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Top Pakistani Taliban leader injured in Afghanistan
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Teen arrested in US mall shooting
[ARABNEWS] Three people were hospitalized Sunday with gunshot wounds after a 17-year-old male opened fire on a man at a mall in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, police said, striking his intended target as well as two bystanders.

The Monroeville Mall went on lockdown Saturday evening after the shooting. Police later jugged
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
the gunman, who beat feet from the scene, saying they were able to identify him by matching surveillance video with images on social media.

The suspect, who The News Agency that Dare Not be Named is not identifying because he is a juvenile, was arrested at a home in Brackenridge about 3:15 a.m. Sunday. He was being held at the Allegheny County Jail pending arraignment on charges as an adult of aggravated assault, attempted homicide and recklessly endangering other people.

Gunfire erupted inside the Macy's at about 7:30 p.m., sending panicked shoppers running. Police went store to store to evacuate the mall, which closed for the night.

Police Chief Douglas Cole said two men and a woman were shot, including the man who was targeted. He said the two men were at death's door, while the woman was in stable, pH balanced condition.

"This was not random," Cole told news hounds. "We have evidence that leads to that." He declined to elaborate.

In late December, hundreds of teenagers gathered at the mall and several fights broke out. The fights caused local officials and mall administration to agree on a plan to increase security there.

Shoppers described chaos as shots rang out.

"All of the sudden we heard people screaming," Athena Coffey told KDKA-TV, "and the next thing you see is a bunch of people, teenagers, scared to death, just exodus en masse in a way you could not believe. I grabbed my children, husband, we started screaming 'go, go, go!'"

Yvette Jackson was attending a birthday party at Giggles and Smiles, a fitness and fun center for children.

"We saw a lot of running, a lot of chaos," she told the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review. She said she and other patrons were locked in the store for about 45 minutes until police came and let them out.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tarod Thornhill
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2015 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like gang shooting collateral damage.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/09/2015 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  An aspiring rapper who was turning his life around?
Posted by: Raj || 02/09/2015 11:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Lemme know when the Justice Department shows up.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2015 11:47 Comments || Top||

#5  I shop on-line. This is the only time I go to the Mall. Yea, me too whahaha.





Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Monroeville Mall, where they filmed the first Dawn of the Dead.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/09/2015 14:25 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
US sisters arrested for nude photos at Cambodia's Angkor
[FINANCE.YAHOO] Two American sisters have been placed in durance vile
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
in Cambodia for taking naked photos of each other inside the country's famed Angkor temple complex, officials said Saturday -- the latest nude stunt by tourists to spark anger.

Lindsey Adams, 22, and her 20-year-old sister Leslie were discovered taking "nude pictures" inside the Preah Khan temple at the world heritage site on Friday, the Apsara Authority -- the government agency managing the Angkor complex -- said in a statement.

"The two tourists admitted that they really made a mistake by taking nude photos," the statement read.

It is the second time in the last fortnight that tourists visiting the sprawling temple complex have been caught without their clothes.

Three Frenchies were deported last weekend after they pleaded guilty to taking nude pictures of each other inside another temple within the complex.

Chau Sun Kerya, a spokeswoman for the Apsara Authority, said the women's actions were offensive because Angkor is considered sacred ground.

"Perhaps they did not know Angkor is a holy site. But their inappropriate activities affect the sanctity of the place," she told AFP.

Keat Bunthan, a senior heritage police official in northwestern Siem Reap province, said officers were now questioning the women.

"They lowered their pants to their knees and took pictures of their buttocks," he said, adding that he was not sure yet what charges they might face for their action.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't call'em ugly mericans without pictures.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Seriously - if these two entitled nitwits are dumb enough to do something like this at something that is not only a World Heritage site, but something that even the socialist Cambodian government thinks is a national treasure, then let 'em sit in prison for a while pour encurager les outres...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/09/2015 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Perhaps Obama can send Bill Clinton over to handle the diplomatic incident. He'll jump at the chance.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2015 10:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Stupid of them.

Although, if you look around Angkor a bit, there are plenty of 'nudes'. It's just that they're 1,000 years old and made of stone.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/09/2015 11:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Now, now, Mike---you haven't seen the pix.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Some Pics

Hand it to the British press.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/09/2015 14:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Ok. I'm with Cambodians.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 14:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Ok. I'm with Cambodians.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 14:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Just one of you.... or both ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 14:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Just another story about

Posted by: Waldemar Snusoting9334 || 02/09/2015 16:37 Comments || Top||

#11  I'm sorry I asked.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 22:38 Comments || Top||


MI: Grand Haven Coast Guard incident investigated as '€˜domestic terrorism'
GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD)-- An attack at the Grand Haven Coast Guard station is being investigated as a case of domestic terrorism, according to police.

Officers from the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety say a man crashed his truck through the gate at the Coast Guard station and assaulted U.S. Coast Guard personnel. The personnel suffered minor injuries in the attack.

The incident happened at 6:07 a.m. Sunday. According to officials, the suspect broke into the station and said he had an explosive device in his truck.

Coast Guard members were able to contain the man until Grand Haven Public Safety officers arrested him.
Top 3 likely factors, in no particular order:
o excess booze
o excess insanity
o excess Koran
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ahoy there you coasties! Come outta there, er as soon as I'm finished with this beer, I'm com'n in with my Dodge Ram !
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 4:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Excuse me but isn't Coast Fuard part of the miliatray? Then what is this non sense about containing the man until the arrival of the police?
Posted by: JFM || 02/09/2015 6:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Coasties are frequently sworn law enforcement officers: think drug interdiction and smuggling patrols.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/09/2015 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Excuse me but isn't Coast Fuard part of the miliatray?

Part of the Department of Homeland Security. Like ed in texas said, a significant part of their work is law enforcement. The rest is maintaining aids to navigation, icebreaking, search and rescue (what the Grand Haven Coast Guard station likely does,) and maritime standards inspection and enforcement.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2015 11:56 Comments || Top||

#5  JFM, anybody or bodies (USA) can detain anyone suspected of committing one or more felonies(willful destruction of property, driving under the influence, threatening WMD, attempted assault with a motor vehicle, etc.), and apply reasonable force as necessary to prevent their leaving until the detainee can be surrendered to arresting authorities in a Citizen's Arrest.
Better to be in a group, then the civil suit brought by the detainee is against multiple parties and institutions, therefore too expensive to adjudicate.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 14:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Grand Haven; home to a scenic lighthouse and the site of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino film.....
and not much else
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/09/2015 15:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Suspect arraigned & bond set.
Grand Haven's Department of Public Safety sent out the following release:

Matthew L. Krueger was arraigned this afternoon.

Bond was set at $75,000 cash/commercial surety with the following bond conditions:

-Must not use alcohol nor illicitly use any controlled substance
-Must submit to alcohol or drug testing upon the request of any police, court, or probation officer.
-Must not be on the premises of the United States Coast Guard
-May not possess or purchase a firearm or other dangerous weapon.
-May not engage in any verbally or physically abusive behavior.
-Must submit to warrantless searches of person, residence, and vehicle.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/09/2015 18:44 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Barbed wire fencing put up at Khaleda's office
[Dhaka Tribune] BNP officials yesterday put barbed wire fencing over the boundary walls of Party Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
's Gulshan office to ensure her security.

"The barbed wire fencing is to protect Khaleda. This security measure was taken to prevent miscreants from entering her office," Syrul Kabir Khan, an official of the BNP chairperson's press wing said to journalists.

Kabir alleged an outsider had tried to get inside the office by crossing the border wall, and a different person had made a similar attempt yesterday.

The BNP chairperson has been staying in her Gulshan office from January 3. She announced a nationwide blockade programme on January 5, after failing to leave her residence to join a rally, as her office was virtually confined with sand-laden trucks and police vans stationed outside. But the additional security was relaxed later.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Billy-goat was running away.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Zia never would ride in a boat,
But she couldn't say no to a goat.
"He was better than beef!"
Cried the chief of the sheaf.
"I believe we can count on his vote!"
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 02/09/2015 18:50 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Remember Stalingrad: Russian Veterans Write Open Letter to Angela Merkel About NATO’s New War

(Yeah, I know I hit it 2x!)
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp1540 || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Someone forgot to mention a bit of inconvenient history:

"The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact or Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939."
Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 4:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok, the Russaian people did the heavy lifting, and most of the dying during WWII.

But we should not forget that without Soviet Union (ie the regime, Stamlin, the communists) Germany should have been forced toi surrender by Christmas 1939.

Geramny's western border was nearly unmanned so the whole plan was based in knocking Poland out of the war before the Allies were able to mount an offensive and in the interim make an impression demonstration to strike terror in the hearts of Allied governments and generals. But by 15th septmeber 1939 a) the Poles had counterattacked and managed to force the Geramns to lose ground and b) the Germans were running short of ammo something the Poles would notice sooner or later and tell teh Allies. So much for the terror inb Allied hearts. Then the Red Army backatabbed the Poles. Thuse over twenty million Soviet dead during the war wre due to Stralin and his puppets.
Posted by: JFM || 02/09/2015 5:57 Comments || Top||

#3  No worries, NATO is no longer relevant factor. Champ and Vlad did a deal on the Ukraine and the Crimea.

Link to Champ video


Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 6:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Remember Berlin '45. You got your revenge. It's not the Germans rearming. It's Vlad seeking to reestablish the Reich glories of Russia. Heck, the Western Europeans who can barely deal with a bunch of Muslims in their midst lack the will to geographically aggrandize themselves with another major welfare state. Maybe to satisfy your wounded chauvinistic ego they could pass Greece off to you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2015 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Someone forgot to mention a bit of inconvenient history:

Like the Katyn Forest?
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2015 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Well said Pappy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 12:04 Comments || Top||

#7  You know, you people give me an idea. Au, drat! Heinlein already used it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 13:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Heinlein wrote a lot of schtuff. Some of it contradictory - especially in his latter years.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2015 14:31 Comments || Top||

#9  I was referring to the self-elimination of the "white race".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 14:38 Comments || Top||

#10  Seems the Russians have historically made a pretty good stab at that...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/09/2015 18:34 Comments || Top||

#11  FYI both Russian Orthodox RUSSIA + rival Greek Orthdox GREECE repor now want Germany to pay reparations for WW2.

IMO the above is more evidencia/indicia that Putin's latest or most recent actions in East Ukraine, etc. is more about GERMANY now, NOT UKRAINE-SPECIFIC SEAPARATISM, CAUCASUS INSURGENCY, ISIS, ETC.

Iff anything, its about the future of Russo-German relations + coop/partnership under OWG-NWO, + WHOM WILL DOMINATE OR CONTROL. OLE DARTH VLAD IS MAKING SURE D ***** RUSSIA-N-ONLY-RUSSIA IS THE "ALPHA".

WHAT WILL BE GERMANY'S RESPONSE - Will Merkelian Germany seek to amend its post-WW2 Constitution, as like Shinzo Abe + Japan???

Put another way, iff RUSSIA = CHINA, RUSSIA'S GERMANY = CHINA'S JAPAN.

On a higher note, it goes to the question as to whether the World is ready to trust Germany + Japan, + to allow them to be come players again on the international stage - WHERE PUTINIST RUSSIA IS CONCERNED, IMO IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY DE FACTO DESTABILIZING HARD BOY THREAT TO RUSSIA THE FORMER IS NOT READY TO ACCEPT THE RETURN OF GERMANY ANDOR JAPAN TO THE WORLD STAGE.

OTOH A STRONG RE-ARMED GERMANY IS PRECISELY WHAT IS NEEDED BY BOTH RUSSIA + NATO-EU TO BACK UP THE OWG-NWO, ANTI-ISLAM, UNIFIED JUDEOCHRISTIAN MIL BASTION + INTER-RELIGIOUS "NO MAN'S LAND" THAT IS SSSHHH ... CCCCC THE CRIMEA = BLACK SEA REGION.

IMO Putin = Russia believes he is presently well-ahead of the Hard Boyz in entrenching Russia-specific MilPol power in the Crimea + Black Sea Region, includ as per NATO threats of anti-Russian mil buildup, TO WHICH PUTIN LIKELY BELIEVES THE US-WEST SHOULD THANK HIM - WHAT PUTIN IS SPECIFICALLY INTERESTED NOW IS KEEPING GERMANY SECULAR, UNDER INTERNATIONAL = UNO, NATO-EU CONTROL, + NON-NUCLEAR. DITTO AS PER CURRENTLY WESTERN SECULAR, BUT ISLAMIST-PRESSURED, ALLEGED "NEO-OTTOMAN" WANNABE TURKEY.

Lest we fergit, Russia may fear Radical Islam, Turkey, + Germany on its Euro side but it also has Iran + ultimately Far East-desiring China to contend with on its CENTASIA + EAST ASIA flanks.

* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > HEAD OF GERMANY'S ARMED FORCES ASSOCIATION: IFF YOU WANT PEACE PREPARE FOR WAR.

* TOPIX > [Voice of America] GERMANY WARNS EUROPEAN ORDER AT RISK AHEAD OF UKRAINE PEACE TALKS, espec iff NATO-EU concedes or surrenders to Darth Vlad on Ukraine's sovereign territorial integrity.

* SAME >[Trend] OBAMA: WE CAN'T LET RUSSIA REDRAW EUROPEAN BORDERS.

Ditto POTUS Obama as per OWG Co-Superpower Rising Iran in the ME, + ultimately OWG Co-Superpower Rising China in East Asia-Pacific - OTOH, WHILE ARGENTINA'S CHRISTINA IS INDEED RAMPAGING IN THE MEDIAS, THUS FAR SHE HASN'T ATTACKED THE FALKLANDS ANDOR MERCUSOR RIVAL BRAZIL YET.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/09/2015 21:00 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China'€™s secret plan for America
The book charts Pillsbury'€™s own awakening. He describes himself as a former 'panda hugger' -- a derisive term he happily claimed for decades. His book would seem to be his attempt to make up for the neglectful advice he offered America's leaders over the years. It concludes with a number of straightforward recommendations for the U.S. to adopt.
Another reformed Progressive putting forth a mea culpa attempt at receiving absolution. Glad he's seen the light, but how does one undo the damage he, for decades, happily dispensed?
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp1540 || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yea, well.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 13:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Starship bs:

"Ride The Tiger"

I want to ride the tiger
I want to ride the tiger
It will be black and white in the dead of night
Eyes flashing in the clear moonlight
I want to ride the tiger.

It's like a tear in the hands of a western man
Tell you about salt, carbon and water
But a tear to a chinese man
He'll tell you about sadness and sorrow or the love of a man and a woman.

I want to ride the tiger
I want to sail through the risin' sun for you and you
We got something to learn from the other side
Something to give, we got nothing to hide
I want to ride the tiger.

Black wants out of the streets
Yellow wants the country
Red wants the country back
And white wants out of this world
Sing - sing to the sky
I want to ride the tiger
I want to ride the tiger.

Look to the summer of seventy-five
All the world is gonna come alive
Do you want to ride the tiger?

It's like a tear in the hands of a western man
Tell you about salt, carbon and water
But a tear to an oriental man
He'll tell you about sadness and sorrow or the love of a man and a woman.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 15:14 Comments || Top||


Europe
Greece's Tsipras defiant over economic plans
[BBC] Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece has said he is sticking to plans to roll back austerity and rejecting an international bailout extension.

He said Greece, unable to service its debt, would instead seek a bridge loan.

He told parliament he would keep all pre-election pledges, promising to raise the minimum wage, pay a pension bonus and rehire public workers.

Mr Tsipras's far-left Syriza party won elections last month on a promise to end austerity measures.

EU officials have rejected his efforts to renegotiate Greece's bailout terms.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "They have given me the government checkbook, and by God I will write checks!"
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/09/2015 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  "We won."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 13:09 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
New raids in Turkey over Erdogan eavesdropping
[IsraelTimes] Over 20 officers suspected of helping rival abroad gather incriminating evidence against Turkish leader

Turkish police on Sunday launched a new wave of raids seeking to arrest suspects accused of wiretapping the communications of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
and other brass hats.

Istanbul prosecutors issued warrants for 21 coppers, the official Anatolia news agency said.

It was unclear how many had been tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
so far although NTV television showed pictures of several suspects being roughly led away by plainclothes police.

The raids were focused on Istanbul but also took place in the western city of Afyon and Zonguldak on the Black Sea, Anatolia added.

The authorities accuse the police of carrying out the eavesdropping at the behest of Erdogan's arch foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, in a bid to implicate the Turkish strongman in corruption allegations.

Turkish police have over the last months carried out numerous raids on former top police officials accused in the case. Anatolia said it was the ninth such wave of swoops since they started on July 22.

Gulen, who rarely makes comments in public, had written in an article published Tuesday in the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
that Turkey's leaders are taking the country on a path towards "totalitarianism."

The Turkish authorities last week also seized control of a bank linked to Gulen in a move the opposition denounced as a scandal that would undermine investor confidence in Turkey.

Suspects previously arrested have been accused of setting up bugs to eavesdrop on Erdogan and other brass hats while he was prime minister up to August 2014.

Leaked tapes emerged in February 2014 where Erdogan allegedly told his son Bilal to dispose of some 30 million euros ($37 million) in cash. Erdogan has dismissed the recordings as a "vile montage."
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Air-breather Satellite launches : cheaper than re-tasking, or better coverage?
[FoxNews] DARPA plans to launch satellites from jets
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cutting edge, those lads at DARPA. What will they think of next ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 4:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Combining fuel and oxidizer into aingle liquid? You go first while I watch the firewaorks.
Posted by: Creting Shinter5526 || 02/09/2015 5:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Easier to get a jet off the ground than a lot of missile launches. Useful when you want to quickly take someone else's birds out of the skies.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2015 8:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Now that they arent building satellites that do 18634290987234 mission objectives and cost 2 billion and are big as a house...

They can finally go with light, single purpose, far less expensive, and far easier to launch low earth non-airbreathing assets. Which is what some in the community have been arguing for, for years. Not only that, but it can devalue a lot fo the Chinese (and presumably Russian) ASAT efforts, being able to replace these things quickly, and do it with a surge launch. Taking out a satellite would no longer take years or months to replace, but maybe a few hours to a couple of days.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/09/2015 8:51 Comments || Top||

#5  They can finally go with light, single purpose, far less expensive, and far easier to launch low earth non-airbreathing assets. Which is what some in the community have been arguing for, for years.

YIKES, and double YIKES! You mean dynamic re-tasking at the theater and services level? Preposterous and budget busting absolute sacrilege! These are tasks belonging to the gilded beltway agencies. How dare the warfighter be so empowered.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 10:03 Comments || Top||

#6  It's still ten thousand dollars a pound.
Posted by: KBK || 02/09/2015 10:39 Comments || Top||

#7  How's $10,000 per pound compare with the price for lobbiest lunches?
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/09/2015 10:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Say ~ 250lbs with combat pack,
5-7 years training and support ~ $500k

$500,000+($10,000*250)=$3M

One timely satellite launch in the right locale that provides intelligence which saves the life of just one SpecOP 'in harms way' has an immediate, per pound ROI of $2M.

If one were counting dollars over lives or mission success. How many aborted prisoner rescue attempts last year?
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 11:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Not against the air-breather launches but one really needs to watch the landing attempts of SpaceX on their first stages. If they pull it off then , EVENTUALLY, reflight is $350,000 in fuel, a second stage and $450,000 in wages and refurbishment for an EELV class launcher. So price savings to orbit are possible.
Oh and if they get it working Google and SpaceX plan to put 4000+ small sats up in a constellation with the reused rockets. That is a definite MIRV capability.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 12:47 Comments || Top||

#10  That is a definite MIRV capability.
That's SKYNET baby!
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/09/2015 13:45 Comments || Top||

#11  re Skynet:

With a SpaceX internet why would new observational and scientific sats in orbit around the Earth need custom electronics equipment to talk to the Earth? They could just be designed to become web-nodes on the SpaceX internet.

Sats in orbit around Earth use standard equipment, changing it to another type of equipment to talk to the "SpaceX internet" is not necessarily the best option. Maybe for some applications it could be useful, in some sense serving a similar role as TDRS or EDRS. I guess there are a few questions:
- Is SpaceX actually going to provide such service ?
- what type of equipment is needed (compared to current solutions) ?
- what would be the type of service and how is the data transmitted (what about quality of service, reliability, security...) ?

1) I think SpaceX would be missing a big market if it didn't provide a such a service. It would be good practice for their Mars colony's future sats and data backbone too.

2) A rad-hardened SpaceX Internet subscriber unit would, hopefully, be what the sat needs. As a subscriber to an existing service the satellite wouldn't need to get bandwidth (frequencies) allocated to it either. A lot of paperwork and red-tape could be thrown away with that. SpaceX might need to modify their proposed satellites to handle signals from above too.

3) with a few hundred sats in a field of view robust high bandwidth communications should be possible. Security, quality etc. could be handled at higher level protocols just like it is currently done on the Internet. Scatter-gather cloud stuff etc... all in play.

If I had an observational satellite(s) I would consider the paper work red-tape savings a major plus and a simplified land side major. If you needed really big pipes - multiple floating buoys (with subscriber units) at sea tied into undersea fiber etc would permit big and robust links for uphill/downhill distributed transmission. You could scatter links all over the land connected to the wired Internet too. It provides a decentralized land side more immune to natural and man made disruptions. To break it one would need to break everybody's use of the sats.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 15:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Single mission platforms? Don't ANYBODY tell the Lightning and Lawn Dart lobbies.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/09/2015 15:30 Comments || Top||

#13 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/09/2015 19:01 Comments || Top||

#14  Funny thing is, with the EM-railguns, that XL-5 launcher track is actually becoming a possibility
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/09/2015 22:40 Comments || Top||


The Blackbird Had a Drone Sidekick
"Enter the D-21. The drone looked like a wing carved off the body of an A-12 and was supposed to work as a more or less a stripped-down, unmanned version of its manned cousin.

Lockheed converted two A-12 aircraft, renamed M-21, into motherships, adding a second seat for a launch control officer and modifying the aircraft to carry the drone on its back up to a launch point."
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp1540 || 02/09/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what the level of classification might have been on that project? Very, very cool.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2015 4:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Pieces of one were found by the Chineese and returned to a visiting US big shot. Kissinger? Baker?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/09/2015 6:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Ship, they used the D21 four times. Mission #1 evidently hooked right and landed not too far from the Trans-Siberian Railway (they were all aimed at the Chinese missile fields). The Russians gave a frame section to Ben Rich of Lockheed in the 90's. He had it IDed by serial number.
It was in reality launched by a B52; the toss launch from a Blackbird was found to be too dangerous, and unnecessary besides.
Posted by: ed in texas || 02/09/2015 8:16 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 13:43 Comments || Top||

#5  60-6941 (M-21) This was the second A-12 to be converted to an M-21 for launching the D-21 reconnaissance drone. During a flight test on 30 July 1966 for launching the drone, the drone pitched down and struck the M-21, breaking it in half. Pilot Bill Park and LCO (Launch Control Officer) Ray Torick stayed with the plane a short time before ejecting over the Pacific Ocean. Both made safe ejections, but Ray Torick opened his helmet visor by mistake and his suit filled up with water which caused him to drown. This terrible personal and professional loss drove "Kelly" Johnson to cancel the M-21/D-21 program.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 13:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Wow! Bill Park was in 3 A-12 and a SR-71A losses (crashes). Ouch!
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 13:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Whoops! Read it wrong - make that 2 A-12's and 1 F-117
60-6929 (A-12) This aircraft was lost on 28 December 1967 seven seconds into an FCF (Functional Check Flight) from Groom Lake performed by CIA pilot Mel Vojvodich. The SAS (Stability Augmentation System) had been incorrectly wired up, and the pilot was unable to control the aircraft 100 feet above the runway. The pilot ejected safely. A similar accident occurred when the first production Lockheed F-117 was flown on 20 April 1982 by Bill Park. It's control system had been hooked up incorrectly. Bill Park survived the accident but had injuries serious enough to remove him from flight status.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 13:56 Comments || Top||

#8  A total of 20 Lockheed Blackbirds have been lost due to a variety of accidents; however, not one was shot down by unfriendly forces! Broken down by type:

Model...............#Built..............#Lost

A-12....................13......................5

M-21....................2.......................1

YF-12...................3.......................2*

SR-71A................29.....................11

SR-71B.................2.......................1

SR-71C.................1.......................0

* SR-71C (64-17981) was built using the rear half of YF-12A (60-6934) and functional engineering mockup of the SR-71A forward fuselage. Last updated 18-Jun-96 .
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 14:01 Comments || Top||

#9  Boeing Museum of Flight has a M-21 and D-21 display, drone mated to the Blackbird.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/09/2015 15:32 Comments || Top||

#10  One of the wilder exploits:
Posted by: 3dc || 02/09/2015 21:32 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Teacher of the Year Charged With Raping Student
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2015 13:31 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm getting a weird feeling about all these teachers raping students. It feels like the 80s with the satanic child abuse stuff that turned out to be nonsense. I'm sure they are all legitimate, but there are so damned many it is strange.

Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/09/2015 14:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The parents allowed the boy to move in with his female teacher at 14 for an injury and he remained there until he was 18?
Let me take a guess at who nominated her for 'teacher of the year'...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/09/2015 14:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Something to consier: in some states the teachers later sue their victims for child support...and win. From top to bottom, a system is in place that practically enables these women.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/09/2015 18:23 Comments || Top||

#4  ..so in effect, the state becomes an agent to the crime. Long ago the principle of not rewarding crime was tossed to serve interest groups. Welcome to the oligarchy.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/09/2015 19:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Hadn't heard the child support angle, except the original big news teacher who married the boy after she got out of jail.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/09/2015 20:48 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2015-02-09
  Top Pakistani Taliban leader injured in Afghanistan
Sun 2015-02-08
  '109 Boko Haram Fighters Dead' after First Attack on Niger Friday
Sat 2015-02-07
  Yemen rebels dissolve parliament, assume power
Fri 2015-02-06
  Al-Qaeda holy man killed in Yemen drone strike, AQAP says
Thu 2015-02-05
  Jordanian King Personally Participating in Sorties Against ISIS
Wed 2015-02-04
  Jordan hangs two Iraqi militants in response to pilot's death
Tue 2015-02-03
  ISIS burns Jordanian Pilot Alive
Mon 2015-02-02
  Nigeria's Military Repels Boko Haram's Attack on Maiduguri
Sun 2015-02-01
  Drone Attack Kills Four Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Sat 2015-01-31
  Al-Nusra Launches Assault on Western-Backed Syria Rebels
Fri 2015-01-30
  Today's Pakaboom: 49 dead in bomb blast at Shiite mosque
Thu 2015-01-29
  US drone strike kills seven in North Waziristan
Wed 2015-01-28
  Nigeria Loses City Of 100,000 To Boko Haram
Tue 2015-01-27
  Official: Eight dead, including five foreigners, in Tripoli hotel attack
Mon 2015-01-26
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