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Krakatoa volcano blows up
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Page 3: Non-WoT
3 20:07 DarthVader [9] 
12 23:04 Lex [12] 
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13 18:32 Bobby [9] 
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14 19:05 JHH [13] 
12 15:49 swksvolFF [7] 
3 15:33 Procopius2k [7] 
5 13:12 Skidmark [7] 
8 18:28 Bobby [7] 
8 21:51 SteveS [20] 
33 19:06 JFM [23] 
7 13:30 M. Murcek [6] 
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11 18:56 Thaith Elmeresing6163 [14] 
2 16:53 Skidmark [5] 
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20 13:46 trailing wife [16] 
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8 15:45 Procopius2k [11] 
12 17:41 M. Murcek [6] 
3 10:39 Deacon Blues [7] 
2 09:51 Mullah Richard [8] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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1 01:24 Skidmark [14]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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3 09:19 Clem [11]
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Page 4: Opinion
2 15:11 charger [11]
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9 11:28 Clem [8]
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7 16:10 g(r)omgoru [13]
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Page 6: Politix
5 15:22 swksvolFF [10]
11 14:06 DarthVader [9]
5 07:10 Clem [11]
17 19:10 JFM [16]
6 16:32 g(r)omgoru [13]
11 22:02 SteveS [11]
1 08:34 Procopius2k [15]
1 00:53 Whiskey Mike [8]
16 20:58 49 Pan [5]
20 16:15 Clem [13]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Daughter’s boyfriend charged in killings of doctor, husband
[APNEWS] Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a teenager with fatally shooting a University of Wisconsin physician and her husband, who were the parents of his girlfriend, and leaving their bodies at the school’s arboretum.

Khari Sanford, 18, was charged with two counts of party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon. A friend of Sanford’s, 18-year-old Ali’jah Larrue, was charged as an accomplice and faces two counts of party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide. Bail for each was set at $1 million. Sanford’s attorney, Crystal Vera, declined comment, while Larrue’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

According to the criminal complaint, Sanford’s girlfriend was the daughter of the victims, Dr. Beth Potter, 52, and her husband, 57-year-old Robin Carre. Joggers found the victims at the arboretum, a research and popular recreational area, near the Madison campus on March 31.

Autopsies found both victims were shot in the back of the head, apparently the night before their bodies were discovered. Several spent shell casings were found around the victims. Potter was wearing pajamas and socks but no shoes in the chilly weather, while Carre wore only underwear, the complaint said.

A friend of Potter’s told Sherlocks that the couple had moved their daughter and Sanford out of their house and into a rental home because they were not following social distancing rules amid the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
outbreak. Potter’s supervisor at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics said Potter’s medication put her at greater risk of infection and that she needed social distancing.

Hours before the killings, Potter told her friend that her daughter told her "You don’t care about me" and "You don’t talk to me" as she and Sanford were moving out, and that Potter was "clearly frustrated" during the conversation, the complaint said.

A classmate at Madison West High School told Sherlocks that he overheard a discussion between the victims’ daughter and Sanford in a ceramics class shortly before school was canceled last month, in which she told Sanford her parents had "bands" of money and that they were rich. The friend said "bands" likely meant thousands of dollars in cash.

The friend told Sherlocks that Sanford appeared excited and frantic when he stopped by his house on March 31 and made a phone call to Larrue. Sanford said to Larrue he had heard on social media that one of the victims was in the hospital and possibly alive, the friend said.

"I swear I hit them, how did they survive," Sanford allegedly said. The friend said Sanford got off the phone and told him he had shot the people at the arboretum "in the back of the head" and that Larrue was with him. When the interview was conducted, authorities had not said publicly how the victims were maimed.

Posted by: Fred || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Make trendy interracial adoption > give the kid advantages she never would have had otherwise > she invites her murderer into your house.

How very woke...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Invites your murderer into your house...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  One has to wonder if the parents actually thought this arrangement would ever end well.

Obviously a bit late now, but the counsel of a good attorney, followed by the filing of a well written restraining order (openly shared with local police), might have, I say might have.... prevented this tragedy.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 8:02 Comments || Top||

#4  I blame Netflix.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/11/2020 9:00 Comments || Top||

#5  The one on the left is the daughter. This is a veritable American mystery. I give up.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/11/2020 9:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Ah yes, the difficult to explain (if WOKE) Colin Kaepernick cultural malaise.

Ms. Nicole Brown Simpson to the white courtesy phone please. Ms. Simpsom.


Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 9:12 Comments || Top||

#7  @ #5 - According to the article, the one on the left is the other accomplice, Mr. Larrue, not the daughter.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 9:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Re #5: The photo on the left is Ali’jah Larrue.

The Potters' adopted daughter, Miriam Potter-Carre, is not shown in photos. My guess is she is under 18.
Posted by: Neville and Tenille3829 || 04/11/2020 9:36 Comments || Top||

#9  It’s the Zulu revenge.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 04/11/2020 9:38 Comments || Top||

#10  The witness allegedly heard Sanford say, “I swear I hit them how did they survive” and was “excessively sweating.” He “made statements on the phone indicating he was scared that a victim could have survived that would implicate him in the homicide,” says the complaint.

Routine police tactic which can result in panic and incriminating statements from persons of interest.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 9:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Must have had quite the bit of planning and coordination to get the victims out of the house, wearing their bedclothes, over to the arboretum and down the path - all without being seen...

F---ing savages
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 9:51 Comments || Top||

#12  And that adopted daughter.....sick and sad.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 9:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Lively thread. Is it time for the pyramid of anti neo-con hierarchical outcomes? Frank, where are you ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 9:58 Comments || Top||

#14  Forgive me for speaking ill of the horribly murdered dead, but don't these appear to be very liberal Democrats ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/11/2020 10:11 Comments || Top||

#15  @ #14
Wisconsin ✓
Doctors ✓
Adopted child ✓
Minority boyfriend of daughter ✓
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 10:19 Comments || Top||

#16  Dude (?) on the left looks like the starting inside linebacker for the Raiders.
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 11:11 Comments || Top||

#17  Madison, Wisconsin ✓ ✓ ✓
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:19 Comments || Top||

#18  Dude (?) on the left looks like the starting inside linebacker for the Raiders.

Only because he's in jail now.

Checkmark married but not sharing surname. "This can't be happening, we did everything right!", right up to the clock's last pendulum swing.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/11/2020 11:58 Comments || Top||

#19  "Checkmark married but not using surname". YES, good point!
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 11:59 Comments || Top||

#20  The adopted daughter is neither of those pictured. Her Facebook page is still up — at some point someone responsible will shut it down, but of course her parents are dead and can’t see to it themselves.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 13:46 Comments || Top||


COVID-19 masked bandits in Arlington Heights, IL have very bad day
[Daily Herald] Arlington Heights police on Thursday released doorbell video of the harrowing early moments of a weekend home invasion that left one would-be robber dead and another charged with murder.

The 66-second video, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows the two men -- wearing face masks and gloves -- approaching the house on North Evergreen Avenue just before 2 p.m. Saturday.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
A fire broke out on China's massive new Type 075 amphibious assault ship

Posted by: 3dc || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Unattended Horseshoe Bat BBQ wok burner ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  ...If I were a betting man, I'd say an undermanned work force working through illness and panic.

But I'm sure it's saboteurs and wreckers.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/11/2020 8:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Live damage control practice followed by live repair turn around practice? There is no substitute for hands on training when learning a new skill.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 8:53 Comments || Top||

#4  When China and the US were letting each other tour their ships years ago, a couple sailors I knew said the Chinese had a very minimal to no knowledge of fire fighting and damage control. They still have a very caste like system where only the lowest are trained in those activities.

The US learned the hard way in early WW2 that every sailor was a fire fighter and damage control worker and all of our boys and girls are trained in it.

Estimates from those sailors on the survival of a Chinese ship that was hit was poor, where a western naval ship would be able to survive and get back to port while being able to fight.

From what little we can see of the pics, the fire fighting skill of the people there was very poor and it looks like the fire spread pretty well along most of the ship.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/11/2020 9:16 Comments || Top||

#5  ...sometimes we forget too and have to relearn lessons from the past.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 9:29 Comments || Top||

#6  CNN: China demonstrates latest superweapon - "Fist of Heaven's Mandate Fireship".
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/11/2020 10:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Result of Space Force test firing of its orbital battle station (That's no Moon!)
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/11/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Bad, bad China - look at that carbon footprint! AOC's gonna be pissed at you guys not !
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 10:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Ref #7: Result of Space Force test firing of its orbital battle station (That's no Moon!)

'One shot, one kill.' Planned PLA invasion of Formosa on administrative hold.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 11:03 Comments || Top||

#10  most Chinese are incapable of independent thought, the kind all Americans take for granted
Posted by: 746 || 04/11/2020 15:03 Comments || Top||

#11  ..what I noticed is that they are often locked into linear thought patterns. That they're very good at. There is less ability to 'think outside the box' or make intuitive jumps in logic or reasoning.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:31 Comments || Top||

#12  Shorter conversation I had with a China Strong!

CS: China was making noodles for a 1000 years before the Italians!

Me: So why do the Italians have 1000 types of pasta, and China is still eating the same noodle?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/11/2020 15:49 Comments || Top||


Sports Illustrated fires Grant Wahl after writer griped about coronavirus-related pay cut
How will he survive? Cut back on haircuts?
[NY Post] Sports Illustrated has fired one of its highest-paid writers after he complained about coronavirus-related pay cuts that were revealed by the magazine's publisher last month.

Grant Wahl, one of the preeminent soccer journalists in the country, was making more than $350,000 a year but was getting hit with a 30-percent pay cut as part of cost cuts last month that included the firing of 31 people at Maven, the magazine's publisher since last fall, according to sources. The blood-letting resulted in about 6 percent of the staff at SI being let go.
That's not a man's hand, that's a banded Kingfisher's claw.
Prior to his axing on Friday afternoon, Wahl had been blasting management for the cuts in a series of Instagram posts in recent days. Management struck back, branding him an ingrate in a memo that was circulated to staffers.

"We've decided to direct what would have been this person's salary into additional severance pay and health benefits for those laid off who need it most," Jim Heckman, CEO of Maven, said in the memo obtained by The Post.

"To complain about a personal pay cut when 31 others had lost their jobs is incomprehensible in light of the sacrifices others made to help limit layoffs and maintain liveable salaries for our staff," said the memo. "Such a me-first attitude is not part of the tradition and culture Maven is committed to maintaining."

Although the memo did not reveal the writer's name, a source close to the situation said it referred to Wahl. The memo said the fired staffer was paid "over $350,000 last year to infrequently write stories that generated little meaningful viewership or revenue."

Wahl himself revealed on social media he was fired on Friday morning with no severance. It followed a series of Instagram posts in recent weeks that were picked up on Twitter that blasted management for the cuts.

"Who would take advantage of a pandemic to permanently reduce someone's salary beyond that pandemic," Wahl wrote. "Maven and James Heckman would."
Posted by: Frank G || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Nice Rolex."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 4:14 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Amazing how many people are Embracing The Cluebat(TM) these days...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 04/11/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Again,whenever someone tells you some Good Thing™ is underfunded, remind them of assclowns like that guy there...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Good move by SI.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 9:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Learn to COBOL.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/11/2020 11:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Indeed. New Joysey is looking for a few good COBOL programmers!
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  cut back on haircuts?

... or use a pumice stone?
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:16 Comments || Top||

#8  You sure he's not a conehead?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 11:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Some people should not be permitted to shave their pates
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:37 Comments || Top||

#10  On the bright side, now he has something he can complain about.
Posted by: gorb || 04/11/2020 13:47 Comments || Top||

#11  " What, no one will hire me !? "
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 04/11/2020 18:56 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mexico closes US owned plant for refusal to sell ventilators
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 16:51 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Check didn't clear?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 19:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Gerbilism turning out to not be a very robust thing.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 19:46 Comments || Top||

#3  When the shit hits the fan, people will always take care of there's and them's first.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/11/2020 20:07 Comments || Top||


A remote Amazonian tribe has recorded its first coronavirus case
[Bing] Brazilian health officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, among the remote Yanomami tribe in the Amazon.

The Yanomami tribe is made up of approximately 38,000 people and is considered to be the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America.

Brazilian Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a press conference on Wednesday that a 15-year-old boy from the indigenous tribe has tested positive for the disease.

Brazilian health officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, among the remote Yanomami tribe in the Amazon.

Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said at a press conference on Wednesday that a 15-year-old boy from the indigenous tribe has tested positive for the disease.

Mandetta said that the case was "worrying," particularly because of the remote community's separation from the outside world.

According to Brazilian newspaper Globo, the boy was admitted to the intensive care unit at a hospital in Roraima, Brazil's northernmost state located in the Amazon region, on April 3. He reported shortness of breath, fever, chest pain, and sore throat.

According to Globo, the boy first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive. He remains in the ICU.

The Yanomami tribe is made up of approximately 38,000 people and is considered to be the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America, with over 9.6 million hectares (2.3 million acres) of land along the Venezuelan border.

The tribe has dealt with deadly outbreaks of infectious disease, including measles and flu, in the past when military agencies, miners, and religious missionary groups exposed the tribe to diseases they had no immunity to.

According to Globo, respiratory disease is already the leading cause of death among native populations in Brazil. The country's health ministry has created a national crisis committee in order to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 on indigenous people and prevent further spread.
One might ask the question: How much contact does this tribe have with the outside world? If none, then one might question the mechanism for transmission of COVID-19. The question arises also: "Is the virus really 'novel' or has it always been with us? If the virus has always been with us, then why has it had a worldwide outbreak now? If remote tribes get this disease, then what is the value of social distancing and isolation? I'm an engineer not a biologist or microbe specialist, so maybe these questions are naïve.

Hey, there’s still Antarctica.

Posted by: JohnQC || 04/11/2020 07:18 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  According to Globo, the boy first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive. He remains in the ICU.

Tested negative at the time of admission did he ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Eu viaje a Amozonia. The tribes cross paths with modern Brazilians frequently. Want to go to a pristine remote beach? take a boat that carries large number of people up the Amazon to the ocean and dissembarque, load up on a tractor pulled tractor that goes down a trail to a pristine remote beach. The tractor will from time to time go around a tribal native and his water buffalo that is pulling a wagon of items he just traded mangoes or many othrr of the amazing jungle fruits for at the boat landing. Brazilians trade with China who deliver ship loads of 'made in China' to Belem, etc to the very people who love remote beaches. And the hospital staff did not allow the virus to be transmitted at the hospital as Besoeker ignorantly insinuates. I know caretakers in medical fscilities on the Amazon who most have large families of their own and are consumate professional caretakers for theor patients and would not put their patients or families at risk when they return home each day.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 04/11/2020 9:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn missionaries...
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/11/2020 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Sounds like he caught it at the hospital.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/11/2020 10:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Or the tests are not that accurate.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Pics of hot Amazon women or GTFO!
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Raj, my better half is an Amazon mulher from Belem. Green eyes, blonde hair, light tan skin, 7 beautiful Amazon sisters. All in excellent athletic condition and with spicey latin tempers (Their grand father came over from Portugal) if you in need of correction. A real Amazon woman is special.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 04/11/2020 11:25 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ "Amazon" as in, Olympic goddess/stomp on yo' ass, or as in pessoa de origem amazono?
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:34 Comments || Top||

#9  ^Both Lex. She grew up on the Amazon as the daughter of a high level Brazilian Military officer. Works out 1 hour a day every day, excellent business person, and she can do things physically that I have never seen any other woman do with her toes. You may use your imagination...
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 04/11/2020 11:44 Comments || Top||

#10  yikes! them's long toes...
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 12:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Apparently he caught it at school.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/11/2020 13:08 Comments || Top||

#12  first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive
So he was sick with something symptomatically similar and then caught Wuhan Flu in the hospital?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/11/2020 14:32 Comments || Top||

#13  first tested negative for the disease but later tested positive

Possibly the viral load had not grown enough to show up on the test.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||

#14  An Amazon Runs Through It:

"We lived at the junction of great pirana rivers in Roraima, Brazil. Where Indians still appeared out of the wilderness to walk the honky tonks and brothels of Frontera Street."
Posted by: JHH || 04/11/2020 19:05 Comments || Top||


There are TWO strains of coronavirus spreading in Australia - as the virus mutates to beat people's immune systems
[Daily Mail] Analysis of the strains showed type A - the original virus that jumped to humans from bats via pangolins - was not China's most common. Instead, the pandemic's ground-zero was mainly hit by type B, which was in circulation as far back as Christmas Eve.

Type B was also the dominant strain across large parts of the United Kingdom and Europe, but has not made it to Australia.

Type C was an offshoot of Type B, mutating from the secondary strain and spreading to Europe and Australia via Singapore.

Scientists believe the virus - officially called SARS-CoV-2 - is constantly mutating to overcome immune system resistance in different populations.
Posted by: KBK || 04/11/2020 01:19 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And become less violent.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 2:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, creates new challenges, or opens new environmental niches."

And become less violent.

The likelihood of infecting others is highest during the incubation period since the host is active and unaware.

Selection favors those variants that maximize the incubation period, ideally skipping the symptomatic period altogether.

Other questions:

Will current RNA and antibody tests identify all of these new variants?

Does an infection with one variant confer immunity to other variants?

Conversely does the diversity of Wuhan virus descendants who are immunologically similar but not identical play a role in triggering a catastrophic immune system overreaction?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 04/11/2020 3:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Did the Chinese unleash "Type C" on the 25 meter Pacific Rim targets ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 4:46 Comments || Top||

#4  And become less violent.

Yep. In 5 years it will just be another seasonal flu.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/11/2020 9:19 Comments || Top||

#5  The likelihood of infecting others is highest during the incubation period since the host is active and unaware.

So 'White Privilege' is just a phase?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 13:12 Comments || Top||


Krakatoa volcano blows up
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia has reportedly erupted, spewing plumes of ash 15km into the air.

There were reports of a loud boom heard 150km away in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, around 11pm local time.



Perhaps, if we threw Greta in...
Posted by: 3dc || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [23 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But that was 140-odd years ago!
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 0:01 Comments || Top||

#2  With all of the crap going on, the last thing this earth needs is a [natural] disaster.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 0:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't that what volcanoes do?
Posted by: borgboy || 04/11/2020 0:15 Comments || Top||

#4  So global warming is no longer a concern?

Quick!! Go back to a primitive lifestyle and turn all decision-making over to the government — otherwise we’re alllll gonna dieeeee!!!!
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 0:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Global cooling coming up
Posted by: KBK || 04/11/2020 0:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Global cooling until the acid rain.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 1:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Confusing. It's all so very confusing.
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 2:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh, those solar minimums.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 8:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Isn't there a Krakato computer model available ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 8:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Just a minor cough for that bad boy.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/11/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Will the UN propose a "human caused eruption" tax?
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/11/2020 10:22 Comments || Top||

#12  Pestilence.
Earthquakes,
Locusts.
Volcanoes.
Democrats.

,,,Don't know how much more we can take,,,,,
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/11/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#13  *Finds a little break at work, brews up a cup of coffee, opens the paper*

"Well, wonder what fresh hell is happening today?"

*Reads headline, spews coffee*
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/11/2020 11:03 Comments || Top||

#14  ^This. Alien invasion next.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/11/2020 11:15 Comments || Top||

#15  References to the volcano being located in Indonesia are pure racism.
Posted by: Matt || 04/11/2020 11:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Let’s see now
Locust swarms check
Global pestilence check
Volcanic eruptions check
Standing by for a major earthquake in a major metropolitan center near you check
How’s about another nuclear accident oh the forest fire in Chernobyl check
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 04/11/2020 11:15 Comments || Top||

#17  Frogs next
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:23 Comments || Top||

#18  Speaking of locust swarms, here's the latest:

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/african-locust-outbreak-returns-second-wave-approximately-20-times-larger

(I can never get that "hyperlink" function here to work for me, so I have to paste the actual URL.)
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 11:26 Comments || Top||

#19  /\ Clem's link found here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 11:28 Comments || Top||

#20  Mikey Moore sez CrackerToe must make amends.
Posted by: Neville and Tenille3829 || 04/11/2020 11:37 Comments || Top||

#21  Thanks, Besoeker. How do you do that?
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 11:37 Comments || Top||


#23  How do you do that?

-Copy the headline [text string] of interest
-Hit the comment tag in Rantburg
-Paste the headline in the comment box
-Copy the article URL from your browser
-Hit the button that looks like a chained world at the bottom of the comment box
-Paste the article URL in the Rantburg popup
-Hit the Preview button at the bottom of the comment screen Just to make sure it's what you want
-Submit to the Rantburg gods for whimsical PC word checking
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 14:12 Comments || Top||

#24  Thanks, Skid, but I've tried all that. When I post the message, there's no link, so I have to just paste the raw URL in this message area.

I'll try it one more time...here should be an article about Trump's poll numbers:
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 14:41 Comments || Top||

#25  See, no link. ???? Weird.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 14:41 Comments || Top||

#26  JTN Poll with Scott Rasmussen: Despite millions unemployed, Trump's approval rating at 45%
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 14:43 Comments || Top||

#27  Tried one more time, Skid....no luck.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 14:44 Comments || Top||

#28  Here's hoping a Christian missionary predicted this would happen and Indonesia converts en masse.

That takes a couple hundred million out the manpower pool, more or less.

As for the Iceland thing, all I can say is: What the Hekla?
Posted by: charger || 04/11/2020 15:09 Comments || Top||

#29  Hel?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:35 Comments || Top||

#30  -Copy the headline [text string] of interest
-Hit the comment tag in Rantburg
-Paste the headline in the comment box
-Copy the article URL from your browser
-Hit the button that looks like a chained world at the bottom of the comment box
-Paste the article URL in the Rantburg popup
-Hit the Preview button at the bottom of the comment screen Just to make sure it's what you want
-Submit to the Rantburg gods for whimsical PC word checking


After copying the URL, highlight/select the headline you just pasted in the comment box (or any other words you want the link to attach to), then hit the button that looks like a chained world, etc. I looked in your comments, Clem dear, and the URL is there each time, just invisible because it has nothing to hold on to. So you are almost at the top of this particular learning curve, and climbing it much faster than I did.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 16:22 Comments || Top||

#31  Thanks, trailing wife! I'm going to try it again...here goes:

Secret American Experiments Tied To Chinese Animal Markets
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 16:44 Comments || Top||

#32  Yee-hah!! Thanks/Grazie/Danke/Merci/Gracias/Paldies/Dziekuje/СПАСИБО!
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 16:47 Comments || Top||

#33  TW. Turn all the decisions to a _democratic_ government.
You need practivce about leftist thinking
Posted by: JFM || 04/11/2020 19:06 Comments || Top||


Coronaplague Roundup
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]







'You walk into a room and there is a dead body there': New York ICU nurse working in temporary Central Park hospital sobs uncontrollably in a devastating video as she details the horrifying reality of battling COVID-19

Beverly Hills orders ALL residents to wear face masks if they are walking outside to 'protect and ultimately save lives' amid coronavirus outbreak

Courtesy of Alaska Paul:
NYC Will Bury Coronavirus Victims in 10-Body Trenches in Public Parks
[Daily Mail (where America gets its news)] Read the whole thing. Lots of text and pictures.

This is insanity. I calculated that 100 bodies could easily be put in a 40 ft refrigerated trailer. Then take them to a crematory and work them down. This burying them in a park can be a health hazard and ruin open space that will be needed once the pandemic is over. There is nothing dignified about mass burials in the middle of the city. Proper disposal of infected bodies is a health necessity, which overrides all the niceties of a funeral and burial. It is tragic, but the public health comes first in this tragic situation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NY State (not NYcity) Maximum useage of facilities occurred April 8, 2020.

IHME model

Quitcher bitchin'!
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 0:20 Comments || Top||


Snowstorm knocks out power for over 266K Maine residents
[NYPOST] A fierce April snowstorm knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people in Maine as it swept through the state Friday morning.

The National Weather Service in Caribou said just after 9 a.m. that 32 percent of all power customers ‐ more than 266,000 people ‐ in the state were without power as a result of the storm.

Some areas north of Portland took the brunt of the storm, with more than 7 inches of snow, according to the weather service.

Central Maine Power asked its customers "to be prepared to be without power for likely more than a day."

"Strong winds and heavy snow overnight have caused numerous outages," the provider tweeted. "Our crews are working quickly and safely to restore power."
Posted by: Fred || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Mike Huckabee Sues Florida Authorities for Threatening to Arrest Him on His Private Beach
[LawAndCrime] Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and several of his neighbors ‐ whose properties on the Gulf Coast of Florida have private beaches ‐ have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a county government ordinance which temporarily closes all beaches. The county took the step in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Huckabee and his neighbors claim the order prevents them from "being able to use or even set foot in their own backyards."

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against Walton County and its sheriff, claims that the local government's efforts to enforce the social distancing measure violates the property owners' constitutional rights.

According to the complaint, the county, its sheriff, its code enforcement officers, and the South Walton, Fla. Fire District "have been and are currently patrolling and occupying the private beachfront properties" without permission and threatening to "arrest or fine Plaintiffs, their family members, or invitees on their private properties."

The plaintiffs have requested that the court issue an injunction blocking the county from enforcing the ordinance. They argue that the order was illogical and would actually increase the spread of the virus.

"The Amended Ordinance is arbitrary and capricious. The Amended Ordinance purports to be designed to ‘prevent the spread of COVID-19' yet it has the opposite effect," Plaintiffs wrote. Per them:

"The Amended Ordinance prevents the Plaintiffs, many of whom own residences along the beach, from utilizing their own backyards to quarantine or stay safe at home. The chances of a family or landowner catching or spreading COVID-19 is far less in his or her own private backyard (where no one else should be less they be trespassing) than traveling to the grocery store or hardware store or other essential business."

Huckabee and his neighbors asked the court to declare that the ordinance constitutes a "temporary taking" of their private property in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and to issue an injunction rendering the ordinance unenforceable. The Plaintiffs also asked the judge to grant them "just compensation and attorney fees" from the county and sheriff.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm surprised that this sort of push back hasn't been happening before. Enough is enough with these petty tyrants.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/11/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#2  The issue cuts both ways. On the one hand I'm not that fond of the beach itself being privately owned. I'm always happy when the courts kick some lefty in the nuts over trying to do that as has been happening in California. OTOH, once they are telling you what you can do in your own back yard, who actually thinks it will stop there? Wasn't it always lefties crying about "don't tell me what I can do in my own bedroom?" Well, how bout the living room and kitchen then too? The thought crime crowd is already trying to decide what you can and can't do inside your own head.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I hear ya, but private property is private property, be it the beach or on 5th Avenue in NYC.
But, exactly, just where does this end? People a little here and a little there is o.k., until it's too late.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm pretty conservative when it comes to private property rights, but I'm reminded of Colorado, where landowners are required to allow access to fishing streams. They can own the land you have to cross to get to the stream, but the stream is public property. If there's a fence, the property owner has to install a gate or a set of steps to get through or over the fence.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 13:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Eminent domain in the United States
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 13:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Florida beach law - The state constitution says all beaches below the “mean high-water line,” or the wet sand, are public. Court cases have found that the public has the right to the dry sand parts of beaches in two instances:

One is if the public has established a “prescriptive easement,” using a particular beach for the past 20 years without objection from private landowners.
The other is through “customary use,” which is the “ancient,” peaceful use of the beach by the public.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  My personal thinking is, if you want to be NIMBY you better be able to afford and obtain a title to that back yard.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
In Effort to Oust Maduro, U.S. Gives ‘Maximum Pressure’ a New Meaning
[NATIONALREVIEW] On March 26, the Justice Department indicted Maduro and 14 of his associates on drug-trafficking charges, based on long-documented evidence that regime officials have enriched themselves through the cocaine trade. By offering a $15 million reward for Maduro’s capture and placing similar bounties on the heads of other key regime figures, U.S. law-enforcement agents hoped to spur action against the regime within the country. The American Enterprise Institute’s Ryan Berg tells National Review that Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
watchers in the U.S. had pushed for indictments for a long time, but policymakers never found the opportune moment. That changed in March, as oil prices collapsed following the breakdown of OPEC+ talks between Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and Russia. Oil makes up 98 percent of the Venezuelan economy, and the revenues from it have provided the socialist government cover for decades of economic mismanagement. "Once the geopolitics flipped in the U.S’s favor, the administration decided to accelerate the pace of its actions against the Venezuelan regime," Berg says.

Maduro had already suffered a blow when President Trump imposed sanctions on Rosneft for facilitating the Venezuelan oil trade. The Russians attempted to channel Venezuelan oil through a different subsidiary, TNK Trading International, but the Treasury Department swiftly moved to sanction that entity as well. And the shock from the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic brought the price of oil so low that the Russians have now ceased operations in Venezuela altogether.

As oil revenue dries up, cutting off illicit revenue could push the regime toward insolvency. To that end, the U.S. Southern Command has moved three destroyers, a littoral combat ship, and surveillance aircraft into the Caribbean to interdict drug shipments in and out of Venezuela. The mobilization of some of the military’s most expensive assets marks a dramatic break from the diplomacy-driven anti-Maduro efforts of the past year. "This is about as pressure-intensive as the U.S. government can get," says Berg. Squeezing the regime’s finances could cripple Maduro’s ability to buy off military personnel, spurring long-awaited defections. But Frank Mora, a former Defense Department official, points out that the extent of Maduro’s dependence on drug money is unclear, and maintaining SOUTHCOM operations will incur continuing costs. "I don’t think that these assets can be deployed for more than 4‐6 weeks," Mora says. "There’s a maintenance cycle, a deployment cycle, and these assets are required elsewhere," which adds urgency to SOUTHCOM’s maneuvers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Commies


Economy
Report: Trump Pushing ‘Behind Closed Doors' To Reopen Much Of U.S. Next Month
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 11:27 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Easy enough to energize teleworking by cutting broadband costs. Bring call centers back to the states for the former table service operators.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 12:19 Comments || Top||

#2  That must be the really "tough decision" Pres. Trump mentioned in the presser on Friday. Well, we'll just see what Fauci, Gates, and other deep-staters have to say about that!
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  If this weren't too important to play politics with, I'd say that Trump should demand a roll-call up-or-down vote of Congress on whatever he proposes. No hiding on this one.
Posted by: Matt || 04/11/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Of course Trump can't demand anything. Congress will do what it does.

Since MaligNancy runs the HoR ..........

I'm not sure how much of this he controls.
I will point out that tomorrow is Easter. Didn't DJT mention Easter as a goal early on?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/11/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||

#5  You know he's prepping the political battlefield.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Trump is no match for these Democrap bozos. I hope he does re-open (or, recommends to the governors) the country (where rational) ASAP.

And although his opponents will attack him no matter what (unemployment, health care, etc., affected or not by COVID-19), I just can't see how he should be worried about 'numbers' for the next election given the gravity of the current situation. But, nobody is saying his opponents are rational.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 15:38 Comments || Top||

#7  It's too easy to choose the "safe" option of perpetual adult timeout.
Posted by: Regular joe || 04/11/2020 16:20 Comments || Top||

#8  There are already people who are fed up with the lock down. If enough people say "screw it," I don't see the people who want to be good little stay at home serfs coming out in vigilante bands to do anything about it. At that point there aren't enough cops to arrest all the people who decide to come out and I really don't think the appetite to get the national guard involved nationwide is there.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 17:18 Comments || Top||

#9  There is a shortage of masks, fever thermometers, and testing kits, and etc. If Trump can figure out a way to address those problems and get more drugs and a vaccine into the pipeline, he can sodomize Nancy on the White House front lawn.
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 04/11/2020 18:11 Comments || Top||

#10  Ewwwww
Posted by: Frank G || 04/11/2020 20:03 Comments || Top||

#11  Remember your lock down was done by your governor, not the Prez. Heh. Like I said, prepping the battlefield. With all the models now bogus with a major flattening out, he can say he wasn't the one who panicked and put you into incarceration.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 20:30 Comments || Top||

#12  We can't spare this man: he fights.
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 23:04 Comments || Top||


Why Mexico Fears Shutting Down Its Economy to Combat COVID-19
"One year later the WHO acknowledged it had exaggerated...."
[Mises.org] Mexico's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been reluctant to impose mandatory "social distancing" orders on the Mexican population. According to USNews, López Obrador "has maintained a relaxed public attitude" toward COVID-19, and the Mexican government did not impose a ban on "nonessential" work until March 30, long after health officials in other countries insisted Mexico must do so....

The Mexican government is right to be hesitant to shut down Mexican businesses. The distance between a "normal" economy and grinding poverty is a lot smaller in Mexico than in a wealthy country like the United States or Germany. While mandatory lockdowns in rich countries will cause mass impoverishment‐complete with all the usual mental and physical health problems that accompany it‐the stakes are even higher in a middle-income country like Mexico.

Moreover, many Mexicans are already suffering from the mandatory shutdowns in the US. In 2019, for example, Mexicans working in the United States sent more than $39 billion back to Mexico. This is a vital lifeline for many Mexicans, and these remittances are likely to be decimated by the government-forced shutdown....

WHAT MEXICO LEARNED FROM THE H1N1 PANIC
This isn't the first time Mexicans have been commanded to lock down their economy to battle a disease.

During the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, Mexican officials closed schools for a week, locked down various businesses, canceled movies, concerts, soccer games, and "virtually forced the entire population to wear ineffective face masks." Mexico experienced 390 deaths out of a population of 120 million.

This had devastating effects for Mexico's economy, especially its tourist industry....

It may be that many Mexicans will fear COVID-19 more than they feared H1N1. But in Mexico, many are also familiar with the hardships poverty brings, and fear of being destitute may trump fears about the disease. Although wealthy Americans with secure employment and luxurious lifestyles like Anthony Fauci continue to insist mass unemployment is merely "inconvenient," few Mexicans have the luxury of such blasé thinking.
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:




Former NYT reporter challenging the coronavirus narrative
[FoxNews] What Berenson is promoting isn’t coronavirus denialism, or conspiracy theories about plots to curb liberties. Instead what Berenson is claiming is simple: the models guiding the response were wrong and that it is becoming clearer by the day.
Seasonal flu would be ending about now, due to the warmer weather.
"In February I was worried about the virus. By mid-March I was more scared about the economy. But now I’m starting to get genuinely nervous," he tweeted this week. "This isn’t complicated. The models don’t work. The hospitals are empty. WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT INDEFINITE LOCKDOWNS?"

Berenson argues that those models have social distancing and other measures baked into them. As for further proof, he says that outside of places like New York there has not been a national health crisis that was predicted -- nor are there signs that the level of lockdown in various states has made a difference.

"Now we're in a bad spot because there's clearly a dangerous political dynamic right now -- the economy is in freefall, a lot of people are hurting. If we acknowledge what is clearly happening ... the people who made these decisions, I think there's going to be a lot of anger at them, so they don't want to acknowledge it, so they say 'oh it's the lockdown that saved us,'" he says.
Maybe it's time to panic the other way.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You want to talk about Global Worming now?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/11/2020 7:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Given that happened in countries that didn't panic soon enough (e.g. Italy, Spain, Netherlands) - a issue that the genius who penned the above never considered (have problems pulling his microcephalic head from his parochial ass?) ...
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 7:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Models are usually based on assumptions. Bad assumptions, bad models.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/11/2020 10:39 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italy PM extends virus lockdown, says euro zone rescue plan inadequate
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 02:50 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you burn your own house down playing with matches, the insurance payout may be a bit delayed. Just saying.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  It would have been cheaper for them to keep the hospitals open and staffed all these years...
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  ..it didn't help the EU demanded they absorb the illegals they have. It ate up their limited resources.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:33 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Fauci has Been Mingling with the Elite for a Long Time
[ArmstrongEconomics] Anthony Fauci has been mingling with Bill Gates’ father as well as Soros for a very long time.

(Nice group photo in link.)
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 07:44 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Beverly MA Police Set Up One Way Walkways, Fines For Noncompliance
What a fucking disgrace. We used to be a free people, right? 'It's for your own good' has been the justification for this sort of petty thug jackbook behavior for how many decades now? I am nearing the end of my fuse with this lockdown bullshit...
[Daily Mail UK, via Gateway Pundit] - Police in Beverly, Massachusetts set up a one-way sidewalk so residents can practice ’social distancing’ and threatened to fine anyone walking in the wrong direction.

Police in Beverly, in the north of the city, have mandated that locals who are walking in opposite directions along bustling Lothrop Street must now use separate sidewalks so that they are not brushing up against one another.

Pedestrians must now walk against traffic and failure to comply with the new directive could result in a $100 fine.

It comes as the state of Massachusetts struggles to slow the spread of COVID-19, with at least 16,790 confirmed cases. Beverly is located in Essex County, which has at least 2,100 cases.
Nice misinformation there - conflating the number of Chink Virus cases for a county whose population (790,638 as of 2018) is quite a bit larger than the town of Beverly itself (41,635). On a pro rata basis then, we are talking about a stupid and draconian measure to avoid contact with residents of a city with 111 confirmed cases. Utter fucking insanity.
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies


India-Pakistan
India to ship hydroxychloroquine tablets to 13 countries in first consignment
[Indiatoday.in] India has approved the first list of 13 countries that are set to receive covid-fighting drugs from India, including the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine or HCQ.

The first list includes 13 countries -- US, Spain, Germany, Bahrain, Brazil, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Seychelles, Mauritius and the Dominican Republic.

Speaking to media on Friday, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Dammu Ravi, said, "A lot of requests for HCQ were already there and taking into view domestic stock and requirement while keeping a sufficient buffer, a decision was taken by the Group of Ministers to release some of the surplus medicine for export purposes."

Dammu Ravi informed that there will be two more such consignments of the coveted drug that will be exported to foreign nations.

Amid apprehensions whether India had sufficient hydroxychloroquine stock itself, the health ministry informed that in the coming week, India will require 1 crore tablets for domestic use and current stock stands at over 3.28 crore.

The United States had asked for 48 lakh (4,800,000) tablets of hydroxychloroquine. India, meanwhile, has sanctioned 35.82 lakhs tablets along with India 9 metric tonne (MT) API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), as per their request.

Besides the USA, only Brazil, Canada and Germany are expected to get 50 lakh tablets each of hydroxychloroquine in the second consignment.

In the first consignment, Brazil will receive 0.53 MT of API and Germany, 1.5 MT of API.
Bangladesh is set to receive 20 lakh tablets of hydroxychloroquine, Nepal 10 lakh, Bhutan 2 lakh, Sri Lanka 10 lakh (not in the first consignment), Afghanistan 5 lakh, and Maldives 2 lakh.

The MEA said that the countries were shortlisted on first come first serve basis.
India will also be exporting a total of 430 million tablets of paracetamol.
The countries slated to receive paracetamol from India are the UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and a few African nations.
Posted by: John Frum || 04/11/2020 08:40 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Concerning HCQ, a lot of places test it - how come we hear nothing one way or another?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  g(r)om, you know that as well as I do. If the tests are positive then Trump looks good.

Since the inverse is true, if the results were negative, the MSM would scream them from the roof-tops.



Posted by: AlanC || 04/11/2020 9:42 Comments || Top||

#3  ^^^ Because the news is positive and harshes the Lefts narrative.
Posted by: Fat Bob Chitle2320 || 04/11/2020 9:42 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 What did I say about not assuming USA = the World?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Enlighten us proles, oh wise one...
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 10:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Thought experiment: same virus, same origin & sequence of global events, but instead of OrangeMan, Zero's in the White House.

How do you think our fearless press corp and pseudopubdits would be characterizing this?
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 10:53 Comments || Top||

#7  * press corps* and pseudo-pundits

* not to be confused with corpse-man
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 10:54 Comments || Top||

#8  I like the new word, "pubdits"
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 11:06 Comments || Top||

#9  Thought experiment: same virus, same origin & sequence of global events, but instead of OrangeMan, Zero's in the White House.

We would of sent of protective equipment,on a pallet to Tehran instead.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 04/11/2020 12:12 Comments || Top||

#10  "pubdits" it is!
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 12:15 Comments || Top||

#11  #6, I think if Obama were still in the White House, we would never have heard of the corona virus.
Posted by: Tom || 04/11/2020 15:33 Comments || Top||

#12  Didier Raoult paper was redacted Hydroxychloroquine-COVID-19 study did not meet publishing society’s “expected standard”
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 16:22 Comments || Top||

#13  So it's only anecdotal.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 18:32 Comments || Top||


Ration supplied to the Sindh government under a contract of around 10,800 bags was found to be underweight and substandard
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Corruption, thy name is Pakistan.
Posted by: b || 04/11/2020 8:47 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Senior church mystic close to Putin flies over Moscow in business jet to perform a blessing 'to protect Russian from coronavirus'
At least they're not kissing Saint Cyril's boxer shorts or licking a church wall.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rasputin redux.
Posted by: borgboy || 04/11/2020 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah and that ended well.....
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/11/2020 9:51 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Scientists in Shanghai say some recovered patients show no signs of the neutralising antibodies
h/t Instapundit
[South China News] - Researchers in Shanghai hope to determine whether some recovered coronavirus patients have a higher risk of reinfection after finding surprisingly low levels of Covid-19 antibodies in a number of people discharged from hospital.

A team from Fudan University analysed blood samples from 175 patients discharged from the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre and found that nearly a third had unexpectedly low levels of antibodies.

In some cases, antibodies could not be detected at all.

...All of the patients had recently recovered from mild symptoms of the disease and most of those with low antibody levels were young. The researchers excluded patients who had been admitted to intensive care units because many of them already had antibodies from donated blood plasma.

...The team also found that antibody levels rose with age, with people in the 60-85 age group displaying more than three times the amount of antibodies as people in the 15-39 age group.

...Huang said 10 of the patients in the study had an antibody presence so low it could not even be detected in the laboratory.

These patients experienced typical Covid-19 symptoms including fever, chill and a cough, but might have beaten back the virus with other parts of the immune system such as T-cells or cytokines.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 00:28 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bad test kits?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 11:59 Comments || Top||

#2  ^Not necessarily.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Bad kits are for export
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Considering the diverse and important role helper T cells play in the immune system, it is not surprising that these cells often influence the immune response against disease. They also appear to make occasional mistakes, or generate responses that would be politely considered non-beneficial. In the worst-case scenario, the helper T cell response could lead to a disaster and the fatality of the host. Fortunately this is a very rare occurrence.

Not so rare now I guess.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#5  What are the ramifications for severity of a reunfection?
Posted by: Threreque Chaimble3474 || 04/11/2020 14:16 Comments || Top||

#6  or generate responses that would be politely considered non-beneficial.

Auto-immune disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome...
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 16:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Like POTS?
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 17:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Who is going to believe the Chinese, anyway?

The WHO?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/11/2020 18:28 Comments || Top||


The SR-71 Blackbird Was Fast, But It Couldn't Catch The AR-12 Oxcart
[The National Interest] Key point: The Oxcart’s stealth features never proved adequate to avoid detection by Soviet-built radars.

Analysis of Week’s photos located the USS Pueblo near Wonsan anchored next to two patrol boats‐and also revealed that Pyongyang had not mobilized its troops for war. This led Johnson to rule out plans for a preemptive or punitive strike in favor of diplomatic measures which eventually saw the ship’s abused crew released nearly a year later.

On October 30, 1967, a CIA spy-plane soared eighty-four thousand feet over Hanoi in northern Vietnam, traveling faster than a rifle bullet at over three times the speed of sound. A high-resolution camera in the angular black jet’s belly recorded over a mile of film footage of the terrain below‐including the over 190 Soviet-built S-75 surface-to-air missiles sites.

The aircraft was an A-12 "Oxcart," a smaller, faster single-seat precursor variant of the Air Force’s legendary SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A very fast ox.
Posted by: gorb || 04/11/2020 5:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I call BS on this one:
The A12 was a prototype for SR71
A stands for Archangel
12 was the twelveth design variation
Why send this model when the SR71 was perfectly capable?
Don't make no sense!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/11/2020 10:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Why?
Specialized payload.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/11/2020 12:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Definitely two different aircraft.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 12:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Pictures
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 12:59 Comments || Top||


German gunmaker starts deliveries of US Army's new squad marksman rifles
[Stars & Stripes] KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany ‐ German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch has shipped the first batch of its new M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifles to the U.S. Army.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 of the new rifles will be delivered to the Army through mid-2021, a company statement said.

The SDMR will add much-needed capabilities to virtually every squad in the Army, making it a top priority for the company despite the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, HK-USA President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Holley said in the statement.

The new weapons system will replace modified M-16s and 1950s-era M-14s, used over the past decade in the conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  7.62×51mm should be an improvement over the 5.56mm round. The rifle is heavier than the M16.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/11/2020 9:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Similar to the changing of an MRAP tire, I predict SPC Susan Tentpeg will have a challenging time toting the M110A1 and ammo.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 9:27 Comments || Top||

#3  I still prefer the M-14.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/11/2020 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  The M110 has been in use for more than 10 years. HK take over the contract?
Posted by: Neville and Tenille3829 || 04/11/2020 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  M-14 was my best long range success at the Edson Range at Camp Pendleton. 500 yards slow fire in the prone position. Iron sights and Dog target, 20/20.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/11/2020 12:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I have a Springfield M1A. I bought both Jerry Kuhnhausen's books and have read a few articles by Gus Norcross. It can be a very accurate rifle but it takes work. I recommend both authors to anyone who works on their own M14 / M1A.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 13:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Bula Defense in Cleveland, OH makes everything needed for a true left handed M-14 style rifle.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 13:44 Comments || Top||

#8  I predict SPC Susan Tentpeg will have a challenging time toting the M110A1 and ammo

No problem B'. Got to recall those old B&W films from the days of the old British Empire. "Gun bearer, bring me my gun!" For 'diversity' you know.

Ever see old B&W photos from WW2. Two medic stretcher bearers carrying a WIA. Look today, four medic stretcher bearers carrying a WIA. Guess why? /rhet question
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Florida State dumps policies on bias, ‘offensive' language, ‘demeaning' behavior, ‘inappropriate' email
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/11/2020 11:25 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That Florida State....that's in the US, right?
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 12:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I was really impressed by the governor, until I opened the article and discovered its a university.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/11/2020 16:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Baby steps, unfortunately.
Posted by: Raj || 04/11/2020 19:55 Comments || Top||

#4  John Thrasher is the university president...look at his record and you have the answer
Posted by: TZSenator || 04/11/2020 21:49 Comments || Top||

#5  John Thrasher

...ssounds like the hero of a dystopian novel
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 23:08 Comments || Top||


Government
Whistleblower – How CDC Is Manipulating COVID-19 Death Toll
[GreatGameIndia] A Montana based physician has blown the whistle on how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is exaggerating the COVID-19 death toll by manipulating Coronavirus death certificates. Dr. Annie Bukacek, MD, is a longtime Montana physician with over 30 years of experience practicing medicine. Signing death certificates is a routine part of her job.

In a brief video presentation, Dr. Bukacek blows the whistle on the way the CDC is instructing physicians to exaggerate COVID 19 deaths on death certificates:

Few people know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician, coroner, or medical examiner, signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I've been filling out death certificates for over 30 years.

More often than we want to admit, we don't know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. That is just life. We are doctors, not God. Autopsies are rarely performed and even when an autopsy is done the actual cause of death is not always clear. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form. Then that listed cause of death… is entered into a vital records data bank to use for statistical analysis, which then gives out inaccurate numbers, as you can imagine. Those inaccurate numbers then become accepted as factual information even though much of it is false.

So even before we heard of COVID-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to COVID-19 there is the additional data skewer, that is –get this‐ there is no universal definition of COVID-19 death. The Centers for Disease Control, updated from yesterday, April 4th, still states that mortality, quote unquote, data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. That's from their website.

Translation? The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same. They call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers, by their own admission. Prior to COVID-19, people were more likely to get an accurate cause of death written on their death certificate if they died in the hospital. Why more accurate when a patient dies in the hospital? Because hospital staff has physical examination findings labs, radiologic studies, et cetera, to make a good educated guess. It is estimated that 60 percent of people die in the hospital. But even [with] those in-hospital deaths, the cause of death is not always clear, especially in someone with multiple health conditions, each of which could cause the death.

Bukacek refers to a March 24 CDC memo from Steven Schwartz, director of the Division of Vital Statistics for the National Center for Health Statistics, titled "COVID-19 Alert No. 2."....
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [20 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nobody has ever drawn the line between died with and died of, neither has anybody demonstrated a uniform, global criteria.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/11/2020 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  ^^^^
That's why we need a world government now, to standardize everything to the tiniest minutia of our lives.
/sarc off
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/11/2020 10:25 Comments || Top||

#3  It must be rebuilt immediately. Centrally planned urban government, education, universal language, equality of outcomes. How long must we wait ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Long stocks associated with Esperanto!
Posted by: Clem || 04/11/2020 10:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Dr John Lee of the U.K. called this out nearly a month ago. The data are inconsistent -- across both geographies and time periods.
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 10:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Analysis: Some states getting $300K per coronavirus case, New York getting $12K
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 04/11/2020 18:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Quantity and "economy of scale"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/11/2020 20:06 Comments || Top||

#8  ... associated with Esperanto!

Esperanto - the COBOL of human languages
Posted by: SteveS || 04/11/2020 21:51 Comments || Top||


Wisconsin Is Discovering Problems With Absentee Ballots
[MilwaukeeJournalSentinel] Including Hundreds That Were Never Delivered
Enjoy this preview of November.

And remember -- most of scumbags running the GOP are fine with this.

Posted by: charger || 04/11/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just like throwing more money at failing schools, the left's answer to failing elections is "throw more ballots."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 5:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Suprise, Suprise, Suprise (sic intentional)

The uni-party gonna uni-party.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/11/2020 7:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Absentee ballots could be efficient and secure...

IF they can be tracked by the voter and

IF there is transparency by the state on how they are processed and

IF there is an independent bi-partisan agency overseeing the events and it is transparent on how it does and conducts said tasks.

All that being said is why the states, especially the blue ones, will never ever EVER allow the above to heppen.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/11/2020 9:23 Comments || Top||

#4  A big whine right now is that the US Postal Service never delivered 'bins' of timely-requested blank ballots to verified voters in a couple areas that trend 'blue'. The voters ordering the ballots online had requested them before the cut-off date and the City/County Clerks had mailed them promptly.

That was indeed a BIG blunder on the part of the USPS who knew about the time crunch, and who have not responded in a manner that I would call 'sufficient'. But since they're Fed employees, it's all Trump's and the Republican's fault.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/11/2020 9:50 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ Morgan & Morgan has mobilized and is headed to Madison as we speak.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/11/2020 9:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Had this discussion with a lefty I know. He gave the standard lefty spiel about how "more people would vote" if it were made easier (mail in ballots, early voting). I said, "no, it only means more votes will be cast. It says nothing at all about the number or additional voters or whether they are all legitimate." His eyes glazed over.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  ^ (long-ish) Snark O' The Day!
Posted by: Lex || 04/11/2020 11:32 Comments || Top||

#8  One possible thing that could be done to minimize fraud is to have a bubble for "neither" to fill out. That way nobody can come along later and fill in the candidate of their choice.
Posted by: gorb || 04/11/2020 13:58 Comments || Top||

#9  The only absentee ballots to be cast should be those for personnel on Federal orders to be someplace else in the world.

If voting is so important, then get your ass down there to the polls. Otherwise its not important. Do it like some other places. On a weekend and both days.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/11/2020 15:48 Comments || Top||

#10  ^ this, but add bedridden to that list. With an affidavit swearing mental competency from the facility's head honcho. So somebody's neck is on the line.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 16:46 Comments || Top||

#11  I think ballots should be sent by certified or registered mail.

Just include the cost in the budget.

I’m sure there will be a way around it, but my parent once asked for a ballot, never received it, but managed to vote anyway.
Posted by: Klem Kadiddlehopper || 04/11/2020 17:34 Comments || Top||

#12  Also, P2K, as you mention, if it's so important get your ass down to the polls. In many places that's a long walk both ways with the opportunity to be killed along the way. How many of the "I can't even make time on the way to or from work" crowd would go if there was actual hardship or danger involved?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/11/2020 17:41 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
Sat 2020-04-11
  Krakatoa volcano blows up
Fri 2020-04-10
  Iraq names its third prime minister in 10 weeks
Thu 2020-04-09
  Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Adnan Al-Zurfi withdraws his candidacy
Wed 2020-04-08
  Pakistan Scrambles to Quarantine 100,000 Who Attended Tablighi Jamaat Event
Tue 2020-04-07
  Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun calls on international donors to provide financial assistance to the crisis-hit country
Mon 2020-04-06
  Iranian regime has blamed the US, Israel, and Jews for the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran,
Sun 2020-04-05
  Hezbollah commander assassinated in southern Lebanon
Sat 2020-04-04
  China orders 200,000 body bags from Taiwan!
Fri 2020-04-03
  Iran’s Speaker Reportedly Diagnosed with Coronavirus
Thu 2020-04-02
  Pakistan court overturns conviction in death of Daniel Pearl
Wed 2020-04-01
  Trump says Iran planning 'sneak attack' on US troops in Iraq
Tue 2020-03-31
  Iran gas pipeline to Iraq blows up
Mon 2020-03-30
  Turkish military attacks Syrian Army, YPG
in northern Aleppo
Sun 2020-03-29
  Khamenei family fears he might have Coronavirus
Sat 2020-03-28
  LNA scores big advance around Tripoli
Turkish-backed forces suffer tremendous losses


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