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Nangarhar Funeral Bombing Death Toll Rises to 32
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
25 21:12 M. Murcek [7] 
17 20:30 Anomalous Sources [7] 
7 14:53 ruprecht [5] 
7 18:11 gorb [6] 
16 16:33 Regular joe [8] 
11 20:33 Anomalous Sources [9] 
1 17:07 Skidmark [14] 
11 19:12 Lex [1] 
9 11:47 g(r)omgoru [6] 
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4 10:42 swksvolFF [4] 
6 19:34 AlmostAnonymous5839 [3] 
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6 19:52 Grunter [1]
10 23:21 Phusotle Dingle5823 [11]
Page 6: Politix
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11 19:01 Frank G [7]
11 21:48 Lex [14]
14 18:50 Marilyn Tojo7566 [11]
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32 22:48 Lex [15]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Teen linked to beating of 15-year-old girl, theft of her Air Jordans shot dead
[NYPOST] A teen accused of being involved in the videotaped March attack on a 15-year-old girl who was robbed of her Air Jordans was rubbed out in Brooklyn on Tuesday, law enforcement sources said.

Tyquan Howard, 16, was shot about 1 p.m. in front of a building on St. Johns Place near Rochester Avenue and died hours later at Brookdale Hospital, police said.

It’s unclear what sparked the shooting and no arrests had been made as of early Wednesday, cops said.

Howard was arrested and charged with robbery and gang assault for being among a crew of teens caught on camera ambushing the victim on March 5 on Utica Avenue in Crown Heights, according to sources. The circumstances of his release were not clear.

The posse of punks swarmed, punched and kicked the girl in the head while she curled helplessly on the sidewalk, the stunning footage showed.

One of her attackers pulled the black and white Air Jordan 1 sneakers off her feet before the group ran off, the video shows.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great way to start the new day by reading this account.
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 0:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Just an anomaly unless another one of the feral vermin gets ventilated.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 05/14/2020 0:08 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 2:40 Comments || Top||

#4  65th Trimester aborton
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 6:28 Comments || Top||

#5  The circumstances of his release were not clear.

If people don't believe they'll get justice from the system, they'll get it elsewhere. At what point did you realize you lost control?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Rayciss all the way down...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 7:49 Comments || Top||

#7  Not a surprising end to that life of crime.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/14/2020 8:38 Comments || Top||

#8  His parent(s) didn't help by naming him 'Tyquan'.

Unless your last name is 'Doe', don't bother.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/14/2020 13:33 Comments || Top||

#9  It’s unclear what sparked the shooting and no arrests had been made as of early Wednesday, cops said.

The circumstances of his release were not clear.

...I'm going with the possibility that his brother feral youts wanted to make sure he didn't tell any tales out of school. Remember - gotta be almost thirty years ago now - the 11 year old in Chicago who killed a girl and ended up with the entire city trying to hunt him down? His buddies saved the state of Illinois the cost - and spectacle - of a trial. I almost wonder if some folks in NYC aren't quietly happy at this point that they won't have to deal with this.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/14/2020 18:12 Comments || Top||

#10  some folks in NYC: "Deal Wif Whut?"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 18:58 Comments || Top||

#11  Bernie Goetz shall Rise Again
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 19:12 Comments || Top||


'Family of Kentucky EMT shot by police executing search warrant files lawsuit
[FoxNews] The family of an EMT who was asleep in her Kentucky apartment when police executed a search warrant the family claims was at the wrong address has filed a lawsuit accusing officers of firing more than 20 shots into Breonna Taylor's home.

The 26-year-old aspiring nurse was killed on March 13 after being shot eight times by Louisville police officers.

Her mother, Tamika Palmer, said she filed the lawsuit to get justice for her daughter.

"I want them to say her name," she told The Washington Post. "There's no reason Breonna should be dead at all."

The lawsuit, filed late last month, accuses the officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence.

According to court documents, the officers executed a drug warrant at Taylor's home, searching for a male suspect who didn't live in her apartment complex and had already been detained by authorities when the police officers stormed in.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bankrupt them.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 05/14/2020 6:44 Comments || Top||

#2  If that was my daughter, there would be multiple dead police in that town.
Posted by: Dacama || 05/14/2020 6:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Disgusting. Sickening. But mark my words: cops will get off/lawsuit will get tossed.
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 7:09 Comments || Top||

#4  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/24/authorities-shot-teen-during-botched-raid-her-home-suspect-was-already-jail/

Not the first time the guy they want is already in jail. Either somebody in charge of planning is incompetent, or this has become the new revenue enhancer.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/14/2020 7:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Judicial Immunity, a thoroughly unconstitutional fantasy created by the judiciary for themselves and their cop friends. Of course they don't bother to check the address, what difference does it or worse yet will it ever make to them?

They make one law for us and hold another for themselves.
Posted by: Cesare || 05/14/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#6  This is what you get for not having a dog for the cops to shoot...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 7:30 Comments || Top||

#7  If the cops want to keep the goodwill from the right and center, they need to stop and punish heavily this kind of crap. Protecting your own at civilian's expense will have you lose that goodwill faster than anything else.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/14/2020 10:10 Comments || Top||

#8  /\ It's gone. Any goodwill has been gone for a long time.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 05/14/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 11:47 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Walmart to Give a Second Cash Bonus to Its U.S. Hourly Employees
[Breitbart] Retail giant Walmart says it plans to give out a second round of cash bonuses to all of its U.S. hourly workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The retailer said hourly associates in stores, supply chains, clubs, and drivers and offices, as well as assistant managers in stores and clubs, would qualify for the bonuses, KNWA reported.

Full-time hourly workers would receive a bonus of $300, and part-time workers would get a $150 bonus. The Arkansas-based retailer says the bonuses will add up to more than $390 million.

Employees must have started with Walmart by June 5 to qualify, and the employees will receive their bonus by June 25.

"Walmart and Sam’s Club associates continue to do remarkable work and it’s important we reward and appreciate them," Walmart President and CEO John Furner said in a statement.

"All across the country, they’re providing Americans with the food, medicine and supplies they need while going above and beyond the normal scope of their jobs — diligently sanitizing their facilities, making customers and members feel safe and welcome and handling difficult situations with professionalism and grace," the statement continued.

The company has also looked for other ways to help its workers in times of crisis. It has implemented daily temperature checks, health screens, virtual counseling, and has provided masks and gloves for its employees.

Walmart also installed sneeze-guards, installed social-distancing signage, and has limited the number of shoppers that can be in the store at one time.

This is not the first time Walmart employees are seeing a "coronabonus." Walmart first began paying out more than $365 million back in March to its hourly associates, paying full-time employees $300 and part-time employees $150. That bonus was paid out on April 2.

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2020 00:22 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chinese box stores labeled... "essential" CV-19 bonus paying heroes. Mom and pop small businesses must close or face jail time and bankruptcy.

Is it just me, or does anyone else detect a pattern ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2020 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Oligarchs 'R' Us... soon everyone in retail will work for either the Waltons or Geoffrey Jeff the Mini-Giraffe
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Another way to smother small businesses is to enact laws/impose regulations so strict that they don't have the legal or financial muscle to fight. Free market my zhopa.
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 7:46 Comments || Top||

#4  You WILL shop at the Government PX/BX Reservation store.

You WILL send your children to the Government run school.

You WILL lease your residence (via property taxes) from the Government run housing system.

You WILL hire employees IAW (in accordance with) Government Equal Opportunity guidelines.

Do I need to continue ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2020 7:55 Comments || Top||

#5  But, but, Besoeker: suppose the government is really competent & trustworthy?😁
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 8:07 Comments || Top||

#6  ..so, turn it over to the Swiss? Not a really good idea given how they handled bank accounts of people of certain religious persuasion in the post war era.

Maybe Denmark. There's the plan.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 8:33 Comments || Top||

#7  The Swiss aren't doing such a great job handling bank accounts now, either.
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 8:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot sell lots of stuff not made in China. The boilerplate that those stores are wholly owned subsidiaries of China is stupid. They sell what their customers want. If you don't want China stuff, don't buy it, but don't come down on the heads of Americans who work there or make non China products sold there or American stock holders who depend on their investment to create the returns that the stock market is all about. MmmmK?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 9:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Bought pills made in India last week at Sam's Club. India is a counterweight to China. But I'm a comsymp for going there to get a product I: 1) need and 2) there is no second source for. I'm a commie stooge, me...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 9:46 Comments || Top||

#10  I never buy Tyson products because they are in the Clintons' pocket. I feel that is important.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 10:26 Comments || Top||

#11  Walked to a neighborhood Dollar store (exercise and fresh air, yes?) and noticed the following regularly stocked items:
Pasta from Turkey, Canned Tuna from Thailand, Corned Beef Hash from Brazil, and Canned Luncheon Meat (AKA SPAM) from Denmark.
...So it is more pervasive than you would think.
Posted by: magpie || 05/14/2020 12:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Austrian Banks are kind of the trend, now.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 05/14/2020 13:30 Comments || Top||

#13  M.Murcek is right on this one. One of the reasons WalMart can offer such low prices is not the cheap stuff they source in China, but the good American stuff they get more cheaply because of how they manage their supply chain. As far as I am aware, it started back in the 1980s with Procter&Gamble (Tide, Crest, Pampers, etc) electronically connecting directly into WalMart’s sales, so that as customer purchases were rung up, replacement products were automatically re-ordered from P&G, cutting out the entire process of purchasing staff placing orders with sales people who then submitted them to the home office, and minimizing warehouse storage. This also allowed P&G to smooth out their production rate, leading to cost savings they willingly share with WalMart — last I heard the relationship was worth $10 billion/year.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/14/2020 14:21 Comments || Top||

#14  WalMart is deemed essential because they sell groceries. Same with Costco. It just so happens they sell all kinds of other stuff. They are a mega store chain because they run an extremely efficient business. I recently bought a Samsung TV there that was made in Vietnam. It is true they sell a lot of stuff from China but they also sell a lot of stuff that is not from China. Same with HomeDepot. And besides all that, the mom and pop stores sell stuff from China too.

Pay attention to the labels on the products and not the name of the store where the products are sold.

Blame the manufacturers who sold out to China. The company I most despise is Hewlett-Packard. They outsourced all of their manufacturing to China. The excuse was that profit margins were razor thin so they had to reduce labor costs. Maybe. But if there was a decent computer on offer today that was Made in USA I'd buy it right now even if it cost a few hundred dollars more. I'm doing the same with chain saws and weed whackers. No more Black and Decker for me. I want Stihl.

But while you're assigning blame, point a finger at labor unions who will go on strike for more money even if it bankrupts their employers. They are their own worst enemies.

Then you might look at minimum wage laws that make it illegal for American workers to compete with their counterparts in other countries.

Last but not least, blame the American elites who think it's OK to do business with a hostile and aggressive dictatorship like China when we should be treating them just the same as we did the USSR.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/14/2020 14:59 Comments || Top||

#15  BTW, if you wanna order stuff online, check WalMart before you order from Amazon. As far as I know the Walmart owners, unlike Jeff Bezos, have no stake in fake news outlets like the Washington Post.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/14/2020 15:08 Comments || Top||

#16  BTW, I try to avoid ordering stuff online because you cannot see the labels, you can't tell where it was made and they will not tell you. You don't know until it arrives at your home. Then, if you want to send it back, it's always a big hassle.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/14/2020 15:14 Comments || Top||

#17  Years ago,I worked at Home Cheapo. It was an ongoing joke with our over night stocking crew, how much of the shit there,was made in China. If I was too estimate 90% China,9% other countries,1% US. You're right,don't piss on the workers, but all that company is trying to do is,undercut competition and put them out of business.
Posted by: bbrewer126 || 05/14/2020 16:33 Comments || Top||

#18  Third option. DYI (do it/make it yourself). My grandfather made leather and clothe shoes for the whole family. The volunteer firemen in my small town would have a couple barbecues, take the proceeds and buy a new Ford 2.5 ton chassy, a PTO, a pto driven water pump, 1/4" steel plate sheets, red paint etc and build a heck of a good fire truck. Farmers let you grow your own crops on their farm if you shared a small percentage of the harvest with them. The women held harvest canning parties. They also had sewing parties where clothes were made from paper patterns. Some guys would get together and build a "Hoopie", a home built car buïlt from scratch.

This was from before Walmart, Chinese imports, massive government regulations. Thïs was small town life 50 years ago when I was a kid.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454 || 05/14/2020 17:52 Comments || Top||

#19  Sharecropping? No thanks. My ancestors escaped that tin roof shack (carpet on the roof to reduce the noise) barely a generation ago. And the caol miners in the other part of my family tree know that Tennessee Ernie Ford was singing the gospel truth about owing your soul to the company store.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 || 05/14/2020 18:41 Comments || Top||

#20  The late Sam Walton took great pride in American made products in his stores. As is so often the case, follow-on generations lost the Made in America bubble.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/14/2020 18:45 Comments || Top||

#21  Less stuff
Better stuff
Locally-produced stuff

= Higher prices but also higher wages
... and better quality of life
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 19:11 Comments || Top||

#22  Sam's daughter Alice donated a lot of money to Pierre Delecto's prexidential champagne.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 19:56 Comments || Top||

#23  ...that's part of the problem. To many American outfits trade off Q&A for quick profits. Just look at American car manufacturing. Last year I wanted a new washer and drying. Went to the consumer sites. Not one decently American made product. I would have paid more but the quality issue was a killer.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 20:01 Comments || Top||

#24  ..washer and dryer...
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 20:01 Comments || Top||

#25  When the SHTF will you refuse to fight if all that's at hand is an AK?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 21:12 Comments || Top||


Coronaplague Roundup: Virus may never go away, per WHO; Dr. Fauci moves to background
Trump clashes with Fauci over virus reopening as global death toll nears 300,000
[IsraelTimes] US president at odds with top medical adviser over opening schools in September as US surpasses 83,00 fatalities; UN predicts worst global economic downturn since Great Depression. So far, Trump has stuck with Fauci, but the doctor is increasingly in the background as the president pushes his reopening message.

Europe, meanwhile, pushed ahead with plans to gradually reopen for summer tourism, even as fears persist of a second wave of infections in the pandemic that has forced more than half of humanity behind closed doors in recent months.

Russia, now the country with the second-highest number of virus cases, recorded more than 10,000 new infections after authorities this week eased stay-at-home orders.

Fears were also growing of a second wave in China, with the northeastern city of Jilin put in partial lockdown and Wuhan, where the virus was first reported last year, planning to test its entire population after clusters of new cases.

Elsewhere, however, cases were surging.

Chile imposed a total lockdown in its capital Santiago after a 60% leap in infections over the past 24 hours.

Brazil — emerging as a new global hotspot despite President Jair Bolsonaro dismissing the pandemic as a “little flu” — registered its highest virus death toll in a single day, with 881 new fatalities.

Coronavirus may never go away, WHO says
[IsraelTimes] “This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away,” he tells a virtual press conference in Geneva. “HIV has not gone away — but we have come to terms with the virus.”

Worldometers:
I find it comforting that the logarithmic world graphs are now flattening.
Coronavirus Cases:
4,429,744
Deaths:
298,174
Recovered:
1,659,791


Reopened Texas sees a surge in COVID-19 cases with 1,000 new daily infections over five consecutive days after state lifted lockdown measures two weeks ago


Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Surely, somebody else has figured out by now - the numbers will keep rising until everybody stops counting.

Start looking at the new cases, or the three-day percent change.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/14/2020 0:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, if you got more test kits, you get more results. Doh.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Lockdown is only there to DELAY infection...

The development of Herd immunity is slowed by a lockdown.

The best course of action is to solely quarantine the vulnerable.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/14/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Quarantine means segregating the infected. Locking down "at risk" people who are not infected is at best protective custody and at worst a constitutional travesty.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 7:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Since when are healthy people quarantined?
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 7:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Ain't it funny, you can legally drink and / or smoke yourself to death, you can illegally (though there is a faction trying to legalize) OD on a variety of dangerous drugs, but you are not allowed to take your chances with Chinavirus.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 7:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Granted, alcoholism and opioid addiction are not contagions, but I hear ya, MM.
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 7:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Dr. FauxShe
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 8:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Granted, alcoholism and opioid addiction are not contagions

Wrong, wrong, wrong. They are contagions in the sense they create abuser cultures and abuser economies. And the courts and LE are parts of that economy. And we are still in Afghanistan because of that economy. And many more have died of that contagion than have dies from Chinavirus. And masks don't help, and when AIDS was spreading, Dr. FauxShe wasn't helping either.

So, there's that...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 8:58 Comments || Top||

#10  There's no money in any part of the health system (doctors, hospitals, insurers, gummint agencies) in Americans staying well. Only sickness pays. So a virus that will never go away is a dream come true for them. Ya know...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 10:02 Comments || Top||

#11  From the Daily Mail article about Texas

In the two weeks since Texas lifted its coronavirus lockdown measures, daily infections have only dropped below 1,000 twice
So they're not "accelerating".

Republican Governor Greg Abbott started easing restrictions on some businesses and allowed the state's stay-at-home order to expire on May 1

Eased, not eliminated. Many restaurants will not open under the restrictions. All bars are still closed, schools closed, public gatherings, sports venues, concerts all closed.

Mobile data compiled by Google for Texas shows that 16 percent of residents are still staying home despite restrictions being lifted
I'd say, more than that, but I'm not Goo-goo.

A forecast model relied on by the White House is predicting that 3,092 people will die in Texas by August
That would be the Gates/IHME model.

Meanwhile, has the 'curve flattened'? Anybody remember that goal?
Posted by: Bobby || 05/14/2020 10:13 Comments || Top||

#12  Meanwhile, has the 'curve flattened'?

According to Worldometers the curve has flattened for the world and for the U.S.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/14/2020 15:03 Comments || Top||

#13  Consider those goalposts MOVED. LA Mayor Eric "Homeless drug addicts" Garcetti says no opening up til there's a cure
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 15:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Is there a virus that doesn't come back every year?
Posted by: Tom || 05/14/2020 16:19 Comments || Top||

#15  ..smallpox.

However, rest assured, there a top men working on bringing that back.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 16:25 Comments || Top||

#16  Top Men - 顶级男士
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 16:40 Comments || Top||

#17  When I see Dr. Fauci, I remember this:

Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 05/14/2020 20:30 Comments || Top||


More magic numbers malarkey...
[ZeroHedge] An analysis of computer models used by Professor Neil Ferguson to predict that millions would die of COVID-19- models on which Western leaders had based the ongoing lockdowns - have been torn to shreds. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that his dire models may have something to do with his married lover being an environmental activist.
Ouch.
Hey honey wanna see my etchings models?
Mark E Jeftovic, in his Axis of Easy website, says: ’A code review has been undertaken by an anonymous ex-Google software engineer here, who tells us the GitHub repository code has been heavily massaged by Microsoft engineers, and others, in an effort to whip the code into shape to safely expose it to the public. Alas, they seem to have failed and numerous flaws and bugs from the original software persist in the released version. Requests for the unedited version of the original code behind the model have gone unanswered.’"

According to Jeftovic, the code produces 'non-deterministic outputs,' which means it will spit out different results for identical inputs - rendering it inappropriate for scientific use.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Always said numerical simulations are NOT a valid tool of scientific inquiry.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 2:58 Comments || Top||

#2  The original number crunchers and predictors were astrologers. Just saying.

Models can be useful. However, they need clean data, GIGO. They also need clear labeling of confidence. The greater the assumptions and lack of hard data, the lower the predictability and validity.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:24 Comments || Top||

#3  models when done correctly, see ^, can help to define what questions to ask and what issues to investigate.

GIGO is of particular concern when trying to get a model to provide and answer.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/14/2020 6:58 Comments || Top||

#4  To paraphrase Dr. Strangelove "When you merely wish to get a predetermined result, there's no limit to the things you can bury in your 'model'"
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 7:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Hey honey wanna see my etchings models exponential curve? It's yuuuge, I'm tellin' ya...
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 7:32 Comments || Top||

#6  If it saves one life....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 11:26 Comments || Top||

#7  We have to destroy the economy to see what's in the model.... or something like that.
Posted by: ruprecht || 05/14/2020 14:53 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus puts vet's respiratory issues caused by burn pits to the test
[FoxNews] For veteran Megan Kingston, the coronavirus presented extra danger due to her exposure to the smoke that emanated day and night from the burn pits near her barracks at Camp Liberty in Iraq.

"The odds were not in my favor," Kingston, of Northern Virginia, says to Fox News regarding her recent exposure to COVID-19. "We were all kind of like going, how did I even pull this one off? It's a miracle for sure."

Kingston served as an Army medic from 2005 to 2009 when she was stationed in Baghdad and then joined the federal government as a counterterrorism officer and served another eight years there until she developed constrictive bronchiolitis in 2018 and was forced to retire. Like scores of other veterans who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, she draws a direct connection from burn pits to her illness. Burn pits are a crude method of incineration in which virtually every piece of waste was burned, including plastics, batteries, appliances, medicine, dead animals and even human waste.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No downwinders, eh.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 17:07 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Boy Scouts banned from planting American flags on veterans' graves for Memorial Day due to coronavirus
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That mission could have been planned and executed with safe distancing and safety to the boy scouts. Small minds of so called leaders.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2020 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder if a group wishing to protest AGW would've been denied permit?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 3:03 Comments || Top||

#3  There are still Boy Scouts?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:51 Comments || Top||

#4  When my dad was buried I found that the Boy Scouts won't put flags on the grave unless the branch of the service and rank are listed on the headstone. My dad opted to leave that information unlisted. No problem. I do it myself.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 05/14/2020 16:00 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ Didn't know that. My Dad's in the wall at Ft. Rosecrans. I'll bring flowers and a flag, if I can find one.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 16:38 Comments || Top||

#6  What'a the problem? They're already 6 feet apart.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 05/14/2020 19:34 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
US government scientist reveals details of 'Operation Warp Speed' plan to start human trials for eight coronavirus vaccines by July and have 300 million doses ready by January - but NO jabs from China will be considered
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Currently, there are are 105 coronavirus vaccines in development, according to BioWorld.

Of those, about eight have begun testing in humans. But the majority of companies producing the jabs have less than adequate funding, staffers and equipment.

The official, who was authorized to speak to Science on the condition of anonymity, said the idea for Operation Warp Speed came about in early April.

'Looking around, it became clear that, without a really heroic effort, none of the existing efforts to produce vaccine was going to lead us to have vaccine to prevent what looks increasingly like a second wave that could sweep come October, November,' he told Science.

Members will be split into three teams - development, manufacturing and supply - and will be managed by a so-called 'core-team.'

According to the official, Operation Warp Speed is planning to push funding for eight vaccine candidates, which he declined to name. All the candidates will have to be proven safe and available to be manufactured by the hundreds of millions. By July, the team wants all eight to be conducting trials in humans.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Warp speed" leading to "Lost in Space"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 2:59 Comments || Top||

#2  "Danger, Will Robinson!"
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 6:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Offer the Chinese $hit to any bleeding heart liberal who wants to prove something.
Posted by: gorb || 05/14/2020 6:40 Comments || Top||

#4  This is not a particularly dangerous disease so why the hysteria and over-reaction?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/14/2020 7:17 Comments || Top||

#5  According to this tabulation of all vaccines, treatments and diagnostics there were six vaccines in the pipeline, and one of them was Chinese. Others identified were Australian, British, and Dutch, leaving the last two, apparently, to be US efforts. Maybe Gates got his foot in the door?
Posted by: Bobby || 05/14/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#6  If I had it, I would sign up for the human trial, but they might not want me.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 17:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Warp speed? What's that? Just have to beat the HCQ human trials or something?
Posted by: gorb || 05/14/2020 18:11 Comments || Top||


Massive 20-ton chunk from China's failed rocket that fell to Earth Monday missed hitting New York City by MINUTES
More on this story from a few days ago.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • China launched a Long March 5B rocket into orbit this month, but it malfunctioned in a week

  • A 20-ton piece fell back to Earth and missed hitting New York City by minutes

  • If it re-entered the atmosphere 15 minutes earlier, it would have hit the Big Apple

  • The Chinese rocket carrying an experimental craft into orbit launched on May 5
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Big Apple missed second Chinese gift?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 3:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Warning shot?
You'd think someone is sending them a message?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Shot across the borough bow?
Posted by: Clem || 05/14/2020 6:33 Comments || Top||

#4  ChiCom symps in NYC would have blamed Trump.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 05/14/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  This is ostly hysterics. It takes minutes from point of reentry to surface. Just about any city on earth, including China is only minutes from being hit.

If there was any real danger to an US city, I'm sure the military (NORAD?) and NASA, etc. would be allover it, with a plan to deflect it.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/14/2020 10:56 Comments || Top||

#6  hysteria hysteria
Posted by: Chris || 05/14/2020 11:19 Comments || Top||

#7  15 Minutes.

Fggin hate news people.

And of course it has to be fggn New York, not some other place.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/14/2020 11:40 Comments || Top||

#8  #5 This is ostly hysterics. It takes minutes from point of reentry to surface. Just about any city on earth, including China is only minutes from being hit.

But Noo Yawk is speh-shul! Speeeh-shuuulll!
Posted by: charger || 05/14/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#9  How could I tell it was a Daily Mail™ article from the title?
Posted by: magpie || 05/14/2020 13:52 Comments || Top||

#10  "Damn! We missed it by 'this_much'."
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 17:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Don't you mean "...Europe's failed rocket...?" - Gov. Cuomo.
Posted by: Anomalous Sources || 05/14/2020 20:33 Comments || Top||


SpaceX creates a Crew Dragon simulator that lets you play at being an astronaut and practise manually docking with the International Space Station
[DailyMail] The Crew Dragon docking simulator — which mirrors the craft's real controls — is free and browser-based

Players take control of a virtual capsule's thrusters to guide it in to the docking port on the space station

The real thing will launch on a mission to the ISS on May 27, 2020, lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center

Astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken will most likely be docked by computer control, however
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you have played Kerbal Space Program, this is cake.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/14/2020 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Next-Gen Lunar Lander
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 2:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I played lunar lander on a PDP-8 Programming it was a pain though.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 05/14/2020 10:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Space Shuttle on the C64.
*shutters*
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/14/2020 10:42 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Petronas Drillship Leaves South China Sea Waters After Standoff
[gCaptain] An oil exploration vessel contracted by Malaysian state energy company Petronas that was involved in a standoff with a Chinese survey vessel in the South China Sea left the disputed waters on Tuesday, three security sources and the vessel operator said.

Petronas has been conducting exploration activities near an area claimed by Malaysia and Vietnam as well as by China since late last year. In mid-April, the Haiyang Dizhi 8 – the Chinese government survey vessel – started operating in the area, escorted by coast guard and China Maritime Militia vessels.

Three American warships and an Australian frigate conducted a joint exercise near the site of Petronas’ operations amid the standoff last month.

The West Capella, the vessel contracted by Petronas, left the waters as it has finished its exploration activities in the area, the sources said. They did not want to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Petronas’ contract for the vessel with offshore drilling company Seadrill was scheduled to end this month.

Malaysia’s foreign ministry and Petronas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seadrill’s communications director Iain Cracknell confirmed that the West Capella has left the area after completing its planned work.

The Chinese government vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was still in the area – about 371 km (230 miles) offshore Malaysian Borneo, data from ship tracking website Marine Traffic showed.

The data showed the vessel has been moving within Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone in a hash-shaped pattern consistent with carrying out a survey, as it did during a tense standoff in Vietnamese waters last year.

The Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) has said the China-Malaysia standoff has been going on for months.

China has denied reports of a standoff, saying that the Haiyang Dizhi 8 was conducting normal activities.
Yes, taking over the South China Sea on the installment plan is a CCP SOP.
The incident prompted the United States to call on China to stop its “bullying behaviour” in the disputed waters.

China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, also a major trade route each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.

The United States has also accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to advance its presence in the South China Sea.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman last month accused U.S. officials of smearing Beijing.
When in doubt the CCP plays the victim card­®.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Fresno city council president is cited for battery after getting into a scuffle with anti-lockdown protesters who tried to force their way into his HOME
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • A group of people opposing stay-at-home orders staged a protest outside the home of Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias on Tuesday

  • Video showed Arias telling them to leave before the argument turned physical

  • Arias appeared to push one of the protesters on the stairs leading up to his apartment, prompting the group to pursue a citizen's arrest

  • Police arrived and gave Arias three citations for misdemeanor battery

  • It does not appear that any of the protesters were cited for the incident

  • Arias said he was trying to protect his two children who were home at the time

  • He said members of the crowd had been threatening him in public and online over his support for strict stay-at-home measures due to coronavirus

  • Protest organizer Ben Bergguam claimed he didn't expect Arias to be home
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/14/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They tried to push into his home, and he's cited?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/14/2020 2:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't expect him to be home? Then what was the point of the "protest"?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/14/2020 5:52 Comments || Top||

#3  I read this before. Somewhere around 1775.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/14/2020 6:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Common areas (including exterior stairs) are not "into his home" as unfair as it sounds
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 6:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Not what I read yesterday. I heard that the councilor was outside his apartment and tried to push the protester away, and it's on film.
Posted by: AlanC || 05/14/2020 7:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Stupid shit like this will get someone killed. I don't care what cause you're protesting, stay away from homes.

And an apartment building? What about the other tennants?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 05/14/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Video here

It's ambiguous. Shove occurred in common area but then the shove-ee pursues the councilman right up to his doorstep... his hand "breaks the plane," in football-speak, of the councilman's threshold. Seems pretty threatening to me.
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 8:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Looks like shove came to push.
I'll be here all week.. try the veal
Posted by: Lex || 05/14/2020 8:39 Comments || Top||

#9  Its california; do you really think there are any rational brain cells in operation in the government?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 05/14/2020 9:38 Comments || Top||

#10  Sounds like England. No right to self defense, they have police for that. Who do nothing.
Posted by: KBK || 05/14/2020 9:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Of all the points here which don't make sense, I find that the police cited the councilman instead of rounding the protestors up for Hotel Gavin Newsom intriguing.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/14/2020 10:49 Comments || Top||

#12  They harass us on our property and in our homes, so why not his. All is fair. Had I known about the party, I'd would have brought the Tar and Feathers. Or the matches. Until these would-be tyrants feel the pain and feel threatened, their behaviors won't change. These people are drunk with power. You don't win the civil war by turning the other cheek or being the gentleman.
Posted by: mossomo || 05/14/2020 14:16 Comments || Top||

#13  ^ True
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 14:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Looks like one of the guys he shoved was a person of color. Wonder if the cops pulled out the Victim priority list before citing the Councilman. Does Latino + Politician beat Black? Seems not.
Posted by: ruprecht || 05/14/2020 15:03 Comments || Top||

#15  Especially if the black is gay too. Double plus ungood
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2020 15:51 Comments || Top||

#16  Make them live their own Allinsky rules. Burn, baby burn.
Posted by: Regular joe || 05/14/2020 16:33 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-05-14
  Nangarhar Funeral Bombing Death Toll Rises to 32
Wed 2020-05-13
  President Ghani, in light of attacks, orders Afghan forces to resume attacks on the Taliban
Tue 2020-05-12
  GNA militia evacuate their headquarters in Abuslim
Mon 2020-05-11
  Iran navy own goal in Oman Gulf exercise; 24 dead
Sun 2020-05-10
  GNA militias lines collapsing quickly
in Abuslim and Salah AlDin with a LNA advance
Sat 2020-05-09
  Houthi Yemeni Scholar Ibrahim Al-Ubeidi: Saud Clan Is a Jewish Family
Fri 2020-05-08
  933 Taliban Prisoners Freed by Afghan Govt, More Promised
Thu 2020-05-07
  PM is elected in Iraq without guidance from Qassem Soleimani
Wed 2020-05-06
  16 killed as airstrike targets gathering convened by Red Unit commander of Taliban
Tue 2020-05-05
  U.S. approves first Sudanese ambassador in two decades
Mon 2020-05-04
  66 civilians killed, wounded in Taliban attacks in first week of Ramadan
Sun 2020-05-03
  Multiple gunshots fired from N. Korea
hit S. Korean DMZ guard post
Sat 2020-05-02
  Trial begins in Denmark of man accused of attack plot for Iran
Fri 2020-05-01
  Southern Transitional Council declares self rule in Yemen
Thu 2020-04-30
  German government bans Hezbollah — Interior Ministry


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