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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Suspect Gurpreet Singh locked up - To be charged with 4 counts of murder
[Officer.com] BRANFORD, Connecticut ‐ Branford police Tuesday arrested a suspect in an April 28 quadruple homicide of four family members in West Chester Township, Ohio, Chief of Police Jonathan Mulhern said.

No one was injured in the apprehension, "thank God," Mulhern said.

Suspect Gurpreet Singh was picked up in the parking lot of the Branford Walmart, Branford police said in a news release.

Singh ‐ the husband of one of the victims ‐ will be charged with four counts of aggravated murder, West Chester police said at a press conference.

West Chester police, in a press conference this afternoon, said Singh was the one who made the 911 call about the shooting deaths of four family members in April 2019, according to a story on the website of the Journal News newspaper.

Branford police said Singh, 37, of West Chester, Ohio
...my home town — a quietly lovely, very green exurb of Cincinnati, halfway to Dayton...
was arrested about 2 p.m. Tuesday in Branford. He is being held as a fugitive from justice in the Branford Police Department lockup pending arraignment Wednesday, said Deputy Chief John Alves.

West Chester police notified Branford Police Tuesday morning that Singh was staying at a home in Branford. Branford police spotted Singh leaving the home and he was apprehended in the Walmart parking lot, the release said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 14:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you wait long enough, they all eventually turn up at Walmart.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 14:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Reports about this have been texted to my phone, one after another. Singh, as I recall, means the family is Sikh.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 19:11 Comments || Top||


Viral ice cream-licking video occurred in Lufkin store; police request public's help identifying pair
LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - By now, many people may have seen the viral video of a young woman taking the lid off a Blue Bell container, licking the ice cream, and putting it back in the display case.

Now, police believe the incident may have occurred at the Lufkin Walmart.

According to a press release, the Lufkin Police Department is investigating the incident.

"The video hit social media June 28, launching an investigation that led from Walmart stores in San Antonio to Houston and eventually Lufkin," the press release stated.

Lufkin police on Wednesday night asked for public help positively identifying the woman in the video as well as the man with her wearing a green shirt. They request that tips be sent to Crime Stoppers at 639tips.com. They say they are working to identify the woman as well as the man with her in the green shirt. When identified, the woman could possibly second-degree felony tampering with a consumer product. Police say they are also consulting with federal authorities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 08:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Taste tester?
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 07/04/2019 13:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone whose sense of entitlement racial/age/sex needs to be taught otherwise
Posted by: Frank G || 07/04/2019 16:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Why am I not surprised by the perp. Bring back public lashing.
Posted by: Hupolet Bourbon1119 || 07/04/2019 20:17 Comments || Top||


Judge ruled teen should get leniency in rape case because he "comes from a good family"
[CBS] A family court judge in New Jersey is under fire over the way he handled a rape case involving two teenagers. In 2017, Judge James Troiano ruled a then 16-year-old boy accused of raping a drunk teenage girl should have leniency because "he comes from a good family," attended an excellent school and was an "Eagle Scout." The judge also expressed concern whether the victim's family had considered the "devastating effect" a trial in adult court would have on the boy's life.

But in a scathing reversal in June, a New Jersey appeals court warned Troiano against siding with privileged teenagers.

"I find the words of this judge to be absolutely appalling," said CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman.

Prosecutors said the boy took cellphone video of the alleged rape in the basement at a pajama party and sent the video to friends with a text message reading "when your first time having sex was rape."

New Jersey law allows a juvenile to be tried as an adult if they're accused of a serious crime. But Troiano said a traditional case of rape generally involves "two or more males using a weapon," sometimes in an abandoned "shed" or "shack," circumstances not matching the teen's alleged crime.

"It should never matter what a defendants background is it should not matter if he is rich or poor, if he is black, white, brown or yellow. The judge only looked at the boys background and did not regard anything he did as particularly serious of sexual assault or even rape," Klieman said.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 06:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is much that is wrong with this report, of course from CBS...............


A teen age mixed gender pajama party? A drunk teenage girl? Two or more males? Was the girl not from a "good" family?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/04/2019 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  None of those things actually matter. The girl shouldn't have been raped, regardless of how stupid she was being. If the boy didn't rape her, then the defense should handle that. But the Judge shouldn't show leniency because of some family ties or because he goes to a nice school.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 07/04/2019 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  ...this is how you get vendetta. If you are unwilling to give justice, get another job.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2019 8:50 Comments || Top||

#4  New Jersey, huh? I guessed Pakistain.

Do you ever get the feeling everything is spinning out of control?
Posted by: SteveS || 07/04/2019 10:16 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll say it again. Judiciaries need to be replaced with AI. Interpretation of legal provisions to affix responsibilities resulting from delineation of powers, providing justice to wronged parties based on simple rules, arbitrating on matters of dispute, referring to precedents and theories of jurisprudence, deriving proper parallels to a case - everything can be handled within reasonable expectations by a bloody microprocessor. The job is made so bounded by the hundreds of parameters that have been amended and re-legislated over the years, that it would be darn difficult for a system to make an error or over reach, as people worry.





politiciansDemocracy will also benefit as the legislature and electorates will not have to care for appeasing whimsical and petty personalities or partisan and mercenary judges anymore. They should introduce a bill to invest in research for AI that can be gradated empirically from "assisting judges in making impartial decisions" to overtly eliminating the need for a robed, un-elected arbiter completely.

Rather than waste money and intellect on tech and programming for human-like locomotion, targeting, recognition, profiling Of course , some administrative tasks not only necessitate that humans perform them, but are also necessary for citizens to be involved in , if they are to be worthy partakers of a State); governments should encourage research along the lines of assisted and autonomous arbitration of cases by AI.

In 2017 I made a proposal for this, with research worth three years of work by some of the best analysts, programmers, judges. Of course, my own government does not value justice or tech over status quo. I should sell the fucking thing to China and retire to Vietnam or something. But developed nations and their progressive governments, with better infrastructure and know-how can be convinced to undertake such a project.

The problem of arbitrary interpretation by fallible humans and whimsical, seemingly unjust application of the same laws to different cases with different outcomes is the one thing that has led to the majority of this world's populations' frustration with human government altogether. It is a justified angst but manifests in reactionary and stupid socialist, anarchist rebellion.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 12:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Indian fruit hangs lower than American in this situation, Dron66046. Here the major cyber companies lean strongly to the smug totalitarian left, no matter the libertarian, conservative or even apolitical attitude of some of the individual programmers employed therein; what odds we would be happy with their AI’s approach to judgement?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 14:09 Comments || Top||

#7  The 'algorithm suasion' question. Yes, the administrations that be may influence the outcome by persuasive, 'inclined' directives within the algorithms, but in the interest of transparency the algorithms themselves could be openly shared. And it would be a system to evolve, first runs could be only for assisting existing judges with parking violation, or even shoplifting or slander. It would be an evolving system, the leash getting slacker as people see it work. If it delivers injustice why, it would be evident from the get go and be shut down. Testing is paramount for such a thing of course.

Research should at least be initiated along the lines of eliminating fallible human control from matters already settled in the constitution. A ra¶e is a ra¶e. The girl was assaulted ? Yes. Did she want it ? No. Was she at the party willingly...What kind of future lies ahead for the boy...How much his mammy loves his angelic face...Is the girl a habitual s1ut ? The computer doesn't care. Ra¶e ? 20 years. Intimidation and confinement ? Add 6 years. He filmed it ? Add a p0rn0graphy (making) charge. 4 more years (or whatever it is there). All evidence in such cases and testimony is taken at face value anyway, unless of a markedly suspect nature. The system would have rated standards for reliability and wouldn't dawdle over legalistic 'maybes' , but deliver verdict only from the filtered incontrovertible data.

Then again, the subtil tendencies in most decentralized bureaucratic administrations that will involve themselves in the contracting of coders and analysts for such a system may still get the better of it in ways I cannot know. As I said, I'm a dunce.☺ It took me months to even learn what an algorithm is.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 15:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry for the ascii letters, I was trying to let the Fred's p☼rn/spam/invective filter let the words through.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 15:30 Comments || Top||

#9  The filters do pose a bit of a challenge. Some of us do basic L33t substitutions, alternate spellings, or strategic asterisks to get around them. But my dear, if you’re presenting possible users with a well-researched proposal, you’re not exactly a novice. Whether you are a dunce is a different question, one that runs up the z-axis piercing the plane. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 19:48 Comments || Top||


Vegas police officer is fired after he 'froze with fear' on his way to Stephen Paddock's hotel room as the gunman committed the deadliest mass shooting in US history
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I understand they have a security guard monitor job opening at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2019 8:32 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
A Sad Day for Bourbon
Versailles, Kentucky‐A massive fire erupted at a Jim Beam Warehouse in Versailles Kentucky on Wednesday. Firefighters in Kentucky are trying to extinguish a burning Jim Beam warehouse that is filled with about 45,000 barrels of bourbon.
Oh NOOOs!!
Woodford County Emergency Management Director Drew Chandler tells CBS affiliate WLKY-TV that two barrel warehouses caught fire late Tuesday night. Crews were able to put one out, but the other kept burning for hours. Chandler says it may have been caused by lightning.
Lightning. Why does it hate us?
A nearby road has been shut down as crews fight the blaze. Chandler estimates firefighters will be working at the scene late into Wednesday night. CBS affiliate WLKY-TV featured photos of the massive blaze on its Twitter page.
RIP Jim Beam.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh the humanity!
Posted by: Warthog || 07/04/2019 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  And just last year the Barton 1792 bourbon distillery had a wall collapse, taking down 9000 barrels. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but if it happens again it's war.
Posted by: Glenmore || 07/04/2019 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Samantha Ruddy
‏@samlymatters
21h21 hours ago

Jim Beam is now seeping into the Kentucky River as a result of the bourbon warehouse fire which means that if you go fishing right now there’s a good chance you’ll catch a whiskey-drunk trout in a tank top yelling at his wife that he’ll come home when he damn well pleases.
Posted by: Frank G || 07/04/2019 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Samantha Ruddy
‏@samlymatters
21h21 hours ago
All I’m saying is that if you ever wanted to meet a large mouth bass who has every Skynyrd album and 6 DUIs now is your chance

Posted by: Frank G || 07/04/2019 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  If the river was whiskey
Lord, if I was a duck
I'd swim down in the river
Might never come up.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 07/04/2019 10:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Whiskey river, take my mind
Don't let her memory torture me
Whiskey river, don't run dry
You're all I got, take care of me




Posted by: jpal || 07/04/2019 10:52 Comments || Top||

#7  This is well beyond the angel’s share loss in a whiskey barrel.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/04/2019 12:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Someone been holding out on the Devil's Cut, huh?
Posted by: AlanC || 07/04/2019 12:34 Comments || Top||

#9  What about all the CO2
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 07/04/2019 13:57 Comments || Top||

#10  I wonder what year of release that would have been...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 07/04/2019 18:35 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Watch Live: 6:30 pm ET July 4th In Washington, ‘Salute To America' Parade| NBC News
Watch Live: July 4th In Washington, Salute To America Military Parade | NBC News



From marching bands and parade floats to military tanks and flyovers, Washington D.C. is host to Independence Day events, including a military-style display hosted by President Trump at 6:30pm ET.
Posted by: Woodrow || 07/04/2019 13:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-War on Police-
Man charges cop with knife AFTER he's been shot and he nearly gets the cop's gun!
Graphic video warning
[rightscoop] In an incident that happened in Georgia on Monday, police arrived at a scene with a man holding a knife. As we’ve seen in previous videos, the man began to walk toward the two officers with the knife and refused to put it down.

But this one turns out very different than the last.

As the man charges the officers, they repeatedly warn him to drop the knife. Over and over. Until the man begins to run toward one of the cops and he’s forced to shoot the man.

But that’s not where it ends, as you’d expect. After being shot, the man then gets up and charges the officer who shot him and actually gets behind him and puts his arm around the officer’s neck.

The other officer is then forced to fatally shoot the man who is literally behind the officer and thankfully doesn’t hit his partner in the process.

It’s a difficult video to watch but they do blur out the shooting, both times.

This is just another example of what our men in blue have to put up with as they seek to keep us safe every day by putting their own lives in jeopardy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 02:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  let me guess...9mm
Posted by: Bugs Thaper5349 || 07/04/2019 7:58 Comments || Top||

#2  7 body shots then 4 head shots finally put him down. Both officers so busy backing up they ignored the chance for a close flanking taser.

Good video, thanks Berserker.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Taxpayer relief shots.
Posted by: Frank G || 07/04/2019 8:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Making sure they got it on cam nearly cost the life of a policeman....or so it would appear.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 8:52 Comments || Top||

#5  i saw the body cam footage B, i agree probably 9mm, and mental with a side of meth.
Posted by: chris || 07/04/2019 13:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Would easily qualify as a Public Service Homicide (PSH).
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 14:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Can't they carry a G45 ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 15:35 Comments || Top||

#8  That was some of stupidest crap I’ve ever seen. If I was the Chief of Police they would be on suspension. Too many warnings AND, they retreated to the point of abandoning their squad car. One of them should have exited with shotgun. I can understand wanting to avoid killing the perp, but you have draw the line somewhere.
Posted by: Hupolet Bourbon1119 || 07/04/2019 20:07 Comments || Top||


Africa North
'60 million more Egyptians by 2050': UN report
[AlAhram] Egypt, already the most populous country in the Middle East region, is expected to see a population boom during the coming 30 years, with a recently released UN report expecting the number of Egyptians to increase by 60 million by 2050.

The annual increase will be by two per cent, it said.
A very good thing Egypt has been finding oil and national gas even as world prices continue to fall. They’ll be able to put their funds into new economy-growing initiatives even as they’ll be able to keep the lights on and the factories running.
Egypt, already the most populous country in the Middle East region, is expected to see a population boom during the coming 30 years, with a recently released UN report expecting the number of Egyptians to increase by 60 million by 2050.

The annual increase will be by two per cent, it said.

World Population Prospects, the UN study, highlights a comprehensive set of demographic data to assess population trends at the global, regional and national levels and many other key indicators commonly used by the UN system.

With a projected addition of 1.1 billion people, the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa could account for more than half of the growth in the world’s population between 2019 and 2050, the study says.

By contrast, Eastern and South-East Asia, Central and Southern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and Northern America are projected to reach peak population size and to start losing population before the end of the present century. The size of the global population is set to increase to reach 11 billion by the end of the century.

Following the population increases in Egypt over the past five years, the study extrapolates to the country’s population reaching almost 225 million by the end of this century. Egypt thus follows the lead of India, the country with the highest population growth and expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050, and a number of countries in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
, Æthiopia, and Tanzania.

Its annual rate of population growth is four times that of China, where the population is expected to increase by only 31,000 within the same 30-year period. Officially registered births reveal that Egypt’s population has already exceeded 100 million, with over half being under the age of 25 and only five per cent 65 and above.

Egypt could slow the pace of the increase and thus halt its negative repercussions if it adopted the right policies, said Heba al-Leithi, a professor of statistics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science in Cairo.

Last year, Egypt adopted the Itneen Kefaya (Two is Enough) birth-control programme, with the two-year campaign seeking to target 1.2 million women in 10 governorates to raise their awareness of contraception methods.

This was with the help of 100 NGOs, which are providing the Ministry of population with trained volunteers in order to spread door-to-door messages to the targeted families. The programme is also supported by the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
Population Fund (UNFPA), which has given LE10 million for the training of doctors and nurses who will work in clinics as well as provide contraceptive methods.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hobbies. These people need hobbies. Besides the one they obviously have now
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 07/04/2019 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  The solution is obvious. Just classify them as White Western European Supremacists, then watch their fertility rate drop into the negatives.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2019 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Lots of wanking over population numbers and growth rates, but no mention of trends in GDP, health or anything pertaining to how well people living.
But I have total faith in UN reports.

A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.
-- June 30, 1989
Posted by: SteveS || 07/04/2019 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  But will they be brown or black?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 13:09 Comments || Top||

#5  From the article:

Last year, Egypt adopted the Itneen Kefaya (Two is Enough) birth-control programme, with the two-year campaign seeking to target 1.2 million women in 10 governorates to raise their awareness of contraception methods.

And, from the CIA World Factbook:

Total fertility rate:
3.41 children born/woman (2018 est.)
country comparison to the world: 45

Contraceptive prevalence rate:
58.5% (2014)


And from the Factbook’s Demographic Profile section:

Although the country’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell from roughly 5.5 children per woman in 1980 to just over 3 in the late 1990s, largely as a result of state-sponsored family planning programs, the population growth rate dropped more modestly because of decreased mortality rates and longer life expectancies. During the last decade, Egypt’s TFR decline stalled for several years and then reversed, reaching 3.6 in 2011, and has plateaued the last few years. Contraceptive use has held steady at about 60%, while preferences for larger families and early marriage may have strengthened in the wake of the recent 2011 revolution. The large cohort of women of or nearing childbearing age will sustain high population growth for the foreseeable future (an effect called population momentum).

Nevertheless, post-MUBARAK governments have not made curbing population growth a priority. To increase contraceptive use and to prevent further overpopulation will require greater government commitment and substantial social change, including encouraging smaller families and better educating and empowering women. Currently, literacy, educational attainment, and labor force participation rates are much lower for women than men. In addition, the prevalence of violence against women, the lack of female political representation, and the perpetuation of the nearly universal practice of female genital cutting continue to keep women from playing a more significant role in Egypt’s public sphere.


Hopefully, the last two paragraphs of this article indicate exactly that greater government commitment the UN report is calling for.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 13:27 Comments || Top||


Britain
He's rev faced! Embarrassed motorist crashes perfectly restored 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle into a brick wall moments after leaving classic car show and trying to impress onlookers with its acceleration
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle is the dream of many vintage car enthusiasts.

But one over-excited motorist ploughed his pristine vehicle into a brick wall in front of dozens of onlookers on Sunday - destroying the right headlight and bumper and stripping off a layer of paint.



Vid of Hubris at link.

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's England. They'll probably revoke his license and make him go to remedial driving classes even though he'll never get his license back. If there were any muzz nearby he'll probably go to jail.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/04/2019 6:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Chevelle - the model that signaled Chevy's plunge to the bottom...surpassed only by the Corvair
Posted by: Whavise Flaling1392 || 07/04/2019 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I loved my Corvair.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 8:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Ahh, that'll buff right out!
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 07/04/2019 9:54 Comments || Top||

#5  I loved my Corvair too even though I admit it was about the ugliest car ever made. Size and shape of a shoe box in the same shade of grey.

The lack of a trans tunnel and a bench front seat, though, had many benefits.

That's what should happen to anyone that wastes money restoring a '70s Chevelle.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/04/2019 12:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Corvair designer - duh - what's a tierod sposed to do?
Posted by: Spanky Grundy4556 || 07/04/2019 13:35 Comments || Top||

#7  That's a sway bar. Not a tie rod. Eliminating the sway bar from the original design was done by the bean counters. Plus front and rear tire pressures were spaced at different ratings. But owners, you know the ones that NEVER READ THE FREAKIN OWNERS MANUAL 'cause they know better just inflated the tires at the same psi all the way around. The second generation hardtop actually looked pretty good. And the ugliest American car ever built was an early 60s Valiant
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 07/04/2019 13:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Watched the video and I am impressed with the acceleration
Posted by: Regular joe || 07/04/2019 13:54 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Guaido says there are no plans to re-open talks with the ‘murderous dictatorship’ of President Nicolas Maduro
[TWITTER]

Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian defense chief says there are survivors of navy fire
More on this story from two days ago.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Some crew members have survived a fire that killed 14 sailors onboard one of the Russian navy’s deep-sea research submersibles, the nation’s defense minister said on Wednesday.

Sergei Shoigu didn’t specify how many crew members were rescued from Monday’s fire. Speaking at the navy’s Arctic base of Severomorsk, he praised the vessel’s crew for "heroic" action, saying they sacrificed their lives to rescue a civilian expert and save the ship after the fire erupted.

Details were scarce about the incident on the ship, which was on a mission to measure sea depths in Russia’s territorial waters in the Barents Sea. The Defense Ministry said the seamen were killed by toxic fumes from the blaze, but did not specify how many crew members were aboard.

The ministry didn’t name the vessel, but Russian media reported it was the country’s most secret submersible, a nuclear-powered research submarine called the AS-12 Losharik intended for sensitive missions at great depths.

Few images and details have emerged about the vessel, which was launched in 2003 and is believed to have entered navy service in 2010.

In 2012, the Losharik was involved in research intended to prove Russia’s claim on the vast Arctic seabed. It collected samples from a depth of 2,500 meters (8,202 feet), according to official statements at the time. Regular submarines can typically dive only to depths of up to 600 meters (2,000 feet).

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...
, who summoned Shoigu on Tuesday to report on the fire, said in televised comments that seven of the dead had the rank of captain and two were awarded the nation’s highest medal, the Hero of Russia.

"It’s a huge loss for the navy," Putin said.

Shoigu, speaking during a meeting with officials investigating the fire, said those who died were "high professionals" and "unique experts."

"The submariners acted heroically in the critical situation," he said. "They evacuated a civilian expert from the compartment that was engulfed by fire and shut the door to prevent the fire from spreading further and fought for the ship’s survival until the end."

More from the Daily Mail: Russian media compare 'cover-up' of nuclear submarine fire to Soviet attempts to keep a lid on Chernobyl after it emerges 14 sailors died 'after locking themselves in with blaze to save vessel'
Posted by: Fred || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  and shut the door

So consigned the remaining poor swabbies to the flames.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 13:13 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China Uses A Surveillance App To Search The Phones Of Tourists Entering The Country
[Guardian] Chinese border police are secretly installing surveillance apps on the phones of visitors and downloading personal information as part of the government’s intensive scrutiny of the remote Xinjiang region, the Guardian can reveal.

The Chinese government has curbed freedoms in the province for the local Muslim population, installing facial recognition cameras on streets and in mosques and reportedly forcing residents to download software that searches their phones.

An investigation by the Guardian and international partners has found that travellers are being targeted when they attempt to enter the region from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

Border guards are taking their phones and secretly installing an app that extracts emails, texts and contacts, as well as information about the handset itself.

Tourists say they have not been warned by authorities in advance or told about what the software is looking for, or that their information is being taken.

The investigation, with partners including Suddeutsche Zeitung and the New York Times, has found that people using the remote Irkeshtam border crossing into the country are routinely having their phones screened by guards.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 02:26 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Cyber
WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook users report disruptions
[Ynet] Users of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are reporting breakdowns in service.

The disruptions are apparently most felt in Israel, Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the East Coast of the U.S.

The breakdowns in service include inability to load stories on Instagram, send messages and even connect to the various platforms.
The Jerusalem Post adds:
Even the CIA responded to the social media issues.

"Yes, we are affected by #instagramdown, too," The CIA tweeted. "No, we didn’t cause it. No, we can’t fix yours. Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

More than 14,000 users reported issues with Instagram, while more than 7,500 and 1,600 users complained about Facebook and WhatsApp, according https://downdetector.com/status/instagram to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

Downdetector's live outage map showed the issues were mainly in parts of Europe and the United States.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 01:30 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Dublin Swan protecting its cygnets terminates mutt roaming off-lead
[Irish Times] A dog was attacked and killed by a swan in a Dublin park on Saturday.
Saint-Hippolyte, FR swan foto.
The cocker spaniel was swimming in the duck pond at Bushy Park in Terenure near a group of swans and cygnets when an adult swan broke away and made a beeline for her.

A man who was feeding the ducks at the far end of the pond, said he heard the dog’s owner shouting in attempt to get her attention.

"We started screaming at the swan, trying to distract it," said the man. "The poor dog didn’t realise what was going on and swam straight for the swan."

Dogs kill swans more often than swans kill dogs, experts say
He said the swan lifted up its wings and beat down on the dog "with one wing and then the other".

"That stunned the poor thing. Three or four more slaps and she was gone."

The man said the attack was extremely upsetting to witness and took no more than a few seconds. The owner was so distressed, his phone fell into the pond, he added.

"They need to put up signs telling people to keep their dogs on leads around the pond. The swan was just protecting its cygnets."

The incident occurred shortly before 11 am, at a time when dogs are allowed to roam off-lead in the park, which was busy at the time.

Peter Duignan, a Dublin City Council park ranger, arrived just after 11 am and he and two colleagues retrieved the dog’s body from the water using a small paddle boat and a net.

"I have never heard of anything like this happening before," said Mr Duignan, who added that the dog’s owner was extremely distraught.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Black swan event?
Posted by: Lex || 07/04/2019 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably part of the Dublin Whiteys, a duck extortion gang out for a lark clever bird pun !. Bitch slapping yuppie puppies.

Stop judging meeeeee !

Also: Thug Swans and Renegade Life
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 5:04 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd like to see a swan go up against the turkeys that infest our yard. They'll chase squirrels and raccoons but not the bear. We all have our limits.
Posted by: AlanC || 07/04/2019 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Did he sing?
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  The "no leash" crowd gets what their hounds deserve.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/04/2019 9:40 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Tribal clashes kill woman, wound three in Iraq’s Qadisiyyah
More normalcy?
Qadisiyyah (IraqiNews.com) ‐ An Iraqi woman was killed Wednesday in tribal festivities in al Qadisiyyah governorate, a security source was quoted as saying.

"A tribal dispute erupted Wednesday morning between two families in al-Diwaniyah, the capital city of al-Qadisiyah, leaving a woman dead," the source told the independent news website of Baghdad Today.

"Three persons were also maimed in the festivities," the source added.

The Iraqi government and non-governmental organizations launched many initiatives over the past period to persuade rival rustics to sign petitions to stop their fighting, which claims the lives of several people daily.

Chieftains were also urged to intervene to put an end to tribal disputes in the country through forcing rustics to hand over their weapons to the Iraqi army.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/04/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
New hope for LGBT rodent community - Researchers cure HIV in mice
[Washington Examiner] Researchers and health professionals made a monumental step in the pursuit of a cure for HIV.

Scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Temple University in Philadelphia eliminated the virus from a small number of mice.

"This is proof of concept that a cure of HIV is possible," said Dr. Howard Gendelman, chairman of UNMC's pharmacology and experimental neuroscience department. "We are at the cusp of a scientific revolution in human genomes that can change the course, quality and longevity of life."

Columnist Kristen Soltis Anderson on the expanded Washington Examiner magazine

In the study, researchers used two therapies: a formulation of HIV drugs to suppress the virus followed by a gene-editing therapy cutting HIV from their genomes.

"We're going at the root cause," Gendelman said. "We're going after the virus that's already integrated in the genome of the host cell."

No technology since the AIDS epidemic has ever fully eliminated HIV.

"Elimination of HIV-1 requires clearance and removal of integrated proviral DNA from infected cells and tissues," the study wrote, which was published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 01:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iffy at best. Rodents and bats are naturally resistant to HIV - a situation that has long frustrated AIDS researchers. Leading to attempts since 2010 to first engineer susceptible rodents by splicing in various combinations of the genes that make humans vulnerable.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 4:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Great headline and pic, B.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 07/04/2019 4:45 Comments || Top||

#3  How did they get the little buggers to .....?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2019 8:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Time to go long on Gerbils.
Posted by: Skidmark || 07/04/2019 8:39 Comments || Top||

#5  How did they get the little buggers to .....?

They used human urban confinement and free rations as a control sample model. Nothing much else for the subjects to do.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 8:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Judge blocks Ohio abortion law, clinics to remain open
[ABC] A federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on Wednesday, siding with abortion clinics that had argued the law would effectively end the procedure in the state.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett
nominated by President George W. Bush
halts the July 11 enforcement of the so-called heartbeat bill law that opponents argued would effectively ban the procedure. That's because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant.

Ohio is among a dozen states that have considered similar legislation this year, as abortion opponents have pursued a national anti-abortion strategy to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision fueled by a conservative swing on the U.S. Supreme Court.

However, Barrett said it is his opinion that Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights attorneys that sued to stop the law "are certain to succeed on the merits of their claim that (the bill) is unconstitutional on its face."

"The law is well-settled that women possess a fundamental constitutional right of access to abortions," he wrote.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 03:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "well-settled" lie.
Posted by: Dale || 07/04/2019 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "The law is well-settled that women possess a fundamental constitutional right of access to abortions,"

I have a copy of that Constitution before me, please show me the text where that is stipulated. BTW, 'we are your betters so we can make this up as we go along' is not a valid answer, other than
'we rule you chumps, so shut up'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/04/2019 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  "The law is well-settled...."
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/04/2019 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Simply because an act is not illegal does not elevate it to the status of right.
Posted by: Cesare || 07/04/2019 9:03 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2019-07-04
  Wishing all Rantburgers a happy and safe Independence Day!
Wed 2019-07-03
  Airstrike hits migrant detention center in Libya, 40 killed
Tue 2019-07-02
  Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher found not guilty on murder and attempted murder charges
Mon 2019-07-01
  Seven Sudanese protesters killed, 181 wounded in Sunday demonstrations
Sun 2019-06-30
  Journalist Assaulted By Antifa/Portland - Face, Neck, Ear Injuries
Sat 2019-06-29
  Three Soldiers Killed in Philippines' Restive South, ISIS claims attack
Fri 2019-06-28
  57 Taliban militants including 10 Pakistanis killed in Ghazni clashes, airstrikes
Thu 2019-06-27
  Suicide bomber in Tunisia kills at least one, state TV reports
Wed 2019-06-26
  Saudi Special Forces capture emir of ISIS in Yemen
Tue 2019-06-25
  Ethiopia security forces kill alleged coup leader
Mon 2019-06-24
  Trump calls on China, and the world, to protect their own ships from Iran
Sun 2019-06-23
  Army chief shot dead in coup attempt in Ethiopia
Sat 2019-06-22
  Libyan army forces enter Tripoli Airport, seize major positions from Haftar's forces
Fri 2019-06-21
  Niger Says 18 IS Fighters Killed in Joint Operation with U.S.
Thu 2019-06-20
  Presidential Motorcade: Individual taken into custody by Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers

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