[Wichita Eagle] In the latest cultural skirmish over how America remembers its Civil War, someone with apparent Union sympathies did a spray paint edit on a monument honoring Confederate soldiers at Wichita’s Veterans Memorial Park. Whoever did it painted over the word "Confederate" in the phrase "In honor of all Confederate veterans of the War Between the States 1861-1865.
On the same granite panel, they painted over the words "courage," "devotion" and "military duty" in regard to the troops of the Confederacy. On another panel, they altered a sentence honoring Confederate dead copied from a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The carved inscription reads, "Not for fame or reward, not for place or rank, not lured by ambition or goaded by necessity, but in simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all — sacrificed all — dared all — and died."
[WBALTV] The Fort McHenry Federal Channel was reopened Tuesday after an apparent explosion on a ship near the Key Bridge site closed it on Monday.
Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman John Marsh said no injuries were reported aboard the merchant vessel W-Sapphire, a 751-foot bulk carrier that had a crew of 23 people. Marsh said the carrier showed "signs of damage consistent with a fire and explosion."
The Coast Guard told 11 News the ship was outbound from the harbor on Monday when the explosion occurred.
Baltimore City Fire Department spokesman John Marsh said no injuries were reported aboard the merchant vessel W-Sapphire, a 751-foot bulk carrier that had a crew of 23 people
The Port of Baltimore announced on Tuesday the Fort McHenry Channel was reopened:
"The U.S. Coast Guard has reopened the Fort McHenry Federal Channel into and out of the Port of Baltimore. We appreciate the great work of the Coast Guard, tugs, pilots, and other port partners to reopen the channel as quickly as possible. We also thank our customers for their patience and understanding through this incident."
Mike Singer, a member of the Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay Shipwatchers group, told 11 News that the ship was full of coal and had just left the CSX Coal Dock.
"The ship was coming out at 47 feet in the water," Singer told 11 News. "That is a full coal ship for this port. Ships come out of here full of coal four to six times per week."
The explosion was reported at 6:28 p.m., Singer said.
"I just heard a loud boom and a rumble, felt like a vibration," said Tim Holt, a Dundalk resident. "I didn't see any smoke. Then, I heard a ship blew up by the Key Bridge."
Investigators told 11 News a hatch blew off and went into the water during the explosion. They were trying to find its exact location and remove it, along with any other debris that could pose a problem.
Marsh said firefighters responded by both land and water, and that the ship will be moved to an anchorage area and will remain there until it is cleared by the Coast Guard.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, the Coast Guard said. The ship has since been anchored closer to Annapolis, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was expected to arrive in the Port of Mauritius in about a month. Built in 2012, the ship is currently sailing under a Liberian flag. My guess would be coal dust, at first glance.
Just interesting then, not enemy action.
The Coast Guard said crews are waiting for a safety evaluation before they board and inspect the ship.
For Holt, the explosion brought back memories of the Key Bridge collapse.
"Bridge gets hit by one ship, then another one blows up in the same place where the ship hit the bridge," Holt said.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An Air Force veteran who was stationed at Area 51 claims that the US government has covered up a deadly health scandal at military bases throughout the country.
David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant, was a security guard at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), a classified site that houses the infamous top-secret base.
He's one of many veterans who became seriously ill with the same mysterious symptoms years after working at NTTR.
Crete, who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, claimed that hundreds of his fellow workers have died of severe illnesses, including cancer, since being stationed at the secret facility.
This 'invisible enemy', as Crete described it to the Daily Mail, consists mainly of hazardous radiation contaminating the water, soil, and air around the base, which was built on a site used for nuclear weapons testing in the 1940s and 50s.
Despite a 1975 report from the US Department of Energy warning that the area was severely irradiated, the military continued to station troops at NTTR.
However, Crete alleged that conditions at other bases, missile complexes, and secret labs have caused severe illnesses that the government has yet to acknowledge.
'I think that the government has tried to sweep a whole lot of places under the rug,' Crete claimed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A powerful M1.1 flare occurred on the Sun. This was reported on August 19 by the press service of the Institute of Applied Geophysics named after Academician E.K. Fedorov (Federal State Budgetary Institution "IPG").
“On August 19 at 07:39 Moscow time, an M1.1 flare lasting 50 minutes was recorded in the X-ray range in the sunspot group 4188 (S09E88),” the report says.
Moderate flare activity is expected in the next two days. Class X flares are not excluded.
Scientists noted that the geomagnetic field may be unstable, and the radiation situation may be undisturbed. Also, radio communications may deteriorate during the day.
A devastating blaze erupted at an industrial warehouse in Los Guayos, Venezuela, leaving 4 people dead and injuring close to a dozen others as thick smoke engulfed the area.
[ZeroHedge] Was there ever a sweeter headline than this, coming from the Washington Post of all places?
Socialism is defeated as Bolivia heads to presidential election runoff
According to the Post:
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia’s socialist movement has been defeated for the first time in two decades, according to preliminary election results, as voters chose a centrist senator and a right-wing former president to go head-to-head in a presidential runoff that could bring dramatic change for this South American nation.
Centrist senator Rodrigo Paz and former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga won the most votes Sunday in a crowded race for president in this country of 12 million people, according to unofficial results from an early count that shows the two far out in front in a trend analysts say is irreversible.
Their victories mark the end of a socialist era for Bolivia, where the leftist movement of former president Evo Morales has dominated politics since his historic 2005 election as the country’s first Indigenous president. As the country faces its worst economic crisis in 40 years, voters here demanded a change.
Hell has frozen over in Bolivia -- which is often a bellwether for the direction of South America's politics.
The report notes that several conservative candidates didn't make the final cut for the runoff, Quiroga has been around for a long time, and Paz is a moderate. But something like this represents progress, given the long grip socialism has had on the battered Andean country, which is known for its valuable natural resources. And to read the article, Paz doesn't sound like a moderate -- he sounds pretty conservative, seeking to let markets determine prices.
Meanwhile, the performance of the socialists in office over 20 long years was execrable, and the Post gave an accurate-sounding rundown:
[Socialist Evo] Morales’s so-called “economic miracle” was once hailed as a socialist success story during his three terms as president. His government was credited with lifting millions out of poverty and into the middle class. He funneled billions of dollars into public works projects that transformed society, including aerial cable cars that float over the Andes here in the high-altitude administrative capital. Morales’s continued popularity, after three terms and a controversial attempt at a fourth, helped propel the 2020 election of Arce, his former economy minister and chosen successor.
But much like his leftist Latin American contemporaries at the start of this century, Morales’s government spending depended on an influx of cash from the global commodities boom. Everything changed after the plummet in prices of natural gas, Bolivia’s main export. Gas exports declined, imports rose and the central bank began running out of dollars. Bolivia, which once supplied half of its own diesel fuel, produced only 12 percent by 2023.
In recent months, Bolivians have been forced to sleep in their cars to wait to fill their tanks amid widespread fuel shortages. Inflation, which until 2023 was controlled at 2 percent, was more than 16 percent in July. Those who depend on government-subsidized food products have had to form long lines to buy bread.
“We’re bankrupt, there are no jobs here, everything is more expensive and the money is never enough,” said Julia Ayala Casa, as she voted for Paz in southern La Paz in a traditional pollera skirt worn by Indigenous Aymara and Quechua women here. “We have to get in line just to buy oil. There’s a line for everything.”
(Hey, New York City! This, too will be yours if you are foolish enough to elect Zohran Mamdani.)
In short, the country went down the same way Hugo Chavez's Venezuela went down, a big influx of natural resources cash, an even bigger round of government spending, and all of a sudden, the ruling clowns ran out of other people's money. Happens every time.
Left unsaid in the Post report was the example of next-door Argentina, which decisively rejected socialism after a long period of misrule, embraced libertarianism and is now seeing economic growth it's never seen before, growth the so-called experts were 'surprised' to see happen. That cannot be lost on millions of Bolivian locals, many of whom have worked in Argentina as illegal aliens. Instead of continuing to flee socialism, they took their country back.
I'm just surprised the ruling socialists didn't rig the election enough to keep themselves in power. The article describes how Morales and other leftists have sought to spoil their ballots ahead of the coming runoff, but that's a rearguard action that won't work.
The victory must have been too big to cheat. They didn't, so there must be something good still there to work with. Bolivia may, this time, save itself.
[FoxBusiness] The agency, which issued a do not eat or sell advisory, has recommended the retail giant recall the seafood
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday said it is actively investigating after a shipment of Walmart shrimp tested positive for a man-made radioactive material. "These are REALLY jumbo shrimp!"
U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) alerted the FDA to the detection of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination in shipping containers and frozen shrimp products processed in Indonesia at four U.S. ports, including Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Savannah, Georgia, according to a news release from the FDA.
Officials collected multiple samples for radionuclide analysis, confirming Cs-137 in one sample of breaded shrimp. The shrimp supplier, PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati (aka BMS Foods), was added to the "red list," meaning its products cannot be sold in the U.S. until the issue is resolved.
Officials said the product appears to have been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions, causing it to be contaminated with Cs-137.
After CBP flagged the contaminated shipping containers, the FDA issued an import alert on Thursday for chemical contamination.
Walmart allegedly received potentially contaminated raw frozen shrimp imported after the date of first detection by CBP, but from shipments that did not alert for Cs-137, according to the release.
Walmart immediately recalled the shrimp at the direction of the FDA.
"The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority," Walmart wrote in a statement to FOX Business. "We have issued a sales restriction and removed this product from our impacted stores. We are working with the supplier to investigate."
The FDA said it is continuing to coordinate with CBP to prevent any contaminated products from reaching consumers.
The agency added it is working with Indonesian seafood regulatory authorities to investigate the root cause of the contamination.
FDA officials said consumers should not eat or serve Great Value raw frozen shrimp from Walmart with lot codes: 8005540-1, 8005538-1 and 8005539-1.
Those who have recently purchased the affected shrimp should throw them away, officials said.
Cs-137 is a man-made radioactive material created during nuclear reactions. Trace amounts of Cs-137 can be found in the environment, including soil, food and air.
Any unexpected finding of Cs-137 in a food product is evaluated by the FDA to determine if follow-up action is warranted on a case-by-case basis.
[GatewayPundit] Federal officials, in public and in federal courtrooms, are lying about the existence of video footage from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Utah Attorney Jesse Trentadue believes his brother was interrogated and tortured to death in August 1995 because federal authorities mistakenly thought he was “John Doe #2” in the Oklahoma City Bombing. For the past 30 years, Trentadue has filed 7 major federal FOIA lawsuits seeking documents and evidence, and has already obtained 2 million documents. Trentadue doggedly pursues the many lies federal authorities have told over the years about the bombing, and the illegal federal program “PATCON” that he believes was involved in his brother’s murder, and which is still ongoing today.
One of the critical lies, which still informs the mainstream narratives and dominates most media coverage of the case, is that there was no second bomber alongside Timothy McVeigh that day. McVeigh was convicted of the bombing and executed on June 11, 2001.
Even though multiple eyewitnesses noticed two men exiting the Ryder truck transporting the bomb to the Alfred P. Murrah building that day, the narrative from federal officials is firm that McVeigh acted alone while in Oklahoma City.
This issue would be easy to solve if there were video of the truck arriving and the explosion.
The government has claimed, consistently in public and in court, that no such video exists. The FBI Section Chief David M. Hardy has said in court filings under oath, that no such video exists.
But documents show FBI Agents taking possession of such video, and even describing the contents of such video, in their reports. Jesse Trentadue believes that multiple videos exist of the truck and the bombing, and federal officials refuse to release it because it shows a second bomber whom Trentadue believes was a federal agent.
#1
Jones, McVeigh's lead defense counsel, dances delicately around this issue in his book, "And Others Unknown".
Twenty years ago, nobody would have entertained this theory for an instant. NOT THE FBI!!!!
Today....simplest explanation.
Took six fibbies and six fed informants to get a few Michigan guys off their bar stools and put together a kidnap plot against the governor.
Mass casualties don't bother them...see Waco.
Is there anything so horrible that one would dismiss it out of hand if the feds were accused?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/20/2025 5:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Stephen Jones, McVeigh's lead defense counsel, dances delicately around this issue in his book, "And Others Unknown".
Mass casualties don't bother these guys. See Waco.
Is there anything so horrible one would dismiss out of hand an accusation that it was the feds who did it? NOT THE FBI!!!!!
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/20/2025 5:58 Comments ||
Top||
[MAIL] Elon Musk has backtracked on plans to remake US politics by launching a third party and instead wants to use his immense wealth to help JD Vance become the next president.
The billionaire Tesla founder intends to shift his focus back to his companies after a tumultuous stint working with President Trump and has become wary of upsetting Republicans, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Musk has decided to join other tech titans and rally behind the person they believe is the likely successor to Trump: Vice President JD Vance, who has made recent moves that suggest he will run in 2028.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The unusual glow emitted by the space object 3I/ATLAS may indicate its alien origin. This assumption was made on August 18 by an astrophysicist from Harvard University (USA) Avi Loeb, the Daily Mail newspaper reports.
"A mysterious interstellar object hurtling through our solar system has just given scientists new evidence that it may be a spaceship from another part of the galaxy," the article says.
The scientist said that the unusual glow was recorded using a picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The light was concentrated on the side facing the Sun and faded sharply as it moved away from the source. This does not correspond to the principles of reflection of sunlight by typical comets, since their light is scattered more evenly.
In addition, the object completely lacks a gas-dust cloud, a mandatory attribute of any comet when approaching the Sun. Scientists have discarded several natural explanations, such as the evaporation of ice, friction with the interstellar medium, or radioactive decay, because they do not correspond to the collected data.
Loeb said 3I/ATLAS could be a man-made craft that emits light visible from millions of miles away. If so, it would have a powerful power source.
In this case, the size of the mysterious cosmic body was greatly overestimated due to optical illusion, and its diameter is not 19 km, but 90 m. However, it is too early to say that this is an artificial device.
“This cannot be ruled out, but more compelling evidence is needed to confirm this hypothesis,” the astrophysicist emphasized.
Scientists expect to receive a final answer on October 3, when 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Mars. New images should shed light on the origin of the object.
Moscow, August 19, 2025, 22:20 — IA Regnum. A magnetic storm has begun on Earth due to the action of a coronal hole on the Sun. This was reported on August 19 by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Judging by the explosive growth of the solar wind speed, the Earth has just flown headlong into a coronal hole. Let's see how strong the magnetosphere is," the scientists reported on their Telegram channel.
According to them, at the moment the magnetosphere is in the green zone.
Earlier it became known that magnetic storms on Earth could intensify to the red level by the end of the day. However, according to their forecasts, in the next 48 hours the geomagnetic activity index, which measures disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, could move to the yellow and even red zones. There is also a possibility that the solar wind speed will approach the orange level.
Moscow, August 19, 2025, 14:56 — IA Regnum. Magnetic storms on Earth may intensify to the red level by the end of the day. This was reported on August 19 by specialists from the solar astronomy laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to scientists, geomagnetic disturbances are expected within the next 48 hours.
“At the same time, observations are lagging far behind the forecast, and the speed values of 800-900 km/s expected by the morning are still nowhere to be seen,” experts noted on the Telegram channel.
Scientists noted that the geomagnetic activity index, which measures disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, remains in the calm zone for now. However, they predict that it could move into the yellow and even red zones in the coming hours. There is also a possibility that the solar wind speed will approach the orange level.
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.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An Air Force veteran who was stationed at Area 51 claims that the US government has covered up a deadly health scandal at military bases throughout the country.
