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ISIS burns Jordanian Pilot Alive
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
12 21:34 Zenobia Floger6220 [6] 
5 19:42 Alaska Paul [6] 
4 14:30 Mullah Richard [2] 
21 22:26 SteveS [6] 
2 19:05 Skidmark [4] 
2 19:50 newc [8] 
1 07:11 ed in texas [4] 
7 16:40 Shipman [3] 
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6 20:26 Procopius2k [3] 
3 14:26 rjschwarz [7] 
8 20:49 JosephMendiola [6] 
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
China executes two cult members for McDonald's murder
[PRIMENEWS.BD] Two members of a cult in China have been executed for murdering a woman in a McDonald's restaurant in Shandong, according to a local court.

Zhang Lidong and his daughter Zhang Fan were members of the banned Church of the Almighty God cult.

They were part of a group who attempted to recruit the 35-year-old victim, Wu Shuoyan, in the restaurant in the town of Zhaoyuan in May 2014.

When she refused to give her phone number, they beat her to death.

The Shandong Yantai Intermediate People's Court announced the Zhangs' execution on its Weibo account (in Chinese) on Monday morning, noting that the father and daughter had "committed murder and used a cult to intentionally break the law".

The group was found guilty in October last year. Three others were give jail sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment.

The court's statement said that Zhang Fan had asked Ms Wu for her contact details twice. When the victim refused, the group believed that she was "possessed by an evil spirit", and Zhang Fan threw a chair at her.

The rest of the group joined in the attack and beat her with mops brought by Zhang Lidong, who also stamped on Wu's head and face. She died at the scene from her injuries.

Zhang Lidong said in an interview later that he believed Ms Wu was a demon and that "we had to destroy her".
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "When she refused to give her phone number, they beat her to death."
Hard sell, eh?
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2015 7:11 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Justin Bieber says dropping 'arrogant' and 'conceited' attitude
[GEO.TV] Pop star Justin Bieber said he was leaving behind his "arrogant" and "conceited" attitude after bad behavior in the past year damaged his image while he makes the transition from teen idol to adult performer.
Last CD not selling so well?
The 20-year-old "Boyfriend" singer said in a video posted on his Facebook page late on Wednesday that he was "afraid of what people are thinking about me right now."

Bieber's image was hurt by incidents involving careless driving, pelting a neighbor's home with eggs and an alleged assault following an altercation with a photographer.

"I didn't want to come off arrogant or conceited or basically how I've been acting in the past year, year and a half," the Canadian singer said. "I'm not who I was pretending to be."
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Either that, or someone gave him the Harry Reid treatment.
Posted by: Raj || 02/03/2015 0:22 Comments || Top||

#2  the Harry Reid treatment.

Ass chaps, a swing and a ball gag...
Posted by: badanov || 02/03/2015 0:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Unlike sophomoric twit Bieber, a real man, a real artist and performer. Like the rank of SP5 he wears, sadly, no longer with us.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 6:55 Comments || Top||

#4  But that's half of his schtick.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2015 7:13 Comments || Top||

#5  In a related development, Leopards swear to change their spots.
Posted by: BrujoTejano || 02/03/2015 9:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Who gives a shit?
Posted by: irishrageboy || 02/03/2015 16:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Him wants to be in " Canadian Skacker"
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:40 Comments || Top||


Saudi girl sacked for refusing to marry firm manager
[Emirates 24/7] An Indian manager of a Saudi-based company sacked a local employee after she refused to marry him, prompting a Saudi court to freeze the firm's assets.

The girl told court that she received an email from her manager sacking her just after she turned down his request to marry him.

'Okaz' newspaper said the court asked the company in the Western Red Sea port of Yanbu to immediately reinstate the girl and pay her all arrear wages.

"The court later decided to freeze the company's assets after it failed to implement that sentence.

"The judge also ordered police to bring the manager to court by force to investigate him about failure to abide by the court's order," the paper said.

It did not name that company, but said it has a large contract with the Gulf Kingdom's state oil operator, Saudi Aramco.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1. A Saudi girl was allowed to work.
2. She wasn't already in a sack.
3. The gov't took her side against her manager.
(though I guess that was because he's Indian.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2015 12:29 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Lesotho PM's bodyguards shot in crossfire
[Emirates 24/7] Two bodyguards tasked with protecting Lesotho's Prime Minister Tom Thabane were shot and maimed on Sunday and a bystander killed in the crossfire, five months after a failed putsch in the tiny African kingdom, one of his senior advisers said.

Both the injured men were soldiers who had tipped off Thabane about the planned August 2014 coup when the military attacked several police installations and the prime minister's residence, killing one police officer, the adviser said.

"The two guards went against their own men that day, absolutely," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, suggesting that Sunday's assault could be linked to the failed coup.

The shootings outside the gates of the Royal Palace of Lesotho King Letsie III also come four weeks before national elections in the impoverished country of two million which is surrounded by South Africa.

The bodyguards were not accompanying the prime minister at the time.

"We're still trying to figure out the motives. My gut-feeling is that what's happening now is to frustrate the election process," the adviser added.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Hasina to be sued for killing 20-party men: BNP
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP today threatened Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
that she would be sued for criminal masterminding the killing of the 20-party alliance leaders and activists in the name of upholding the country's law and order.

"The BNP-led 20-party alliance leaders and activists are being victimised of intentional killing by joint forces. The prime minister will be held responsible for the killings," BNP Joint Secretary General Salauddin Ahmed made the threat in a press statement this afternoon.

The armed law enforcers are carrying out the "killing spree". Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would be put in the dock and the day is not far away, he warned.

In the statement, he also said the government has shut all doors of disciplined anti-government movement and snatched away people's rights to speak freely and the freedom of the press.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela: We continue killing
[ELUNIVERSAL] The estimated homicide rate in Venezuela has been steadily rising since 2005. Currently, it is the second-most homicidal country in the world. An estimated 25,000 violent deaths were reported for 2014
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Gertz: Top China analyst: Beijing has been duping the US since Mao
[BusinessInsider] "Some sensitive details were removed from the manuscript by the government. However, the totality of the book represents an authorized disclosure of China’s secret strategy that is among the most significant releases of internal U.S. government information in over a decade, Pillsbury said.

“That highlights the importance of the book,” Pillsbury said in an interview. “And it sends a message to China: We’re not as clueless as you think.”
Well, at least those of us not in search of a "Legacy" are not.
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0034 || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Exactly what's so secret about it?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  They've already won the economic war.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  How hard could it be? The Beltway crowd would rather keep to its world view fantasies anyway.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 9:38 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm afraid the Beltway crowd rather admires their Chinese counterparts.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/03/2015 12:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Who elects the politicians?
Posted by: gorb || 02/03/2015 15:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Lots of hard work by their media arm to cover up who they actually are. Mr. Ayers to the courtesy phone.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 20:26 Comments || Top||


A top US Navy intelligence official is warning of future China conflict
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0034 || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scoring a 10.0 on the 'duh' meter.
So didja have a dream, or are you just worried about next year's research funding?
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/03/2015 7:16 Comments || Top||

#2  So how did integrating China into the market system to make them more cooperative and less bellicose work out? Sort of ignoring several thousand years of ethnocentric history [Shang, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Manchu dynasties].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 7:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Well China does have a long history of being insular. I think in the grand scheme they are more likely to close up shop and say goodbye to the world before risking war with the West. yeah, they might try to screw our economy at the same time, but still.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2015 14:26 Comments || Top||


China has constructed a life-sized mockup of an aircraft carrier flight deck
Your kids and grandkids may need to know Spanish to get things done in the neighborhood, but Mandarin will eventually become the economic and military language (imho).
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0034 || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Spanglish and Ebonics didn't make it.
Maybe Chinish will.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/03/2015 1:10 Comments || Top||

#2  A reference to Blade Runner?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/03/2015 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Or, 'Serenity'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/03/2015 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Does it pitch and roll? On the other hand, I bet they can't turn it into the wind, making it a tad bit more complicated, what with a cross-wind, and all.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/03/2015 12:23 Comments || Top||

#5  This is a repeat of what they did prior to the first carrier they acquired.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2015 13:20 Comments || Top||

#6  We still have land carriers, you gotta see how small they are relative to airfields. There's one at Pensacola and there used to be one outside JAX, may still be there, nothing to see here.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/03/2015 16:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Here is the carrier mock-up on Google Earth, at coordinates (approximate) 30.40N, 114.25E, near Wuhan. Wuhan is where they're building those corvettes for the Indian navy.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2015 16:55 Comments || Top||

#8  FYI WORLD MILITARY FORUM > EXPERTS: CHINA MUST BUILD + DEPLOY NOT LESS THAN TWO LARGE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS FOR EACH OF ITS NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN NAVAL FLEETS, IN SUPPORT OF ITS STRATEGIC DIRECTION AS PER ITS FOREIGN POLICIES.

versus

* SAME > PROFESSOR: CURRENTLY RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED KAMCHATKA REGION IS CHINA'S OWN "SOUTH CHINA SEA" IN RELATION TO CHINA'S INABILITY TO TAKE BACK OR SECURE ITS HISTORICAL TERRITORIAL INTERESTS IN THE REGION FROM THE TIME OF THE MONGOL/YUAN-ERA DYNASTY AND PRIOR.

* WORLD NEWS > [Taipei Times] CHINA MAY TRY TO FORCE TAIWAN CONCESSIONS: US EXPERT.

> China's installation of coastal LR ADS for PLA capable of covering all of Taiwan.
> On-going Diaoyu-Senkaku Islands dispute wid Japan.
> Alleged PLA-centric military contruction, buildup on Nanji Islands to north of Taiwan.
> South China Sea contruction of PLA-capable artificial islands on what was once watery shoals + rocks.

* SAME > TOP CHINESE SCHOLAR BLASTS US FOR "FANNING DISCORD" IN SOUTH CHINA SEA WID JAPAN AIR PATROL PROPOSAL [support].

* MANILA TIMES > PHILIPPINES A ["pathetic"]
"CRYING BABY" FOR OPPOSING CHINA ISLAND-BUILDING: STATE MEDIA.

Xinhua.

---------------------

I'll say again that it behooves China + PLA to determinatively decide its strategic access issues vee JAPAN, ETAL. before US-led GMD-TMD is permanently emplaced + before Japan is allowed to dev or possess NucWeapons on its own.

Iff China's actions in the South China Sea is any example, where China strikes or moves "Where the US = US-NATO/UNO/Allies are NOT", then the possibility or scenario exists where China + PLA may strike agz GUAM andor the CNMI as opposed to Japan, in parallel to PLA attacks agz Taiwan whose conquest remains China's primary focii.

Most of the US Mil Presence in Joint Region Marianas is on Guam, NOT the CNMI, although the JSDF repor has based a detachment on TINIAN + its Cold War base on Iwo JIMA.

THE CLOCK IS TICKING AGZ CHINA AS PER THE ABOVE + WHEN ABE-LED JAPAN WILL SUCCEED IN [slowly but steadily]AMENDING JAPAN'S POST-WW2 PACIFIST CONSTITUTION IN FAVOR OF OVERSEAS JSDF DEPLOYMENTS + "OFFENSIVE" FORCE PROJECTION, ETC.

Personally I'm more concerned about China's Airborne Forces, Submarines + Sub Commandos, INTEL + Fifth Column includ Legal + Illegal Immigration, Expat Labor in support of the PLA MilOps + China's strategic FP.

And Obama's PCorrect SSSHHHH ...CCCCCC Anti-US "red lines" in East Asia-Pacific in support of the Anti-American, Amerikan-led OWG Globalist agenda.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2015 20:49 Comments || Top||


Europe
Brash new government holds Greeks in thrall
[IN.REUTERS] Barely a week in power, Greece's new leftwing government is winning over an increasingly enthusiastic domestic audience by moving boldly on populist campaign pledges at home even as it strikes a more moderate note abroad.

While selling a message of reassurance on a diplomatic charm offensive in Europe, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has surged to a 68 percent approval rating at home by taking a radical line to show that the old, unreliable world of Greek politics as usual is out -- both symbolically and otherwise.

Ministers, many sporting Tsipras's no-tie look, drove up in their own cars on their first day at work last week, some complaining about traffic to waiting cameras. Barricades outside parliament to hold back protesters were taken down. Riot police were notably absent at a demonstration over the weekend, leaving protesters with no one to vent their anger against.

Bigger changes are also afoot. Even before the government formally unveils its programme this weekend, ministers have moved with dizzying speed to tell television cameras their plans to raise the minimum wage, halt unpopular sales of national assets, rehire workers fired without cause and reinstate a Christmas bonus for poor pensioners.

"He is doing much better than expected both at home and abroad," said Costas Panagopoulos, head of the Alco polling institute in Athens, adding that the new government's first week in power had injected a dose of confidence into the country.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 12:10 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He is doing much better than expected both at home and abroad,"

Until the realization of what they actually voted for sets in. The 'takers' will never understand. The 'makers' will suffer, and the term 'In Thrall' won't be lost on them.

Seems familiar, some how.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/03/2015 14:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "We aren't out of money! We still have Checks left!"

(of course when nobody wants to cash them anymore...)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/03/2015 15:15 Comments || Top||

#3  the old, unreliable world of Greek politics as usual is out and has been replaced by a new, improved but still unreliable (and insolvent) world of Greek politics.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 15:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Doesn't "thrall" mean "slave"?
Posted by: charger || 02/03/2015 17:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Wonder what Wesley Mouch's name is in Greek.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/03/2015 19:42 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police find third body in nine days
[DAWN] The body of a 65-year-old woman was found from a wooded area opposite Garden Chowk on Sunday.

This is the third incident in nine days in which a body of a murdered person was found in the limits of the Aabpara cop shoppe.

According to police sources, there were bullet wounds on the woman's stomach. Her body has been shifted to the hospital for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.

A police official, requesting anonymity, said crime rate in the limits of the Aabpara cop shoppe has suddenly gone up. "No arrests related to the murders have been made yet," he said.

"On January 24, the beheaded body of a man of about 30 was found stuffed in a sack discovered from a nullah in sector G-6/2," the official said.

On Saturday, the body of a 48 years old man, named Niamat Shah, was found from the Rose and Jasmine Garden. The victim, who worked in a restaurant, had been stabbed to death with a dagger, he said.

"On Sunday another body was found from the area of same cop shoppe. It is a serious matter and police should investigate it thoroughly," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Coincidence
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2015 9:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Corneas
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/03/2015 19:05 Comments || Top||


Saudi prince to hunt rare bird in Chagai despite court ban
[DAWN] An advance party of a Saudi prince has arrived with his falcons in Chagai district of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
where he will be hunting game birds for a few weeks, according to sources.

The federal government issues special permits to members of royal families of the Gulf states to allow them to hunt the protected houbara bustard.

Like earlier this year also, a part of Chagai district has been allocated to the Governor of Tabuk, Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, for the purpose.

Also read: BHC bans houbara bustard hunting in Balochistan

Last year, media reports that the prince had hunted 2,100 rare birds had sparked an international outcry.

A few weeks ago, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) cancelled all special hunting permits issued by the federal government.

The sources said a couple of aircraft carrying members of the second batch of the advance party landed at the Dalbandin airport on Sunday. Later, the party members moved to Barthagazi area, located near a desert.

The sources said a few days ago, another aircraft had brought in several other members of the advance party.

When contacted, Chagai's District Forest Officer for Wildlife, Saifullah Zehri, confirmed the arrival of the advance party along with falcons and other material required for setting up the hunting camp of Prince Fahd.

Answering a question, Mr Zehri said he had informed bigwigs of his department about the advance party.

About cancellation of hunting permits by the court, he said he had already informed the local representatives of the prince about the matter, telling them that the permits would no longer be allowed.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Rules are for the little people. Anyone remember the only aircraft permitted airborne, and to fly out of the United States within a few hours following 9/11 ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:55 Comments || Top||

#2  He wants business as usual, he is going to find his wold is over.
Posted by: newc || 02/03/2015 19:50 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Oil prices to reach over 70 dollars by 2019: IMF
[Asharq al-Aswat] Oil prices will rise gradually over the next five years to reach just over 70 US dollars a barrel in 2019, a bigwig at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted on Sunday.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Raja Al-Marzouqi, the IMF's departmental adviser on the Middle East and Central Asia, said the organization forecasts oil prices to rise to 57 dollars a barrel by next year, 65 dollars a barrel in 2016, and eventually 72 dollars in 2019.

The organization expects modest growth from the Eurozone and the global economy will help push up the prices in the coming years, but that the continued ample supplies of shale oil from the US would act as a counterbalance, keeping the price rise a modest one.

Oil prices have fallen more than 60 percent from highs of above 100 dollars per barrel in 2014 to hover at around 50 dollars per barrel this year.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Real tough call there, Raja...
Posted by: Raj || 02/03/2015 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  It is important to remember that the cost of oil is not driven by the cost of exploration and production, but is manipulated by a producer's cartel determined to harvest money from the West. Hey, jihad don't come cheap!
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2015 1:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Good time to join our Canadian friends and approve the Keystone XL and get pumping. Of course they've only come to our aid in the last 4 or 5 international conflicts overseas, why should we be friendly with them ?

[sarc off]
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:31 Comments || Top||

#4  But what will a dollar be worth in 2019?
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/03/2015 4:38 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 on target. Got to keep the people running the speculative markets happy and they own enough Congresscritters and keep their people rotating between Wall Street, the Fed and the Treasury to make sure it happens.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 7:43 Comments || Top||

#6  I predict the oil prices will change, and change again.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 10:08 Comments || Top||

#7  "I predict the oil prices will change, and change again."

So far they've dropped faster than Dominique Strauss Kahn's pants.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 02/03/2015 12:39 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age
[THEGUARDIAN] Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island’s first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age.

Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland.

“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.

“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”

Membership in Ásatrúarfélagið has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed.

The temple will be circular and will be dug 4 metres (13ft) down into a hill overlooking the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, with a dome on top to let in the sunlight.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 12:27 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tribalism returns.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/03/2015 12:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Norse version of Unitarianism.. don't really believe in the gods. Too bad, could use a few besrkers in the Mideast.
Posted by: Zenobia Peacock3126 || 02/03/2015 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  "a dome on top to let in the sunlight" much like anyone that would "worship" there.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/03/2015 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, unlike the Christians, they'll know how to deal with Jihad.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 13:00 Comments || Top||

#5  The odds are there's already a larger mosque in Rejkavik.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/03/2015 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Odin does not like your Jihad.

Blood Eagle Wings for all of you.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/03/2015 13:08 Comments || Top||

#7  They'll be neo-pagans like the pathetic Druids. Choosing a religion to upset your parents and make your friends think you are cool is sad.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2015 14:34 Comments || Top||

#8  "“I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods."

Well, at least one goofy cult appears to be having a reformation.
Posted by: Glavise Slaviter5093 || 02/03/2015 15:47 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: 3dc || 02/03/2015 19:24 Comments || Top||

#10  If they have beer and football then I'm converting.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/03/2015 21:03 Comments || Top||

#11  “I, for one, welcome our new hammer-wielding overlord.”
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0034 || 02/03/2015 21:25 Comments || Top||

#12  In lands where the Lord loves a liar
And sand, sun, and scrapping conspire
To scrape at their nerves,
There Freya's day serves
As their week-choking focus of ire.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/03/2015 21:34 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
The Air Force's New Gunships Shake, Rattle and Roll
The U.S. Air Force’s newest AC-130J Ghostrider gunships will enter service later than expected because of plans to load extra weapons on the four-engine planes. But the Pentagon’s top weapons tester is even more worried that other nagging problems could hold up the aircraft.

In 2014, crews had trouble picking out targets because the two prototypes were shaking so much in the air, according to the latest annual report from the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation.

On top of that, one of the aircraft had a mid-air accident that completely shut down test flights. “Several problems require resolution and will affect the subsequent development test schedule,” the report explains.

For one, the AC-130J apparently vibrates much more than the previous AC-130W Stinger II aircraft. Crews had serious trouble focusing powerful sensors and pointing laser designators at targets.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/03/2015 11:48 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK boys, those who bitch that the A10 was just a piece of flak bait waiting to happen explain why this is also still in the inventory?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 11:59 Comments || Top||

#2  The basic airframe is an antique design - so is the shaking generated by the new weapons package or has the shaking always been there but is only a problem with the new weapons package? If it's not those, but is in the aircraft itself, I would be really concerned, if I was a test pilot, and just wouldn't fly in it otherwise.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2015 12:39 Comments || Top||

#3  True story:
Previous employer was asked to build new interior panels for the J model. Only problem was that the originals were built w/out any drawings, just tissue paper, glue, paper mache' and the like. The ones given to us to laser track to reverse engineer were of the tissue paper variety and were pretty much airplane -unique.
Still a great airframe however.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/03/2015 14:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Wonder if what they're newly loading 'on the outside' might have something to do with the airflow disturbances.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/03/2015 14:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Why the 'Prius Driving, Composting' Set Fears Vaccines
h/t Donald Sensing
...I talked to a public health official and asked him what's the best way to anticipate where there might be higher than normal rates of vaccine noncompliance, and he said take a map and put a pin wherever there's a Whole Foods. I sort of laughed, and he said, "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2015 01:57 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "No, really, I'm not joking." It's those communities with the Prius driving, composting, organic food-eating people.

The well-to-do, educated, the untrusting of big-pharma, untrusting of pro-migrant government, yes the gated community crowd, why can't we just blame them and move on ?

I'm not joking !
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 3:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Same attitude as in 'you can't have guns, but we can hire armed private security for ourselves'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeh, well I just sold my Prius. I don't trust the government, pharma, pro migrants, or anyone else for that matter.
But, I own a daycare and preschool. No immunizations means no enrollment in my book. Anyone who doesn't immunize his kids is a fool.

A Prius hardly means gated community, you may be thinking Tesla.
Posted by: jvalentour || 02/03/2015 8:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Why? They are stupid.

Next question.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/03/2015 9:42 Comments || Top||

#5  "stupid" means "knowing better, but doing it anyway" Stupidity has little to do with intelligence or education, except that the more you know, the greater opportunities you have to -- be stupid.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 9:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, AH9418, stupidity is like deep, deep frosting on a scrumptious cake. Especially for those arrogant ones that can't help out point out their superiority and then demonstrate the opposite.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 02/03/2015 10:10 Comments || Top||

#7  It's actually pretty simple. Anti-vaxxers don't trust the government. Government says get vaccinated. That instantly raises suspicion.

Does anyone here seriously doubt that Champ and his underlings would scruple to slip something into your vaccine if they could? Of course not.

The Left is just as wary of the government -- in their own special way. Keep in mind these are vegan, localvore, kombucha drinking, aromatheraphy using hippy dipsters. They want to be healthy. More than most. And they don't trust government (or business for that matter) to help.

Which makes perfect sense. The government has been telling us what to eat since the 50's. We've been getting fatter and sicker ever since.

My family are all vaccinated, BTW. But we thought about it first.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/03/2015 10:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Polio vaccine makes girls unsubmissive and bookish and shrinks boys' pee-pees so they're eentsy little mushrooms. When the gated community set decides it's not only Moslems it happens to the iron lungs will be back in this counry, too.

Being intelligent doesn't give a person common sense, no more than it gives them good manners or empathy.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2015 11:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Being intelligent doesn't amount to nearly as much as it once did.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/03/2015 11:59 Comments || Top||

#10  intelligence never equaled wisdom.

Wizard of Oz - Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/03/2015 12:02 Comments || Top||

#11  One of the things that amazes me about these Hollyweird types is that they are oh, so careful to only eat organically grown vegetables, exercise regularly, etc. etc. They refuse to have their children vaccinated. Yet, the cheerfully have themselves injected with Botox, which uses one of the most toxic substances known.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/03/2015 12:04 Comments || Top||

#12  You are all missing the fricken point.

The main anti-vaxxers are not anti-government (i.e. Tea Party), they are quite the opposite - progressive-liberals who want to raise "organic" kids, and generally have one child who is then treated like mommy and daddy's special snowflake. The distrust "big pharma" becsue of "the Kock Brothers", and their lefty educational result of hating capitalism.

There's a reason Oregon and Vermont top the unvaccinated list and measles is rampant in California, yet Mississippi is the highest percentage vaccinated and lowest incidence of measles.

It aint "anti-government". Its half educated idiots thinking they know more than they do, buying in to the guru-of-the-moment so they can be properly conforming "non-conformists" and earth-first enviro leftys, and sound properly anti-establishment despite them being the establishment.

They dont drive a Prius because it makes economic sense for their situation, they drive it to fit in and fit expectation of their moneyed-class leftard friends and society-bubble that they live in. Heaven forbid that they should drive an SUV, shop other than at boutiques and Whole Foods (no Kroger or Walmart for them), eat anything non-organic or not gluten free, and have more than 1.4 children like the plebes.

This is all about how the upper class in liberal areas has defined itself so lefty that it has produced imbeciles.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/03/2015 12:40 Comments || Top||


#14  Yeah, Rand Paul said some stupid things yesterday about having 'heard' of a connection between vaccines and insanity. no studies, nothing. He's a doctor and he's making inuendos of a very dangerous sort. Generally liked him but he lost my vote yesterday.

Too bad nobody can get the anti-vaccine people to stand against illegal immigration as that's the most likely source of outbreaks coming into the country and shredding their perfect anti-vaccine communities.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2015 14:33 Comments || Top||

#15  An interesting thing about diffusion processes, like the spread of a disease through a susceptible population, is that there is a tipping point where you go rapidly from "not very much" to "a whole *bleep*load".

With everyone vaccinated, you have herd immunity and no epidemic. A small percentage of 'free riders' doesn't change this. But as the number of unvaccinated rises, you start to get clusters of disease - little local mini-epidemics. (hello, California!).

Increase the unvaccinated percentage a bit more and suddenly the system transitions from little clusters of infection to a full-blown epidemic. The vaccinated population is still fine, but if you didn't get a shot, it sucks to be you - and the people you come in contact with.

It will be interesting to see if we reach the tipping point. If we do, the change will be abrupt.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2015 17:51 Comments || Top||

#16  you start to get clusters of disease - little local mini-epidemics. (hello, California!).

So the problem fixes itself ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/03/2015 17:55 Comments || Top||

#17  Except the old and weak can still catch the measles, i think. Despite innoculations.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/03/2015 18:28 Comments || Top||

#18  My family are all vaccinated, BTW. But we thought about it first

Well, that's good - I understand the risk of contagion is higher due to the recycled air in the bunkers.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/03/2015 18:51 Comments || Top||

#19  This is not a story about lefties being stupid. They know that if everyone else gets vaccinated they get the benefit without the risks. And yes, there are risks. The only 'stupid' here is people doing what they are told simply because they are told.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/03/2015 20:36 Comments || Top||

#20  One of the more intriguing headlines I've seen in awhile!
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0034 || 02/03/2015 21:04 Comments || Top||

#21  So the problem fixes itself ?

Actually, it will. In a couple generations. You just need enough sick kids.

At one time, these were common and dreaded diseases. But vaccinations let us win the war against those microbial sumbitches. And now, only our grand parent's generation remembers that world. Why get vaccinated against a disease no one remebers, eh?
Posted by: SteveS || 02/03/2015 22:26 Comments || Top||



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Mon 2015-02-02
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