[Blaze] US prosecutors in Virginia are investigating Meta Platforms — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — for potentially playing a role in facilitating illegal drug sales on their platforms, according to the New York Post. Not to mention potential links to porn distribution and child trafficking.
The report mentioned that the prosecutors have already issued subpoenas and started questioning Meta about whether it has enabled and profited from illicit drug sales on its platform. Prosecutors have also requested records related to "violative drug content on Meta's platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta's platforms."
The Food and Drug Administration is reportedly helping with the investigation, according to people familiar with the situation. However, investigations like this do not always end in formal charges of wrongdoing, but what has been brought up is enough for the prosecutors to take a serious look.
A spokesperson for Meta said that [t]he sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services."
[AFRICANEWS] A man calling himself Prophet Ishmael was charged in a Zimbabwean court Thursday, after police raided the compound where he led a religious sect and found more than 250 children being kept away from school and used as cheap labor. And he never saw that coming? Not much of prophet.
Police also discovered 16 unregistered graves, including those of seven infants, at the farm about 34 kilometres (21 miles) northwest of the capital, Harare.
Ishmael Chokurongerwa and seven of his aides were charged with exploiting children and denying them access to education and health services. Police spokesman Paul Nyathi said investigations were still ongoing and authorities may press more charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2024 2024-03-17 00:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[81 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Called me Ishmael
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/17/2024 14:30 Comments ||
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#2
J-----, always fond of a jest,
Just could not let that prophet thing rest.
"I shall go in the night...
Ishmael! Bro, recite!"
"Mumbo jumbo!"
"This joke is the best!"
Though M------- was not so impressed,
Nor yet A---- the Humourless Blest.
[MAIL] An African conservation charity of which Prince Harry is a director is facing further accusations of human rights abuses
…the dear boy has never had to learn to judge the character of those in whom he reposes trust…
that include extra-judicial killings and violent beatings. Same sort of headlines as Feb 1965. Nothing much changes in that part of the world.
Fresh allegations of brutality in Zambia by rangers jointly managed by African Parks have emerged following the MoS's front-page report in January about armed guards engaged in beatings, rape and torture of the Baka tribal people in the Republic of Congo.
The charity — which manages parks in 12 African countries, with 1,400 guards patrolling protected land almost the size of Britain — claims that it saves wildlife by working with local communities. Park management is it? Well, if you say so.
And prior to the allegations being made, Prince Harry, the charity's president for six years until he joined the governing board of directors last year, boasted: 'The African Parks model is exactly what conservation should be about — putting people at the heart of the solution.'
But now allegations of brutality have surfaced in Zambia's Bangweulu Wetlands, a conservation area almost the size of Devon that is home to 50,000 indigenous people who have the right to 'sustainably harvest' natural resources such as fish, antelope and rabbits. Allegations of "brutality?" How strangely uncommon.
[MAIL] Thousands of wealthy retirees are ditching Florida and now choosing to spend their golden years in Appalachia instead - but not everyone is happy about it. Yes, also known as "Half-Backs."
With its warm weather and low tax burden, the sunshine state has long been known as the retirement capital of the US.
Yet Southern Appalachia, known for its stunningly beautiful views, is increasingly giving Florida a run for its money, Wall Street Journal reported.
The population in counties in southern Appalachia designated as retirement or recreational areas grew by 3.8 percent between April 2020 and July 2022 - more than six times the national average, according to Hamilton Lombard, a demographer at the University of Virginia.
Fascinating.
But while older populations are attracted by cheaper living and housing cost, lower crime levels and pleasant weather with fewer hurricanes, some locals are furious about the impact this influx is having on property prices, traffic and even restaurant bookings - with one resident saying 'they should go back to where they came from'.
That’s fine so long as they have their health — ditto for those retiring abroad — but eventually they’ll want to go to where the doctors and hospitals specializing in the elderly are found.
#4
/\ Yes, but the Appalachian locals still bitch and moan, longing for the days of poverty and lack. Bemoaning the "progress" and traffic congestion replaces politics and the weather as a barbershop and cafe discussion topic.
The relo effort however, is actually self defeating. Retiree homes and gated senior villages are built and cared for by skilled (legal or illegal) Amigos who work for cash and live in crowded rentals or apartments. The Amigos bring with them their children and continue to have more. The local government is then forced to build new Amigo elementary, middle, and high schools. Blue Bird bus company thrives, traffic continues to slow as two lane roads cannot handle the congestion.
Lowes, Depot, Target, and Wally World follow the money and the outdated traffic grid slows further.
The wealthy relo seniors finally join the Appalachians, bitching and moaning about the traffic, higher taxes, increased HOA fees and crowded pickle ball courts.
#6
Crime in Florida is very bad. Family and friends in Florida have spoken of the change.
A wealthy fellow in Baltimore has had enough. He tells his wife he must get away to the rural country of Appalachia. He purchases 400 acres in remote area and lives there by himself for four months and has had no visitors. Hears somebody walking down his road and he rushes out excitedly. I haven't seen a sole in four months. Where did you come from?. Over yonder in the holler. I come over to invite you to a party Saturday night I'm having. We'll have singing, dancing, good food, sex everything. Who all is gonna be there, You and me.
#7
In response to #1 above - no they won’t. Rural hospitals are folding by the day. When the feds mandate lower payment rates than the insurance companies via Medicare/Medicaid there is no financial incentive to serve the population. Rural areas with older folks on SSI and significant percentages of younger people on Obamacare due to poor local employer health insurance makes doctors close practices, discourages specialists and drives out rural hospitals. If the area is “blessed” with a couple hundred “refugees” dumped on them as well that exacerbates the problem. In Ohio if you want a gerontologist you need to go to one of the big blue cities - Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and get in line for a 3 month wait …
#10
SP,
I don’t doubt where you are is the case.
The article was about wealthy retirees influencing local medical care.
I moved rural recently only to see B’s take happen locally. Several very modern facilities. The old timers are very happy.
#13
At Portage County UH for the discharge of a family member. It seems like UH and Cleveland Clinic are slowly overrunning the state like kudzu. The clinic has already absorbed Akron.
As for the Floridians, they must hear the haunting strums of the banjo calling them back to enjoy the taste of fresh cracklings….
which will last for a very short time and then they will ticked that they can’t DoorDash mozzarella sticks from Applebees.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/17/2024 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#14
So what state is Appalachian in, exactly?
Posted by: Regular joe ||
03/17/2024 18:22 Comments ||
Top||
#15
@ skidmark #8: On the surface that sounds really unfair, but the alternative is that the taxpayer will get stuck with the full bill. While the Medicaid beneficiary's descendants keep their full inheritance.
#17
It is clear from reading the article that neither the author nor the editor have the faintest clue where or what Appalachia is. A growing number of people are retiring to West Virginia which isn't even mentioned.
[IsraelTimes] Lawsuit by prominent kosher certification agencies claims leadership is seriously harming sale, distribution of domestically produced kosher beef.
Because Jews are fine, donchaknow, but acting Jewish is icky — really, you know, that’s not Jew-hate at all! (Yes — sarcasm. But these people are so tiresomely predictable.)
Two of the most prominent kosher certification agencies in Canada are suing the national government, claiming that recent regulations around animal slaughter are putting the country’s kosher industry at risk.
The Kashruth Council of Canada and the Jewish Community Council of Montreal, along with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an umbrella group representing Canada’s nearly 500,000 Jews, say in the suit that the enforcement of guidelines first introduced several years ago has led to a dramatic decline in the domestic production of kosher meat in the country.
As we’ve seen elsewhere, making kosher meat illegal to produce is a mark that the country wants to get rid of its Jews… or sometimes its Moslems, but doesn’t care that Jews will be impacted, too. Since we know Canada is very fond of its Moslem colonists, the conclusion is obvious.
The suit was filed last week.
"Since these new guidelines have gone into effect, the amount of kosher meat produced in Canada has decreased dramatically," the three organizations said in a statement earlier this week. "The community has been trying to temporarily supplement this shortfall with imported kosher meat, but this situation is not viable over the long term."
The lawsuit surrounds the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations instituted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which monitors food, animals and plants to ensure consumer safety. According to the regulations, animal slaughter should include the initial use of a stun gun. But that is prohibited under the laws of Jewish ritual slaughter, or shechita, which mandate that the animal must be uninjured before it is slaughtered with a knife.
If a stun gun is not used, according to the regulations, ritually slaughtered livestock and birds must pass multiple cognitive tests that indicate a loss of consciousness and brain death before continuing in the meat production process. Kosher proponents say that these extra steps add time and complexity to a process that would otherwise take under a minute.
The lawsuit says that between August 2022 and January 2023, the number of kosher meat processing plants in Canada has fallen from six to four, leading to a decline in the weekly yield of domestically produced kosher beef, from 3,400 to 1,750 head of cattle.
The Canadian lawsuit follows years of challenges to kosher slaughter in Europe. A February decision in the Court of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... upheld a ban on kosher slaughter in two of Belgium’s three regions.
The ban also focuses on slaughter without the use of a stun gun, which also effectively precludes the Moslem method of slaughtering animals.
Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Slovenia also have bans on ritual slaughter.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a statement to several publications that it "remains open to new scientific findings that can support animal welfare, and to listening to and engaging with stakeholders on the challenges they face as well as on potential solutions."
But the Jewish groups said they submitted evidence last month showing that shechita is humane and meets the CFIA guidelines because it instantly makes the animal lose consciousness, but that the food safety agency rejected their appeal.
"CFIA is supposed to be a science-based organization and to date they have ignored the science," Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the director of MK Kosher, the Montreal Jewish community’s agency, told the Toronto Star.
The newspaper reported that although most kosher meat in Canada is imported, the country’s Jewish community wants to ensure the availability of domestic kosher meat in case of supply chain issues and as a marker of Jewish belonging in Canada.
"Other Canadians are guaranteed access to local Canadian meat," Richard Rabkin, managing director of the Kashruth Council of Canada, told the Star. "Why should Jewish Canadians be treated any differently?"
#2
Evidently halal is OK, though.
And Skid, the imam of the grand mosque in Mecca has said he can't wait to try lab grown pork. I kid you not. Supposedly he's a big fan of turkey 'ham'.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/17/2024 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
#3
They can flotilla across Lake Erie. Coming in legally is less lucrative.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/17/2024 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Skid,
This is determined on a case by case basis. So far only one (or maybe a few) producers have sought certification. In at least one case, the certification was given and in that case, the product was also given the status of parve so it could be eaten with milk or cheese.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/17/2024 20:05 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Milk of Human Kindness, or, Canadian Takin', er, Fakin'
Implored a gored scholar of Zion,
"Cow, lend me your shoulder to cry on!
Why, check that you're dead
Ere I take off your head?!?"
"There, you've many more molehills to die on."
"Well... [hanky, nose-blowing] I suppose you're right. Still, this one seems supremely, uniquely important... just like all the others."
"I quite understand. And may I offer, on behalf of the entire bovine community, the profoundest sympathy for your loss?"
[both rise, sing O Canada]
["Allahu akbar, eh?" *kaboom*]
[Washington Examiner] The White House claimed Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are "taking the action" to ensure that Boeing airplanes are safe to fly on in the future but did not say if President Joe Biden believes they are safe for consumers right now.
The comments come as Boeing planes have experienced a number of recent in-flight malfunctions, including the mid-air plunge of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight earlier this week.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded a number of questions on the topic at Friday’s press briefing and referred specific inquiries back to the NTSB and FAA.
"We take this very seriously. The FAA takes this very, very seriously. But there’s investigations happening," she told reporters. "We stand by FAA and the actions that it is doing to take — to increase safety oversight of Boeing, and so I’m just gonna leave it there. NTSB certainly will have more to share because they are an independent agency."
"I think what Americans should know is that FAA is doing everything that it can to make sure that Americans feel safe," Jean-Pierre responded when pressed on the current safety of Boeing aircraft. "They are taking the actions. We stand by those actions to make sure that there is increased safety oversight of Boeing, and that’s what the American people should feel reassured by, that FAA is doing everything that they can to make sure that we get to the bottom of this."
[The Intercept] Since retiring from the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit. From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions, especially because he is represented by the same high-powered speakers agency as Hillary Clinton, who faced criticism in 2016 for her paid speeches to investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Called "cashing in" by military officers,
…not just the military…
transitioning from capped government salaries to defense industry, private consulting for global risk management, or work with venture capital brings in lavish paydays. For retired generals, the invasion is swift. The recently retired chief of space operations for the Space Force, Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, for example, has joined the board of directors for aerospace companies Impulse Space and Axiom Space, as well as becoming senior managing director for investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Gen. James C. McConville, who served as chief of staff of the Army before retiring last year, has joined the board of directors of drone manufacturer Edge Autonomy and aerospace investment firm AE Industrial Partners, as an operating partner.
Milley’s speaker’s agency, Harry Walker Agency is touting the retired general, who crossed swords with former President Donald Trump and continues to be a polarizing figure, for his insights on leadership and international conflicts. "His perspective is invaluable for audiences looking to understand the impact of current conflicts and managing risks on boards of directors and leadership teams who are responsible for making strategic decisions and identifying vulnerabilities," the website says.
Those insights can be a diminishing asset — the longer one is away, the less current, and therefore valuable, the specifics of one’s field. But general principles never lose their usefulness.
According to the speaker’s agency, Milley recently participated in a Q&A at a gathering of 160 CEOs organized by investment bank Moelis & Company, where he provided his "insider’s perspective on world affairs."
This really smacks of “Know your place, peasant!” Why should he not get paid by private parties to share his accumulated knowledge and insights after the Army no longer has any use for him? Throughout his career, his peers in private industry made orders of magnitude more than he did, and no matter how much he might earn now he’ll never catch up. But if they are willing to share a small portion of their wealth to gain some of the insights the Army no longer wants, who is harmed?
#2
His money will seem like dust as his reputation erodes even further over the next several years. He was a promising officer at one time who sold out. He will have regrets.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/17/2024 10:45 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Graphic added to salve White Rage™
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/17/2024 12:49 Comments ||
Top||
"...Two years ago, former Marine Corps General John Allen resigned from his post as president of Brookings Institution amid a DOJ investigation into whether he illegally lobbied on behalf of the nation of Qatar.
DOJ dropped the charges but, in 2023, Congress released findings that 77 general officers and admirals had taken high-paying gigs with foreign countries. The list included former Defense Secretary James Mattis (UAE), former NSA chief Keith Alexander (Singapore, Saudi Arabia) and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (Japan).
Go back to 2015 and you’ll be reminded that then-Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas allegedly pressured DHS officials to approve visa requests on behalf of powerful friends in business, entertainment and politics...."
[IsraelTimes] Archival crew pursues rare documents that offer insight into nation’s history, carefully scans them for website set to launch in April
Huddled in the back of a van, Rebin Pishtiwan carefully scans one yellowed page after another, as part of his mission to digitize historic Kurdish books at risk of disappearing.
Seen as the world’s largest stateless people, the Kurds are an ethnic group of between 25 and 35 million mostly spread across modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... In Iraq, the Kurds are a sizable minority who have been persecuted, with thousands killed under the rule of late dictator Saddam Hussein and many of their historic documents lost or destroyed.
"Preserving the culture and history of Kurdistan is a sacred job," said Pishtiwan, perusing volumes and manuscripts from Dohuk city’s public library in Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdistan region.
"We aim to digitize old books that are rare and vulnerable, so they don’t vanish," the 23-year-old added, a torn memoir of a Kurdish teacher published in 1960 in hand.
In Iraq, the Kurdish language was mostly marginalized until the Kurds’ autonomous region in the north won greater freedom after Saddam Hussein’s defeat in the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
After the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the dictator, the remaining documents were scattered among libraries and universities or held in private collections.
Once a week, Pishtiwan and his two colleagues journey in their small white van from the regional capital Erbil to other Kurdish towns and cities to find "rare and old" books.
They seek texts that offer insights into Kurdish life, spanning centuries and dialects.
’PROPERTY OF ALL KURDS’
In Dohuk’s library, the archiving team scours the wooden bookshelves for hidden gems.
With the help of the library’s manager, they carefully gather an assortment of more than 35 books of poetry, politics, language, and history, written in several Kurdish dialects and some in Arabic.
Pishtiwan holds up a book of old Kurdish folk stories named after 16th-century Kurdish princess Xanzad, before gently flipping through the fragile pages of another religious volume, tracing the calligraphy with his fingers.
Back in the van, equipped with two devices connected to a screen, the small team starts the hours-long scanning process before returning the books to the library.
In the absence of an online archive, the Kurdistan Center for Arts and Culture, a non-profit founded by the nephew of regional president Nechirvan Barzani, launched the digitization project in July.
They hope to make the texts available to the public for free on the KCAC’s new website in April.
More than 950 items have been archived so far, including a collection of manuscripts from the Kurdish Baban principality in today’s Sulaimaniyah region that dates back to the 1800s.
"The aim is to provide primary sources for Kurdish readers and researchers," KCAC executive director Mohammed Fatih said.
"This archive will be the property of all Kurds to use and to help advance our understanding of ourselves."
OUT OF PRINT
Dohuk Library manager Masoud Khalid gave the KCAC team access to the manuscripts and documents gathering dust on its shelves, but the team was unable to secure permission from the owners of some of the documents to digitize them immediately.
"We have books that were printed a long time ago — their owners or writers passed away — and publishing houses will not reprint them," Khalid said.
Digitizing the collection means that "if we want to open an electronic library, our books will be ready," the 55-year-old added.
Hana Kaki Hirane, imam at a mosque in the town of Hiran, unveiled a treasure to the KCAC team — several generations-old manuscripts from a religious school established in the 1700s.
Since its founding, the school has collected manuscripts but many were destroyed during the first war pitting the Kurds against the Iraqi state between 1961 and 1970, said Hirane.
"Only 20 manuscripts remain today," including centuries-old poems, said the imam.
He is now waiting for the KCAC website launch in April to refer people to view the manuscripts.
"It is time to take them out and make them available for everyone."
Hey, Boeing management: they’ve noticed in Russia, too.
[Regnum] A United Airlines Boeing 737 that landed in Oregon was found to be missing part of its skin, US aviation regulators have confirmed.
“The United Airlines flight landed safely at the airport in Medford, Oregon. The post-flight inspection determined that the panel was missing,” RIA Novosti quoted the regulator as saying.
The cause of the incident will be determined during the investigation.
It is known that the plane took off on the morning of March 15 from San Francisco International Airport. There were 139 passengers and six crew members on board.
According to the FlightAware service, the plane landed 17 minutes earlier than expected. The missing panel was discovered during a routine post-flight inspection.
As Regnum reported, on March 11, a former 62-year-old quality engineer at the Boeing plant, who had repeatedly stated that the company uses defective parts when assembling aircraft, was found dead in his truck in the parking lot of a hotel in South Carolina. John Barnett worked for the company for 32 years. In early March, he was invited to court to testify against the company.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-200 lost a tire on March 7 while taking off from San Francisco Airport to Japan. The plane made an emergency landing in Los Angeles. A tire flying off the plane landed in a parking lot and damaged several cars. There were 249 people on board the Boeing, including 235 passengers.
In early February, ABC News reported that Boeing would send about 50 aircraft for modification. Experts found that a number of holes in the fuselage of the aircraft were not drilled in full compliance with technical requirements.
On January 5, there was a plane incident with a flight flying from Portland to Ontario. At an altitude of about 5 km, a piece of the fuselage was torn out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing with 177 people on board, along with the emergency exit door. The part that came off in flight was later found by a Portland resident. The part fell in the backyard of a private house. No people were injured as a result of the emergency.
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.
[AFRICANEWS] A man calling himself Prophet Ishmael was charged in a Zimbabwean court Thursday, after police raided the compound where he led a religious sect and found more than 250 children being kept away from school and used as cheap labor.
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing....jpg)
[The Intercept] Since retiring from the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
