that Biden continues to fan the flames of this war instead of proposing negotiations.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/11/2022 14:40 Comments ||
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#18
If we were to find that Biden really has deployed American CIA or spec op forces in Ukraine, I would blame Biden exclusively because that would be naked aggression against Russia on his part.
Russian intel has traced the Krymsky Most / Crimea Bridge bombing to UK Mi6 special operatives in Bulgaria. A step-by-step accounting of who-what-when-where:
Russian President Vladimir Putin neatly summarized it: “This is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critical civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation.”
The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, confirmed face-to-face with Putin that Terror on the Bridge was carried out by the SBU – Ukrainian special services.
Bastrykin told Putin, “we have already established the route of the truck, where the explosion took place. Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia, Krasnodar… The carriers have been identified. With the help of operatives of the FSB, we managed to identify suspects.”
Russian intel leaked crucial info to military correspondent Alexander Kots. The cargo was ordered by a Ukrainian citizen: explosives packed in 22 pallets, in rolls of film under plastic wrap, were shipped from Bulgaria to the Georgian port of Poti. Afterwards, the cargo was loaded onto a truck with foreign license plates and proceeded overland to Armenia.
Clearance at the Armenia-Russia border was smooth – according to the rules of the Eurasian Customs Union (both Russia and Armenia are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, or EAEU). The cargo evidently avoided detection through X-rays. This route is standard for truckers traveling to Russia.
The truck then re-entered Georgia and crossed the border into Russia again, but this time through the Upper Lars checkpoint. The truck ended up in Armavir, where the cargo was transferred to another truck, under the responsibility of Mahir Yusubov: the one that entered the Crimean bridge coming from the Russian mainland.
Very important: the transport from Armavir to a delivery address in Simferopol should have happened on October 6-7: that is, timed to the birthday of President Putin on Friday the 7th. For some unexplained reason, that was postponed for a day.
The driver of the first truck is already testifying. Yusubov, the driver of the second truck – which exploded on the bridge – was “blind:” he had no idea what he was carrying, and is dead.
At this stage, two conclusions are paramount.
First: This was not a standard ISIS-style truck suicide bombing – the preferred interpretation in the aftermath of the terror attack.
Second: The packaging most certainly took place in Bulgaria. That, as Russian intel has cryptically implied, indicates the involvement of “foreign special services.”
…
[Ultimately,] damage [to the bridge] was limited, and easily contained. The charges/truck combo exploded on the outer right lane of the road. Damage was only on two sections of the outer lane, and not much on the railway bridge.
In the end, Terror on the Bridge yielded a short, Pyrrhic PR victory – duly celebrated across the collective West – with negligible practical success: transfer of Russian military cargo by railway resumed in roughly 14 hours.
And that brings us to the key information in the Russian intel source assessment: the whodunnit.
It was a plan by the British MI6, says this source, without offering further details. Which, he elaborates, Russian intel, for a number of reasons, is shadow-playing as “foreign special services.”
It’s quite telling that the Americans rushed to establish plausible deniability. The proverbial “Ukrainian government official” told CIA mouthpiece The Washington Post that the SBU did it.
#19
Nice try, old Pal, but I have it straight from Herself that the Queen o' da Jooz arranged to substitute boomy stuff for a truckload of humanitarian aid from Kadyrov and set it off with a Ouija board at just the opportune second. Much more plausible, don't you think?
Biden has indeed “deployed special operations forces to Ukraine.”
Helmholtz quoted a report from Col. Cassad two days ago:
Today there was a sortie of foreign mercenaries in the Zaporozhye direction, which included, among other things, American special forces soldiers. They were so self-confident that they decided to carry out reconnaissance in battle with this stellar squadron.
However, they did not take into account the presence of our units in this zone, which are able to maintain secrecy on the air, and suffered losses. However, some of these bastards still managed to escape. The presented photos are screenshots of the video from the go-pro camera of one of the dead mercenaries, who literally lost his head.
#21
Ref 18: Palermo's comments are most plausible. Persistent (sat or air breather) surveillance of key strategic nodes is a given. All that is required is a reverse viewing of the FMV (full motion video). Tracking events and vehicles 'before the boom.'
#23
Far too many moving parts and points of failure, leakage, and a lack of cutoff, not to mention a completely inadequate destructive capability. Mi6 or CIA would have known they needed a bigger bang to actually impact things in a serious manner. As you note, this was just an anoyance.
Nice fiction if you're writing a Tom Clancy novel, Palermo, but Occams Razor says a lot more likely to have a simpler solution than the cockamamie conspiracy you outline. Citations please, not just innuendo and allegations.
[Jpost] The IDF’s ability to simultaneously operate effectively on multiple fronts is crucial for Israel to deal with the region’s unpredictable and explosive nature.
As Israelis were celebrating the Sukkot holiday, the IDF was placed on high alert on two fronts, to prevent any miscalculation or terror attack that could bring the country into yet another devastating conflict.
The deadly shooting attack at the Shuafat crossing outside Jerusalem on Saturday took the life of 18-year-old Sgt. Noa Lazar was a clear reminder that attacks can come at all times, in all places.
Continued on Page 49
I always feel better after an MRI.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A three-minute daily burst of a mild electromagnetic current can ease difficult-to-treat depression, according to a new study.
Patients found their symptoms improved significantly, including those who had tried up to six types of antidepressants without success, and some remained symptom-free for at least six months.
The main treatments for anxiety and depression are talking therapies, such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and medication.
NHS waiting lists for counselling are often long, while drug treatments may not work — one UK study found that 55 per cent of those prescribed antidepressants by their GP did not respond to them. The drugs also carry the risk of side-effects.
The new treatment — intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) — is a form of brain stimulation using an external magnetic field.
It is different from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a controversial treatment for severe depression in which a small electric current is passed through the brain while the patient is under general anaesthetic, and which has been linked in some cases with long-term memory loss.
For iTBS, which does not require anaesthesia, a paddle-like device containing an electromagnetic coil is placed close to the scalp.
A current is then passed through the device, creating bursts of electromagnetic energy every eight seconds.
This is targeted at the dorsolateral left prefrontal cortex area of the brain, which is involved in the regulation of mood.
People with depression have been found to have low levels of activity in this area. The treatment, which lasts only three minutes, painlessly stimulates nerve cells in the brain. Patients typically have around 20 sessions over four weeks.
A trial of iTBS on 30 patients
...so they’re at the very, very early stage of the research. When they get into studies of thousands of patients then we’ll have a better idea if this is real or just a placebo effect...
at Nantes University Hospital, in France, reported in the journal Brain Stimulation, showed that after a course of treatment, depression symptoms at least halved in 37 per cent of participants — and 19 per cent of them went into remission.
This remission rate was 27 per cent higher than in a comparison group given repetitive cranial stimulation, another form of brain stimulation which takes up to 40 minutes to perform. All the patients on the trial had previously failed to respond to at least two antidepressants, some of them had tried up to six.
There were no serious side-effects reported — headache was the most common complaint associated with the treatment.
‘We observed a clear subsidence in depression during the month of stimulation,’ said the researchers. ‘Our study suggests this stimulation provides long-lasting improvement of depression and quality of life in highly resistant depression.’
Now, a new clinical trial of the treatment is under way, involving 60 patients at the University Hospital of North Norway.
During this study, patients will be given either three minutes of iTBS or a placebo treatment every day for two weeks, and their symptoms will be compared before and after.
‘This is clearly good news,’ says Carmine Pariante, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College London.
‘The results are very good. We now need to see whether this new treatment is as good as ECT, which remains the most effective treatment for depressed people who do not respond to all available antidepressants.’
#3
"Three minutes is too long a wait
For these miserable blues to abate!"
It was fifty percent
More than Winston had spent
In his usual Two Minutes Hate.
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.
