SQUIRREL HILL, Pa. (KDKA) ‐ There is an active shooting in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood near The Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday.
Police from across the city have descended to the area, that is still very active. The synagogue is located on the corner of Wilkens and Shady Avenues.
KDKA is working to confirm more details of the incident.
Update from the same link at 12:55 p.m. ET:
Eight people have been killed and a number of others injured after a shooting situation at The Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday.
KDKA’s Meghan Schiller reports that a suspect, a heavy-set white male with a beard, has surrendered. The SWAT team had been talking with the suspect, and he was crawling and injured. It is unclear the extent of his injuries.
KDKA sources confirm to Andy Sheehan that the suspect’s name is Robert Bowers.
Pittsburgh Police spokesman Chris Togneri confirmed that the suspect was in custody and three police officers had been shot. He also confirmed multiple causalities, but did not divulge exactly how many.
Police sources tell KDKA’s Andy Sheehan the gunman walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.”
[NYDailyNews] He was mentally disturbed, told his Democrat mom he hated her and likely aggravated his anger with steroid use.
That’s the portrait of Florida bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc painted by lawyer Ronald Lowy, a family friend who represented Sayoc in multiple criminal cases over the years.
Lowy said Sayoc’s mom was in a hospital Friday recovering from a routine surgery performed shortly before news broke that her son was arrested in the string of mail bombs sent to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats this week.
“I met with his mother. It’s a very sad situation. She’s obviously very distressed. Her son has been mentally disturbed for a very long time. They’ve encouraged him to get assistance, therapy and treatment, but he’s always refused,” Lowy told the Daily News.
“She’s a Democrat. She finds all of this so shocking and painful. She’s asked me to express her empathy for the victims who had to receive these packages and be in fear. She’s in shock it could have been her son, and if so, she’s deeply regretful,” he said.
He said Sayoc’s mom, Madeline Giardiello, wasn’t aware that her son — who previously worked in the adult entertainment industry, reportedly taking part in male strip shows — had been posting online about his ultra right-wing, fringe politics.
“There was a time he accepted help from his family, and they kept hoping he would get treatment. But he finally cut himself off and sadly told his mother he hates her,” Lowy said.
He said there’s been some “occasional telephonic contact,” but Sayoc hasn’t visited his mom’s house in three to four years.
“The way she understands it, he’s been living in a vehicle,” Lowy said. “That’s part of the oddity. This (alleged crime) appears to be more sophisticated than he would have the means or competency to carry out. It truly makes us wonder if all the facts are correct. Maybe he was someone’s pawn, or acting on someone’s behalf.”
Sayoc, 56, has been arrested at least 10 times in Florida, including once in 2002 for making a telephone bomb threat to Florida Power and Light.
Lowy said Sayoc had a cleaning business at the time and was enraged the utility had turned off his electricity, likely due to non-payment.
“He called to get it restored, they refused, and he made an absurd, off-the-cuff comment along the lines of, ‘If I left a bomb at your office, I bet it would get turned on real fast.’ There was no contact personally, no action to follow up. The judge understood there was no history and agreed to give him probation for a year,” Lowy said.
Sayoc was also charged in 2004 with felony possession of testosterone-based steroids. Online court records show the case was ultimately dismissed.
“We convinced the state attorney to treat it as they would a narcotic. He got in a diversion program to hopefully try to get him off steroids. Sadly, it’s our understanding he went back and continued using them. We think that is probably part of problem. Steroids can create heightened emotions and anger. It’s a very dangerous drug,” Lowy said.
Lowy said he was personally surprised by Sayoc’s arrest in the mail bomb case Friday.
“He’s someone who doesn’t exhibit the sophistication to commit such a sophisticated crime. He’s always shown a diminished capacity in dealing with society, a difficulty conforming or carrying on substantial tasks without supervision,” Lowy said.
As a South Florida resident, been trying to explain to people all day how completely believable this guy is. It's been funny. Half-Filipino male stripper, jacked up on steroids, MAGA van, multiple arrests, lives in Aventura. Sure, no problem. We got those.
#3
Meanwhile physical threats of death and beheading of President Trump continue to be levied from leftest teevee personalities and Hollywood with impunity.
When James Hodgkinson, a registered Democrat who campaigned for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election, attempted to assassinate a group of Republican congressmen at a baseball practice last June, we did not blame Sanders or Hodgkinson’s party. Instead, we wrote, “The person singly responsible for Wednesday’s horrors is the man who pulled the trigger.” Here, too, the responsibility for Sayoc’s bombing campaign rests with him alone.
The double standard in these cases is flagrant. Even though Republican majority whip Steve Scalise was nearly killed in the Hodgkinson attack and more than a dozen of his colleagues could have been killed but for security neutralizing Hodgkinson, the event was quickly memory-holed and the media didn’t resound with calls for Bernie Sanders, or, say, Rachel Maddow, to tone it down.
#14
Ah'm less interested in the 'single' fingerprint than the DNA on the back of the stamps.
Ah'm unwilling yet to credit this guy with genius.
If there is tongue DNA, then whose is it?
If there is wet sponge marks or self-adhesive stamps, Ah'm thinkin the fingerprint is planted.
[NYPOST] A babysitter in Maine was jugged You have the right to remain silent... after she was found drunk and without pants on a street ‐ while the two young children she was hired to watch were left alone inside a home, police said.
Lauren Gelinas, 25, was arrested Tuesday on charges of endangering the welfare of a child after police in Bangor got a call about a disturbance on Ohio Street, WGME reports.
Responding officers then found Gelinas outside and not wearing pants, socks or shoes, according to the station. She told police she was taking care of two children at a nearby home, where officers later found two children under the age of 5 in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
Officials from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services were also called to the scene, WGME reports.
An emotional Gelinas pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to the charges during a court appearance on Wednesday, WABI reports.
Gelinas told an arresting officer that she drank vodka before walking out of the home, where one of the children ‐ ages 2 and 4 ‐ was later found lying in vomit and crying hysterically. The other child was found disheveled and asleep upstairs. One child also complained of being kicked by Gelinas, police said.
Gelinas was ordered held on $500 bail and was expected to return to court in December, WABI reports.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#4
A crystalline droplet, a jewel
Descends from that lip, pure and cool,
Still attached by a strand
As it reaches the sand
At the feet of our flawless rasul!
Posted by: Large Big Foot2118 ||
10/27/2018 18:28 Comments ||
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[CNN] No release of radiological material at Hanford nuclear waste site
Employees at Washington state's Hanford nuclear waste site were asked to "take cover" for several hours Friday because steam was coming from a small building in one of the site's tunnels, officials at the complex said.
The US Department of Energy later said inspections at a tunnel containing waste confirmed there was no radiological release.
Super Typhoon #Yutu has devastated the U.S. Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands and is the worst storm to hit a U.S. territory in 80+ years. Before/after images of damaged homes captured by @DigitalGlobe. pic.twitter.com/qndAbGLvn0
#1
I did not use the straight party option, but selected each in turn, verified the right selections before hitting cast ballot. Supposedly, if you touch buttons it can cause confusion but I've never seen it happen. I wish they'd go back to paper. And any one showing up after hours with a box of ballots they found in their trunk cause they 'forgot' should simply be shot. My mom ran a polling station for years and said that's complete and utter crap. You don't forget boxes, least not in an honestly run station.
#3
OURS still had paper last election, HOPE it has not changed. IF I could only get to the voting booths. LONG,LONG lines EVERYDAY! BUT I will continue until I succeed!
1) At the end of a couple years, it is discovered that nowhere near as many women have applied as the experts had said they would, and/or no one is making it because of the standards. Therefore,
2) The standards are lowered and quotas enforced.
3) Rinse and repeat.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/27/2018 4:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
...work will be outsourced.
...politicians discover that those with the outsource work don't need politicians.
We are reassured by our betters that this scenario will never happen... although it seems to happen every damn time. Usually the argument devolves to "being big, strong, and fast isn't really crucial to this job".
[Al Jazeera] South American nation, which has been plagued by chronic economic problems, reached IMF deal for $50bn loan in June.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
In May, a survey of more than 1,000 people by Argentine pollsters D'Alessio Irol/Berensztein revealed that 75 percent of respondents felt seeking assistance from the Washington, DC-based IMF was problematic.
[An Nahar] The two Koreas on Friday agreed to each remove 11 guard posts along the heavily-fortified border next month with a goal to possibly remove all of them in the future, senior military officials said.
The agreement made between generals from the two sides came as diplomatic thaw between the former wartime foes gathered pace.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... previously agreed on a broad plan to ease tensions along the border during their third summit in Pyongyang last month.
During Friday's talks aimed at fleshing out details, the two sides agreed to withdraw all troops and weaponry from the 11 guard posts along the border and destroy them by the end of November, according to a joint statement released by Seoul's military.
"The two sides also agreed to hold working-level talks to remove all remaining GPs based on the progress of the test removal of 11 GPs," it said after the talks held at the border truce village of Panmunjom.
Panmunjom -- or the Joint Security Area (JSA) -- is the only spot along the tense, 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face.
But as part of the latest reconciliatory gesture, the two Koreas on Thursday removed all firearms and guard posts from the area, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[DW] The size of a radical movement that rejects the legitimacy of the modern German state has grown to 19,000. Authorities have stepped up efforts to crack down on the far-right extremists, some of whom are armed.
The number of people known to be active in Germany's Reichsburger (Reich Citizen) and Selbstverwalter (Sovereign Citizen) movements has almost doubled to 19,000 over the past two years, the Interior Ministry admitted on Friday.
The ministry acknowledges that up to 950 members have been categorized as right-wing extremists.
It was responding to a question in Germany's Bundestag from the Green party about the group's membership and its most radical members.
#2
I wish we'd ditch the left-right labels in favor of a list of several categories (degree of govt oversight in the marketplace, degree of govt control of education, what level of backstop for the unfortunate, and so on). I'm not always sure what "right" means in American politics, and I've no clue at all what it means in Germany.
And, of course, sometimes issues are so local that there isn't a good translation to our disagreements.
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10/27/2018 21:40 Comments ||
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[PULSE.NG] Irish voters were deciding Friday whether to repeal a ban on blasphemy -- the latest potential reform distancing the once-devout nation from its Catholic past.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Free Beacon] Two of the largest trade unions in Minnesota are backing the reelection campaign of Republican representative Jason Lewis against a Democratic business executive.
The carpenters' union and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, both of which endorsed Hillary Clinton, will support the first-term congressman in the midterm elections in his rematch against former health care executive [Free Beacon] Angie Craig. Labor leaders praised Lewis's record in Congress, highlighting his support for domestic energy development as well as his willingness to buck his political party. Lewis has supported Davis-Bacon, which favors union wage levels in federal projects despite the push in the conservative movement to abolish wage mandates.
"In Jason's time in Congress he has cast repeated votes in support of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and has led on the issue of changing school curriculum to encourage more people to look at careers in the construction industry," carpenters' spokesman Adam Duininck said in a release.
[DAWN] The Pakpattan Police on Friday took two men from Kalyana into custody over their alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a six-year-old boy.
The boy ‐ a resident of Kalyana village and a student of Class 1 ‐ did not return home from school on Thursday, after which his family and neighbours started their search for him. The child's body was eventually found at the Government Primary School.
Once the family and neighbours identified the body, ASP Saddar Dr Sameer Noor and the scene of the crime unit of the Pakpattan police reached the school to collect evidence.
The body was moved to the District Headquarter Hospital for a postmortem examination and the police registered a first investigation report against unidentified persons for the suspected rape and murder of the school boy.
The medical report confirmed that the boy was sexually assaulted before being strangled to death.
Pakpattan District Police Officer Maria Mehmood created a joint investigation team (JIT) under the supervision of ASP Saddar.
The gatekeeper of the Government Primary School and one other person were taken into custody by the JIT due to suspicion of their involvement in the case.
Speaking to DawnNewsTV, ASP Noor said that the police would get to the bottom of the case at the earliest.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[PULSE.NG] Indian police have rounded up more than 2,000 people for stopping women from entering a flashpoint Hindu shrine in defiance of a Supreme Court order, officials said Friday.
Hindu hardliners prevented women aged 10 to 50 from reaching the Sabarimala temple complex in Kerala state over the last week -- the first time the temple has opened since the court ended a longstanding ban on women of menstruating age from worshipping there.
Protesters, including women and kiddies, massed at the bottom of a hill leading to the shrine, threatening and manhandling any women who attempted to reach the temple.
Some protestors smashed car windows and clashed with olice, who started a crackdown on the blockade Wednesday.
"We have tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 2,061 people under various sections of the Indian penal code, including inciting communal violence, the arms act and destruction of public property," a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The official added that 452 cases had been registered against the suspects so far.
More arrests appeared likely as details of hundreds more suspects were to be published, police said.
The temple has become the centre of a gender equality battle, pitting traditionalists against progressive voices pushing for a more liberal Hinduism.
The shrine is only open on a handful of days every year, and after last month's Supreme Court order a number of Hindu women had flocked there.
Armed police tried to escort some devotees -- but none made it to the top of the hill where the temple is located during the five-day worship period before it closed late Monday.
The temple will open for a one-day ritual next week and starts a two-month festival in the second week of November.
The Supreme Court is also to hear new petitions challenging its ruling in favour of women in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like a good market for my Petty cab. Great business for a young man and has electric motor running on lithium battery. $600-$2500. Sure beats a rick Shaw.Motor on front wheel and costs about $150. dollars. Sounds like a fair weather migratory way of life. Cash business. Now that IS interesting.
[An Nahar] A U.N. General Assembly panel rejected Friday Russia's proposal to debate its resolution on preserving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) that the U.S. plans to pull out of.
Fifty-five countries on a General Assembly committee specializing in disarmament voted against putting the debate on the agenda, while 31 voted in favor and there were 54 abstentions.
Several of the countries that abstained had argued the issue was more a matter for the U.N. Security Council.
Russia let it be known that it had not ruled out submitting its draft to the UN's highest body, despite the fact that the United States exercises veto powers there.
"The international community has an obligation to react to this apocalyptic situation," a Russian diplomat said in response to Washington's recent announcement that it planned to pull out of the treaty, signed in 1987 by U.S. president Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union's last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Moscow's draft resolution, released to the media, "calls on Russia and the United States to pursue consultation in respect of their obligations conforming to the INF."
It also calls for the resumption of "a constructive dialogue on strategic questions, based on the principles of openness and mutual respect."
And it expresses hope that "the dialogue will contribute to subsequent progress in the reduction of nuclear arms and the strengthening of international security and stability."
The draft also calls for "strict and entire respect" for the treaty and asks "all signatory states to exert efforts to reinforce the INF treaty and preserve its efficiency."
In also proposes "supplementary cooperation measures to strengthen trust" and the "implementation of the INF treaty."
U.S. President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... announced last weekend that the U.S. would pull out of the INF treaty, which prohibits nuclear missiles with a range of 310 to 3,100 miles (500 to 5,000 kilometers).
Washington has accused Moscow of violating the accord years.
Moscow officials have said the U.S. has committed "flagrant violations" of the treaty and Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... warned the US decision to pull out could cause a "dangerous" situation.
Trump and Putin are due to meet in Gay Paree on November 11.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] Iraq will stop exporting Kirkuk oil to Iran and will instead send the crude north to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... through the Kurdistan Regional Government’s pipeline, according to a report.
In mid-October, Baghdad struck a deal with the KRG to resume Kirkuk oil exports through the pipeline to Ceyhan, a year after federal forces took control of the oil-rich province’s fields, Rooters reported, citing unnamed sources.
The agreement would have been one of the last acts of the outgoing government of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The deal must still be approved by new Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector will come into force on November 4.
Iraq had been exporting less than 30,000 barrels per day to Iran via truck, though that route was fraught with security concerns and poor road infrastructure. That will now cease in order to comply with US sanctions, Rooters reported.
Baghdad’s decision to make a deal with the Kurdistan Region was driven by economic necessity, said Bilal Wahab, Wagner Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"The Iraqi government needs this income," he told Rudaw TV. "These 300,000 barrels of oil that the Iraqi government was not prepared to export via the Kurdistan Region before because of a political problem ‐ the equation has now changed."
That change is improved ties between the regional and federal governments, he said, noting that "Kurds have returned to Baghdad."
New governments are being formed in both capitals, opening the door to changes and a situation where "economic objectives might have been prioritized over political objectives. This is an important point and a positive development."
Wahab also thinks the US is putting pressure on both Erbil and Baghdad to comply with sanctions on Iran.
With expectations that Iranian oil sales could decrease by a million barrels, "The existence of hundreds of thousands of barrels of Kirkuk oil can make up for decline in oil reserves in the market, and this will prevent a hike in oil prices," he explained.
Amid disputes with Erbil late last year and into the new year, Baghdad had floated the idea of building its own pipeline to Turkey, but the entire border with Turkey is within Kurdistan Region territories, meaning that the KRG would have to agree to any such project.
KRG spokesperson Safin Dizayee said in September that they had offered a deal to Baghdad that would have allowed Iraq to export Kirkuk oil through the KRG’s pipeline for a fee that would have gone directly into the private sector, not the regional government.
Baghdad rejected the plan, said Dizayee, saying the decision cost the federal government some $5 billion in revenue.
Iraq’s new Oil Minister Thamir al-Ghadhban, who took control of the ministry on Thursday, said he would proceed with plans to increase oil and gas production, as well as upgrading and modernizing infrastructure.
Iraq’s economy is dependent on oil.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Maithripala Sirisena installed Sri Lanka's controversial former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse as the country's new prime minister Friday, in a shock move that plunged the island into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
Sirisena's office announced the surprise decision after the president sacked incumbent premier Ranil Wickremesinghe -- who insisted that he was still the legitimate prime minister and would fight his dismissal in court.
"I am addressing you as the prime minister of Sri Lanka," Wickremesinghe told news hounds at a nationally televised presser. "I remain as prime minister and I will function as the prime minister."
There was no immediate comment from Rajapakse, who worshiped at a Buddhist temple shortly after he was sworn in by Sirisena at his office in a ceremony broadcast by a private TV channel loyal to the ex-president.
Rajapakse ally and opposition politician Wimal Weerawansa asked Wickremesinghe to step down and allow a smooth transition of power.
Buit Wickremesinghe said he was urging the parliament's speaker Karu Jayasuriya to convene the legislature, where his United National Party and its allies command a majority.
The speaker said he was seeking legal advice and would announce Saturday if he recognizes Rajapakse as the new prime minister.
Sirisena won elections against Rajapakse in 2015 on a platform of economic reform and accountability for atrocities committed during his opponent's 10-year iron-fisted rule which saw the bloody end of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2018 00:00 ||
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[WAPO] Iranian boats closely shadowed an American warship in the Persian Gulf on Friday, underscoring the potential for renewed maritime hostility between the United States and Iran.
Two fast attack boats under the command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 300 yards of the USS Essex during a visit by Gen. Joseph Votel, who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East. A reporter from The Washington Post observed the boats as they sped near the amphibious assault ship, currently the largest U.S. ship in the gulf.
The incident, which did not appear linked to the general’s visit, illustrates the delicate course the U.S. military must navigate as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on Tehran and prepares to reimpose punishing sanctions.
The Iranian boats trailed the Essex, but U.S. officials said they did not undertake the same level of threatening behavior Iranian boats have in the past.
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.
[DailyMail] 
[Free Beacon] Two of the largest trade unions in Minnesota are backing the reelection campaign of Republican representative Jason Lewis against a Democratic business executive.
[PULSE.NG] Indian police have rounded up more than 2,000 people for stopping women from entering a flashpoint Hindu shrine in defiance of a Supreme Court order, officials said Friday.
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
