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Today: 57 articles and 183 comments as of 20:36.
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Death Toll In Fresh Bandits’ Attack On Kaduna Communities Rises To 38
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
12 18:34 Rambler in Virginia [14] 
4 13:15 Procopius2k [8] 
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1 05:12 NN2N1 [7] 
4 11:38 Merrick Ferret [6] 
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2 14:41 Greng Black3494 [15] 
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7 15:13 Mullah Richard [9] 
8 15:58 San Fran Nan with a turban [9] 
18 11:52 M. Murcek [16] 
4 14:42 Greng Black3494 [6] 
8 23:50 Shusolet Panda3990 [16] 
4 10:22 trailing wife [4] 
8 15:16 Mullah Richard [7] 
2 10:44 AlmostAnonymous5839 [14] 
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4 11:52 Merrick Ferret [9] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
8 20:20 Besoeker [11]
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1 08:37 Vespasian Ebboting9735 [15]
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18 21:40 newc [16]
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Page 6: Politix
10 13:05 NN2N1 [8]
14 15:24 Mullah Richard [15]
9 20:19 Frank G [13]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Blue Big City Homicides Way Up: Chicago and Baltimore
Over 800 Homicides Year-to-Date in Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Chicago

[Breitbart] The Chicago Sun-Times reports the city hit the figure of 800 homicides on Tuesday, when 23-year-old Sheridan Freeman was shot dead inside a home in West Pullman.

By Thursday, WBEZ Chicago noted the number of homicides in the city was at 812 for the year.

Chicago has long had a problem with gun crime and the vast majority of this year’s homicide victims were killed with guns.

For example, HeyJackass.com lists 776 people shot and killed in Chicago this year and another 4,403 shot and wounded.

At least 11 people have been shot and killed this week alone in the troubled city.

FOX32 tracked this year’s surging Chicago homicides and noted in November that the city’s death numbers were well-ahead of those posted during recent years.

They contrasted the number of homicides recorded January 1 through October 31 during the past three years and found 432 homicides during that time-frame in 2019, 661 homicides during that time in 2020, and 678 during that same time in 2021.

15 Shot Friday Alone in Democrat-Controlled Baltimore

[Breitbart] Fifteen people were shot, two of them fatally, in Democrat-controlled Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday alone.

WBAL reports that the first of the two shooting fatalities occurred just before 1:00 p.m., when an unidentified individual was shot and killed “in the 600 block of Laurens Street.”

The deceased individual was one of three shot in that single incident.

Friday’s second fatal shooting occurred just before 8:00 p.m. “in the 1300 block of West North Avenue.” Five people were shot in the incident and one of them, a 36-year-old man, succumbed to his injuries.

WYPR noted that Baltimore had witnessed 315 murders for the year, as of December 15, 2021.

The Baltimore Sun pointed out that the 300+ homicides for 2021 “marks the seventh consecutive year of 300 homicides or more, a streak that began in 2015.”

On June 16, 2019, Breitbart News observed that crime was surging in Baltimore despite the presence of stringent gun control. The Firearms Safety Act of 2013 banned “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines and put in a place a fingerprinting/registration requirement for new handgun buyers. The Sun explained that Maryland has a red flag law that took effect October 1, 2018.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The Socialist-Democrat run cities have no need to worry.

The dead still vote 100% Democrat. ☺
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2021 5:12 Comments || Top||


Rapper Drakeo the Rule aka Darrell Caldwell dies after stabbing at LA music festival
[BBC] US rapper Drakeo the Ruler has died after being stabbed at a music festival in Los Angeles.

The 28-year-old, whose real name was Darrell Caldwell, had been scheduled to perform at the Once Upon a Time in LA festival on Saturday night.

His publicist confirmed his death to several US media outlets on Sunday morning.

The artist was reportedly stabbed during an altercation backstage around the time he had been due to perform.

Los Angeles police are investigating, but told reporters no arrests had been made as of Sunday morning.

Drakeo the Ruler had more than 1.5m monthly listeners on Spotify, and collaborated with Canadian rapper Drake on the single Talk to Me.

Paramedics responded to a call about a stabbing at about 20:40 local time on Saturday (04:40 GMT on Sunday). Reports say the rapper was then taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm so old, I remember when musicians died young from drug overdoses.
Posted by: Raj || 12/20/2021 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  CaldWell
DiedBadly
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 1:28 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a very sick "culture." Or as ZMan describes it, "vibrant."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 8:41 Comments || Top||

#4  from Aspiring Rapper to Expiring Rapper
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 8:48 Comments || Top||

#5  formerly vibrant. now mordant
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:35 Comments || Top||

#6  oh well, only a few million more rappers left.
Posted by: Chris || 12/20/2021 14:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Deutsche Welle’s photo journalists weigh in on this so important story:

Rappers who have been murdered
On the street, at a concert or while shopping: The cause of death for about half of all US rappers is murder. Rappers have also been killed in other countries.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2021 15:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Poor rappers! Like lambs at the slaughter,
They die much more young than they oughtta!
But why? Deutsche Welle
Assigned a brave fella
To find out what poisoned... the water.
Posted by: Shusolet Panda3990 || 12/20/2021 23:50 Comments || Top||


-Great Cultural Revolution
US Navy launches a maternity uniform pilot for pregnant sailors: Expecting mothers can receive the uniforms from next month until 2026
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • The Navy designed a maternity uniform pilot program for its expecting members, providing them with free maternity uniforms

  • From January 2022 to September 2026, pregnant volunteers will be allowed to receive 'a full array of authorized Navy maternity uniforms'

  • Expecting sailors interested in joining the pilot program must be given approval on all medical documentation and receive commander's approval

  • More than 400 volunteers are expected to join the first pilot program in 2022

  • In July, the military also launched its historical first maternity flight suit prototype for pregnant aircrew
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1  I still recall the debate over maternity uniforms in the Army circa 1980s. After many annual reviews and refusal to create one, someone in JAG pointed out to the Chief of Staff of the Army, that with tens of thousands of troops in Europe at the time, if the balloon went up and any of these females were captured out of uniform, they could legitimately be shot as spies. Guess who's going to get blamed? Within days a special uniform review board approved the long sought maternity uniform.

Those who are old enough remember when females filled a auxiliary force (WAC, WAVES), that if a service member got pregnant, they were automatically given an honorable or general discharge. Today, they get to 'choose'. And yes too many use that to get out of dangers way or 'challenging' assignments. For males however, inflicting an injury to avoid 'duty' is still a courts martial offense. Equity my a$$.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/20/2021 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  /\ Yes, WACS and WAVES, perfectly honorable avenues in which to serve one's country.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Fabulous.

Did you remember to get one for men->women trannies?

It could inflate like Otto when there are bad feelz happening.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/20/2021 11:42 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 12/20/2021 14:42 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Trevor Noah sues New York hospital and orthopedic surgeon for negligence over 'botched' surgery last year which left him with 'severe injuries'
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Sometimes, the trans doesn't take.
  • Comedian Trevor Noah filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against the Hospital for Special Surgery and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Riley J. Williams

  • He claims they were 'careless in failing to treat and care for [him] in a careful and skillful manner' when he underwent surgery on November 23, 2020

  • The lawsuit claims they failed to use proper diagnostic tests and prescribe the proper medications, while also not discontinuing other medicines

  • As a result, the lawsuit claims, Noah, 37, suffered 'severe and painful personal injuries, mental anguish and a loss of enjoyment of life'

  • A representative from the hospital told People the claims were 'meritless'
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can I sue Trevor Noah for not being funny?
Posted by: Raj || 12/20/2021 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Class Action Suit Notification
(Dewey Cheatam and Howe, Llp)
Woke Tort
Injury to Patella-Nutella
You may be eligible for 1/50,000th of damages for distress, anguish, angoisse, angst, and MicroAggressionSyndrome
Sign here
________________
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 0:32 Comments || Top||

#3 

So a mentally ill person goes to a hospital to be sexually changed and is not happy. Because it does not meet up with his mentally ill expectations?
NO.

But I would agree if his family sued the hospital for performing the surgery, because it is clear he was a mentally ill person requesting a surgery. While in a mental state wishing to inflict self harm.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2021 5:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Until today, I did not know who Trevor Noah is.
Was his surgeon one of those who went to college without grades?
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 12/20/2021 8:42 Comments || Top||

#5  He was power-shifting when he should have been double-clutching.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 8:46 Comments || Top||

#6  I thought New York shut down non-emergency surgeries during that time period?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/20/2021 14:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Only for the little people, southwest.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2021 15:13 Comments || Top||


DR MAX PEMBERTON: Don't be bullied into 12 days of booze this Christmas! Here's how to avoid alcohol
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Expected increase in the seasonal caroler casualty count.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why would I do a fool thing like that?

My cardiologist askes me every time - 'How much alcohol do you consume?' I'm like 'lots, but I'm cutting back on the smokes!'
Posted by: Raj || 12/20/2021 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey Max,
I live for these 12 Days, yeah man Me, I'm Drinking SHINE --- Moonshine, yeah and smoking aged cigars pickled in Rum, eating fine foods like 2" thick bovine steaks, and A. Sperry Gus (which is my nom de plume on another website, while drinking bottles of Petit Verdot (I love those little women, Brigette is super)) commenting and chatting my Axx Off all the while.
Max, buddy, you got to get a life and stop telling people what to do, as they say, "Who made you, a god, Rosebud?"
Posted by: Gromoter de Medici7144 || 12/20/2021 5:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Can't bully the willing
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/20/2021 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  12 days? My alcohol consumption has been on a steady rise for the last 2 years.
Posted by: Chris || 12/20/2021 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll take one for the team....
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/20/2021 12:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Bullied? Yea thats right. I'm the victim.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 12/20/2021 14:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Update:
Mon chéri Petit Verdot and I are finished, she is but an empty vessel now. Oh yes, she was a delightful little lady, she played fancifully over my tongue as we reveled and danced the day away. Sad but true, she is no more, but before she left, she did implore, I visit her cousin, Cabernet Franc, who she said could hook me up with a French heure. >;-)
Posted by: Gromoter de Medici7144 || 12/20/2021 15:12 Comments || Top||

#8  How do you expect me to put up with the in-laws and all the other Christmas rigamarole without alcohol?
Posted by: San Fran Nan with a turban || 12/20/2021 15:58 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
TSA has screened two million airport passengers for the last three days in a row – double the 2020 figures – as Americans jet off for Christmas despite surging levels of COVID Omicron variant
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • TSA agents screened more than 2 million passengers per day in last 72 hours

  • On Thursday, more than 2.06 million went through TSA checkpoints nationwide

  • That's more than double the number who flew on same day last year - 846,934

  • On Friday, more than 2.3 million travelers went through airport terminals

  • That's more than twice number who flew on same day last year - 1.066 million

  • On Saturday, some 2.035 million passengers were screened at checkpoints

  • On same day last year, 1.073 million were scanned by TSA agents, figures show

  • Americans sought to get an early jump on the Christmas travel season
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/19/2021 18:51 Comments || Top||


#3  In other words, it's now endemic. Not a pandemic.
F--king idiots... can't even grasp basic evolutionary biology
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 1:57 Comments || Top||

#4  A team of researchers at Hong Kong University’s faculty of medicine found omicron replicates 70 times faster in human airways, but infection in the lungs appears less severe.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 2:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Can these f--king idiots try, just TRU, to get this basic equation through their heads:
More infectious
Less lethal
= ENDEMIC
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 2:42 Comments || Top||

#6 
Simple Answer:
America is not buying into the O-strain lies.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2021 5:24 Comments || Top||

#7  The scam has burned down. Now, if they want to make "Do what we say or die" stick, they'll have to move from passive to active methods.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 6:37 Comments || Top||

#8 
A little extra data to chew on?
Check out NORMAL PLUS COVID DEATH RATES

Note: This article is a year old and the current figures further discredit the DC Panic BS data.

Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2021 6:44 Comments || Top||

#9  As long as Biden allows unchecked border crossings I have a hard time believing the danger of covid.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 12/20/2021 8:45 Comments || Top||

#10  /\ Yes, there certainly does appear to be a disconnect.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 9:07 Comments || Top||

#11  Peter Hitchens last week:

...we have entered a new stage of the revolution which has been transforming this country, for the past 60 years, into a multicultural, Green, post-Christian, sexually liberated and egalitarian state in which only one opinion is, in reality, allowed.

Covid, quite unexpectedly, has provided the pretext for so much of what they have long wanted: surveillance, social control, the driving of dissent to the margins of life.

For, if dissent can be portrayed as actually dangerous to the health of the people, then why should the people put up with it?
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 10:34 Comments || Top||

#12  ^ Well, that's a nice doomsday screed. Yes, I am sure the self-anointed Progressives watching MSLSD are all in favor of executing the un-vaccinated. Problem is, an equal number of us are not buying the hysterics and don't care. We might even be the sorts who will help the "enemies of the people" get through their days and earn livings.

We might even be the sort who subvert things in other ways.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 10:43 Comments || Top||

#13  Freud got it right. A new religious cult:

"If you wish to expel religion from our European civilization you can only do it through another system of doctrines, and from the outset this would take over all the psychological characteristics of [religious cults], the same sanctity, rigidity, and intolerance, the same prohibition of thought in self-defence."
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 10:52 Comments || Top||

#14  Unfortunately, while they were building the New Cathedral, attention spans went to zilch.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 10:55 Comments || Top||

#15  N'inquietez-vous... We'll always have Disney
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Not everyone is a True Believer™ on Twitter 24/7 burnishing their Woke credentials. The smash and grab mobs aren't. The rappers stabbing and shooting each other aren't. The kids shooting each other in Chiraq are not listening to Rachel Madcow or AOC. They are purely atavistic and the people who imagine they are harnessing them are in for a nasty surprise. Everyone else knows better and stands out of the way.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 11:03 Comments || Top||

#17  The problem is that this particular virulent strain is taking a very long time to perish with the host and thus die out.

COVID took about 18 months; this social pathogen that reappeared in 6 B.F. (= 6 years Before The Year of Our Floyd) may take 18 years. We're only 6 years in.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:09 Comments || Top||

#18 
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 11:52 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Judge Hands Down Big Win to Gen. Flynn, Will Allow His Family to Sue CNN
[Western Journal] CNN may have the opportunity to write another check for doing its job poorly, this time to relatives of former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn for labeling them followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

You’ll recall CNN reportedly wrote a very large check to former Covington High School student Nicholas Sandmann last year after falsely claiming he had confronted and sought to belittle a Native American gentleman during a protest in Washington, D.C. It was actually that man who had approached and stood toe-to-toe with the teenager.

Sandmann was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, and the establishment media read into the encounter what it wanted to see. But when video of the incident started circulating, CNN, The Washington Post and other left-wing outlets had to backtrack.

On Thursday, a federal judge allowed a case brought by Flynn’s brother John "Jack" Flynn and sister-in-law Leslie Flynn to proceed against CNN.

Of course, CNN "news" coverage seems to go off the rails when it deals with any subject or person even remotely tied to former President Donald Trump.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
A Lawsuit $$$M figure to shoot for.

As of 2021, The net worth of CNN is about $5 billion. The CNN revenue is $1.2B annually.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/20/2021 5:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe the IRS will allow being sued and lost as business expenses.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/20/2021 10:44 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan security forces fire tear gas at protesters in Khartoum: Witnesses
When the mob wants something they protest. When they get what they want, they still protest. It’s one of those meaningless lifestyle concept thingies.
[AlArabiya] Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Sunday at a huge crowd of protesters who had gathered near the republican palace in the capital Khartoum, witnesses told AFP.

Tens of thousands rallied on Sunday to mark three years since the start of demonstrations that led to the ouster of Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. He was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...
, as well as against the current military chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

"The people want the downfall of Burhan," protesters shouted.



Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands?Al Ghadeer claims more:
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
The ultra-violent cult that became a global mafia
[BBC] A two-year BBC investigation into Black Axe - a Nigerian student fraternity which evolved into a dreaded mafia-group - has unearthed new evidence of infiltration of politics, and a scamming and killing operation spanning the globe.

For two years BBC Africa Eye has been investigating Black Axe, building a network of whistle-blowers, and uncovering several thousand secret documents - leaked from the gang's private communications. The findings suggest that over the past decade, Black Axe has become one of the most far-reaching and dangerous organised crime groups in the world.

In Africa, Europe, Asia and North America, Axemen are in our midst. You may even have an email from them in your inbox.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  West African Pidgin

dat like WokeSpeak?
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 1:30 Comments || Top||

#2  alex i will put 10700 on the daily double what is the US GOVERNMENT?
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 12/20/2021 14:41 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Crimea streets could be returned to their pre-revolutionary names
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] A working group, called upon to deal with the settlement of issues related to the return of pre-revolutionary names to some streets of Simferopol and other cities of Crimea, will be created at the Public Chamber of the region. This was announced by the senator from the Republic of Crimea Sergey Tsekov .

"The Public Chamber supported this proposal. It was decided to create a working group at the Public Chamber, which will study this issue. Because not only in Simferopol it is necessary to return pre-revolutionary names, but also in Yalta, Feodosia, Evpatoria. Experts will work to determine the procedure for returning the pre-revolutionary names to the streets , ”he told the correspondent of the“ Crimean Information Agency."

At the same time, he clarified that he meant the return of the pre-revolutionary name to Karl Marx and Schmidt Streets (Ekaterininskaya and Potemkinskaya, respectively), and added that the cost of such renaming would be minimal.

"There will be no inconveniences for residents who live on this street, as well as for legal entities. It will not be necessary to specifically change the registration, only as needed, for example, obtaining a passport for the first time or replacing it by age. Although if I had such an opportunity, I would go and re-register on the very first day," the senator said.

He also expressed the hope that the pre-revolutionary name of Karl Marx Street will be returned in April 2022 by the next anniversary of the signing by Catherine II of the manifesto on the acceptance of Crimea and Kuban into the Russian Empire.

Posted by: badanov || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Russian Bad Weather Report
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] In Kuzbass it will freeze to -20 degrees C
In the Kemerovo region tomorrow, December 20, partly cloudy is expected, at night in some places light snow, frost, fogs. This was reported by the regional hydrometeorological center.

"During the day, light, moderate snow in places. Ice on the roads. West wind, two to seven m/s at night, up to 12 m/s in places, four to nine m/ s in the daytime, up to 14 m/s in places. The temperature at night is −8 to −13 degrees C, in some places up to -20 degrees C, in the south in some places −2 to −7 deg. C; during the day -6 to -11 deg. C, in some places 0 to -5 deg C ", is specified in the forecast.

In Kemerovo, tomorrow, December 20, partly cloudy weather is predicted, moderate snow during the day, ice on the roads. The temperature at night is −10 to −12 deg. C, in the daytime −6 to −8 deg C.

Irkutsk struggles with snow
[REGNUM] Utilities of Irkutsk continue to work in an enhanced mode from the snowfall. This was announced today, December 19, by the press center of the city administration.

More than 60 pieces of equipment are involved in cleaning the streets and parks of the city during the day: more than 30 combined road vehicles, forklifts, sidewalk cleaning equipment and auxiliary vehicles, as well as more than 100 people.

In addition, more than a hundred people went out to clean the parks and boulevards of Irkutsk from snow and debris, 12 pieces of equipment were involved. In the districts, stairs are being cleaned from snow and ice.

Frost and wind go to Transbaikalia
[REGNUM] Residents of the Trans-Baikal Territory were warned of a significant deterioration in weather conditions on December 20. According to the territorial GU EMERCOM of the Russian Federation, this day is expected to increase the wind with gusts from 15 to 20 meters per second.

At night it will get colder up to 17 to 22 degrees С (with a clearing of 27 to 32 deg.), in the southern half of the region with clouds it will be -10 to 15 deg, during the day in the northern regions -27 to 32 deg. С.

Muscovites promised 30-centimeter snowdrifts
[REGNUM] In Moscow, 7 to 12 mm of precipitation will fall over the coming week, the height of snowdrifts by December 26 will reach 30 cm. This was announced on December 19 by Evgeny Tishkovets, a leading employee of the Phobos weather center.

On the night of December 19, in the capital of Russia, at the VDNKh base meteorological station, five mm of precipitation fell (8 percent of the monthly norm), because of the snowdrifts grew from 17 to 23 cm, while the norm for this time of year was 15 cm, RIA Novosti reports.

The largest snowdrifts in the Moscow region were recorded in Pavlovsky Posad and Cherusty, 29 cm and 33 cm, respectively.

The forecaster added that the norm for the height of the snow cover for December 27 is 17 cm.And the record for this day is 52 cm, was set in 1919.

Posted by: badanov || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Putin Talks Mean to EU/NATO
As long as there are no mean tweets, it’s all good.
[Legal Insurrection] The Roll back demanded by Russia would leave Poland, Baltic states without NATO protection.

Amid massive Russian military deployment on the border with Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has demanded a NATO roll back in East Europe.

On Friday, Moscow published a list of demands addressed to the United States and the NATO that calls for an "end to NATO military activity in eastern Europe, including Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia" and "no expansion of NATO membership, particularly to Ukraine," Germany’s DW News reported citing the Kremlin document.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An "end to NATO military activity in eastern Europe, including Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia"

Why is it in our interest to f--k around in Ukraine? In Azerbaijan or Armenia?

In Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Bumfukystan?

Can anyone --hey ShittyPants, this means you too -- anyone say with any coherence what in G-S's name is tge Anerican vital interest in any of these wretched pseudo-republics?

Can anyone say why ShittyPants's son should fight and die in Ust-Pizdusk?

Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 1:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The gift that keeps on giving. When the Wall came down it was mission accomplished and America should have departed NATO. It was a warning sign that Deep State operated independent of the interests of Americans.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/20/2021 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  /\ Yes, a missed opportunity to take off the Euro training wheels and head home.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 7:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Some of the Euros have thrown off the training wheels and Wokery too. Interestingly, it's the Danes leading the way. Sweden and France may follow...

Why Have Danes Turned Against Immigration?

"In the 1960s and 1970s Denmark recruited “guest workers”; refugees from Vietnam and Iran came in the 1970s and 1980s. The welcome waned in the 1990s with the arrival of refugees from the war in what had been Yugoslavia.

"The nationalist Danish People’s Party (df), founded in 1995, agitated to shut the door on them. In 2001 it backed a conservative-liberal government, which devised today’s two-pronged strategy of repelling would-be migrants and remoulding those who settle.

"Its policies included lengthening immigrants’ wait for permanent residency from three years to seven and ending schools’ obligation to teach in pupils’ mother tongues. To bolster Danishness it introduced “canons” of culture, history and democracy into the school curriculum. Without such steps 'it would have been really catastrophic', says Peter Skaarup, the df’s parliamentary leader. In Sweden, such sentiments are spreading; in Denmark they are now conventional wisdom...."
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:52 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China's Growing Dominance in Maritime Shipping
[TheDiplomat] In 1616, English statesman Sir Walter Raleigh proclaimed, "Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." Centuries later, one of the most distinguished American naval strategists of the 19th century, Alfred Thayer Mahan, would echo this idea. In his 1890 magnum opus, "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783," Mahan argued that national greatness is directly tied to control over the world’s oceans, for commercial advantages in peacetime and strategic advantages in times of war. In particular, Mahan stressed the importance of strategic locations such as chokepoints, refueling stations, canals, and seaports.

In this light, growing Chinese investment in the maritime shipping industry, both domestically and abroad, should be a major source of concern for geopolitical rivals such as the United States. In addition to its growing accumulation of shipping ports, China is the leading manufacturer of shipping equipment, producing 96 percent of the world’s shipping containers, 80 percent of the world’s ship-to-shore cranes, and receiving 48 percent of the world’s shipbuilding orders in 2020. China boasts the world’s second largest fleet of commercial shipping vessels and, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, has now surpassed the United States as the world’s largest navy in terms of total battle force ships.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  China boasts the world’s second largest fleet of commercial shipping vessels and, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, has now surpassed the United States as the world’s largest navy in terms of total battle force ships.

True dat, as far as it goes. But if we decided in any future war against them to go after their merchies, they're gonna discover PDQ that yer boats can't be everywhere...and it's not going to be very helpful to, say, conquer Taiwan when the ships you need to transport your ill-gotten gains all over the world are on the bottom of the ocean or trapped in/out of port by mines and submarines you can't see.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/20/2021 6:14 Comments || Top||

#2  battle force ships

Does this include coastal vessels which lack projection capabilities? Not that those responsible for the head count would ever cheat in their tabulation. /sarc off
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/20/2021 7:24 Comments || Top||

#3  trapped in/out of port

Or parked off LA.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 10:23 Comments || Top||

#4  ...transport your ill-gotten gains all over the world are on the bottom of the ocean

With today's supertankers, I see record setting 'tonnage' sunk reaching new heights. I see Liberia and Panama record making registrations of flagged shipping.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/20/2021 13:15 Comments || Top||


North Korea Marks Anniversary Of Prior Ruler's Death With 11-Day Ban On Laughing
[ZH via Rantingly] North Korea is marking the 10th anniversary of former leader Kim Jong-Il's death in somewhat characteristically bizarre ways, with dictates from Pyongyang saying citizens must mourn on a "unified" front that includes a ban on laughing for 11 days.

More than mere commemorative moments of silence, all instances of general enjoyment have been banned during the week-and-a-half period, including shopping, recreation, and alcohol consumption. Even going for groceries is on the list of banned activities, according to Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service.

"During the mourning period, we must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities," a resident of the northeastern city of Sinuiju was cited in the US state-funded publication as saying. The source added that "In the past many people who were caught drinking or being intoxicated during the mourning period were arrested and treated as ideological criminals. They were taken away and never seen again."

"Even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be taken out after it’s over," the source told RFA further. "People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period."

While RFA is an American government-linked media agency, and so the report should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, this type of strict mourning is somewhat common in many Eastern cultures from the Levant to East Asia, at least on a local level and within families. But strict dictates imposed on a national scale is something perhaps only common to the DPRK.

Dubbed by Pyongyang officials "the parent of our people," Kim Jong Ill's death anniversary commemoration ceremony observed in the capital included the following according to NY Post...

Cars, trains and ships blew their horns, the Hermit Kingdom’s flags were lowered to half-staff and people flocked to Pyongyang’s Mansu Hill to lay flowers and bow before giant statues of Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, who ruled for 46 years.

Posted by: Frank G || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  all instances of general enjoyment have been banned during the week-and-a-half period, including shopping, recreation, and alcohol consumption. Even going for groceries is on the list of banned activities, according to Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service.

...Well, since there's nothing in the stores, nothing to do, and the hooch is probably poisonous, it sounds like this is less respect than making a virtue out of necessity.

Mike
Posted by: Sheque Spinetle9064 || 12/20/2021 7:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Man, someone is bucking to be the president of some mid to large size American university or college.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/20/2021 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Giggling behind your hand is acceptable, however.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/20/2021 10:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Meanwhile, the rest of the world laughs.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  This is a joke right?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/20/2021 11:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Kim Jong-LOLZ
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  What about a small giggle about murdering K-Pop?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/20/2021 14:24 Comments || Top||

#8 
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2021 15:16 Comments || Top||


Economy
Florida Job Growth Rate 6 Times Faster than the Nation's
[Breitbart] Florida’s job growth rate was six times faster than the country’s as a whole in November, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced on Friday.

"Our job growth rate is six times faster than the rest of the nation because we’ve worked hard to keep Florida open and protect the jobs of individual Floridians," DeSantis said, attributing the success to pro-freedom policies which have allowed Floridians to continue to work while blue states, many of which existed in extended lockdowns, continue to implement coercive policies, forcing people to choose between their jobs and a shot. DeSantis went on to say:
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Marked and undeniable economic success without borrowing Trillions of dollars to fund a "Build Back Better" plan ?

How can this possibly be ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 7:09 Comments || Top||

#2  "Progressives" are the only people who fail at Churchill's dictum of "After they have exhausted all the other possibilities, they will do the right thing."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 7:12 Comments || Top||

#3  /\ While the dictum may have been accurate for the times, I'm not at all certain Churchill had encountered people such as these.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/20/2021 7:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Certainly Churchill had — they were shooting at each other all across the world.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/20/2021 10:22 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands: New Delhi's Bulwark in the Indian Ocean
[TheDiplomat] In 2015, the Indian government drew up a 100,000 million Indian rupee plan funded by the Ministry of Shipping and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration to transform the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) into the country’s first maritime hub. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the islands for the first time, inaugurating several development projects relating to connectivity, energy, and tourism, among other things. Most recently, he inaugurated the Chennai-Andaman and Nicobar undersea internet cable, which is set to provide a high-speed internet connection to seven remote islands of the ANI chain.

The islands have also seen the recent installation of 31 GPS strong motion sensors and accelerometers, SMS alerts dissemination systems, 13 Automated Weather Stations, State Emergency Operation Centers, and the commissioning of a solar power plant at Attam Pahad. The government of India under NITI Aayog’s "Holistic Development Program" for the islands has invited global players to invest in a wide-ranging social and infrastructure development program, including investments in resorts and other tourist infrastructure.

These developments show how New Delhi is fortifying its southernmost frontier at sea and gearing up for something bigger. As the Indo-Pacific region with its growing prominence becomes a theater of opportunity for India, the ANI have gained an important position in New Delhi’s foreign policy.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Harassment Of Navy Destroyers By Mysterious Drone Swarms Off California Went On For Weeks
[TheDrive] Earlier this year The War Zone exclusively reported about a series of 2019 incidents that involved unidentified drones stalking US Navy vessels over several nights in the waters off of Southern California. Our initial report also covered the Navy’s investigation into the incidents, which appeared to struggle to identify either the aircraft or their operators. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday later clarified that the aircraft were never identified, and that there have been similar incidents across the service branches and allied militaries.

Newly released documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that the full scope of these drone incursions was greater than it initially appeared, and they persisted well after the Navy’s investigation was launched. Deck logs indicate that drone sightings continued throughout the month of July 2019 and included events where drone countermeasure teams were called into action. One notable event involved at least three ships observing multiple drones. Uncharacteristically for unclassified deck logs, the details on this event are almost entirely redacted.
Posted by: Woodrow || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Banging the drums of war. Are you gonna fall for it again?
Posted by: Clulet Splat5443 || 12/20/2021 3:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Possibly smugglers (human or otherwise) checking for any 'impediments' to their planned routes.

Or 'Catalina Defense Force' holdouts.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2021 8:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Well. If US ELINT couldn't trace it, there's a problem. If US ELINT could trace it and nothing was done about it... there's a problem.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 8:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, if there's a problem, obfuscation and 'redaction' is their friend.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2021 9:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Want to control a swarm of drones? There’s an app for that
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 10:15 Comments || Top||

#6  IAI releases, MultiFlyer, a fleet of non-combat drones
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 10:19 Comments || Top||

#7  So, a destroyer with a special crew of drone spotters onboard, while on exercises off the California coast, sees drones approaching the vessel.
Sounds like that was the whole point of the exercise.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/20/2021 10:40 Comments || Top||

#8  That could be too, Ed.

Don't tell the others and use their reactions for evaluation and/or training.

In between the Diversity and Self-Humiliation Classes, of course.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/20/2021 12:06 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: Greng Black3494 || 12/20/2021 14:38 Comments || Top||

#10  Shoot some down, recover them and then see if they can't be identified and traced.
Posted by: San Fran Nan with a turban || 12/20/2021 15:51 Comments || Top||

#11  Shoot some down,

What's the season and bag limit?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/20/2021 15:54 Comments || Top||

#12  Seems to me they could turn their fire control radars on the drones. Fire control radars are used to guide the anti-air missiles to their targets. Since the missiles can go hundreds of miles, the radars are powerful enough to reach that far.
At close range (1-2 miles), the radar beam should be able to completely fry any electronics in the drone.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/20/2021 18:34 Comments || Top||


Report: Amazon Ring Doorbells May Begin Using Biometric Data to Spy on Your Neighborhood
[Breitbart] Amazon reportedly filed a patent recently that suggests its Ring doorbell cameras may soon be able to identify “suspicious” people by scanning their skin texture, walking style, and voice. This represents the latest in Amazon’s growing push into biometric data collection.

Business Insider reports that e-commerce and tech giant Amazon recently filed a patent for its Ring doorbell cameras that describes new tech enabling the devices to identify “suspicious” people based on their skin texture, walking style, and voice.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Know your place, Peasants. Render unto Amazon that which is Amazon's.

All Your Data Are Belong to Us Oligarchs.
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  We'll be lazing them soon.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/20/2021 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  In other words.... wait for it... wait for it... Profiling!

And how can a camera in a doorbell determine skin texture? Do they mean skin color?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/20/2021 11:32 Comments || Top||

#4  The Ministry of Data needs to identify the Thin-Skinned*. The most dangerous Deplorables, prone to Insurrection.

* aka the "tender," per ShittyPants
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/20/2021 11:38 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Tortured to death: Myanmar mass killings revealed
[BBC] The Myanmar military carried out a series of mass killings of civilians in July that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men, according to a BBC investigation.

Eyewitnesses and survivors said that soldiers, some as young as 17, rounded up villagers before separating the men and killing them. Video footage and images from the incidents appears to show most of those killed were tortured first and buried in shallow graves.

The killings took place in July, in four separate incidents in Kani Township - an opposition stronghold in Sagaing District in Central Myanmar.

The military has faced resistance from civilians since it seized control of the country in a February coup, deposing a democratically-elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The BBC spoke to 11 witnesses in Kani and compared their accounts with mobile phone footage and photographs collected by Myanmar Witness, a UK-based NGO that investigates human rights abuses in the country.

The largest killing took place in Yin village, where at least 14 men were tortured or beaten to death and their bodies thrown in a forested gully.

The killings appeared to be a collective punishment for attacks on the military by civilian militia groups in the area, who are demanding that democracy is restored. Fighting between the military and the local branches of the People's Defence Force - a collective name for civilian militia groups - had intensified in the area in the months before the mass killings, including clashes near Zee Bin Dwin.

It is clear from the visual evidence and testimony gathered by the BBC that men were specifically targeted, fitting with a pattern observed across Myanmar in recent months of male villagers facing collective punishment for clashes between the People's Defence Forces and the military.

Foreign journalists have been barred from reporting in Myanmar since the coup, and most non-state media outlets have been shut down, making on-the-ground reporting all but impossible.

The BBC put the allegations raised in this story to Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Information and military spokesperson, General Zaw Min Tun. He did not deny soldiers had carried out the mass killings.

"It can happen," he said. "When they treat us as enemies, we have the right to defend ourselves."

The United Nations is currently investigating alleged human rights abuses carried out by the Myanmar military.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/20/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2021-12-20
  Death Toll In Fresh Bandits’ Attack On Kaduna Communities Rises To 38
Sun 2021-12-19
  2018 Bodh Gaya blast: 3 JMB terrorists get life imprisonment
Sat 2021-12-18
  ISIS-linked extremists decapitate Christian pastor in Mozambique
Fri 2021-12-17
  US Navy rescues Iranian drug smugglers from burning ship off coast of Oman
Thu 2021-12-16
  Libya PM's office surrounded by militia
Wed 2021-12-15
  Police foil Al-Shabaab's attempt to abduct Imam in Kenya Mosque
Tue 2021-12-14
  Taliban Seek Ties with U.S., Other ex-Foes
Mon 2021-12-13
  Four dead at funeral of Hamas member killed in Lebanon explosion
Sun 2021-12-12
  Warring Libyan Armed Forces Agree to Unite Army
Sat 2021-12-11
  Pakistani Taliban have called off a ceasefire mediated with the help of the Afghan Taliban
Fri 2021-12-10
  Bandits Raid Another Mosque In Niger State, Shoot 15 Worshippers Dead
Thu 2021-12-09
  French cops foil 'ISIS' Christmas knife rampage as they arrest two
Wed 2021-12-08
  Syria Says Israeli Warplanes Hit Latakia Port Containers
Tue 2021-12-07
  Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga retake northern village from ISIS fighters
Mon 2021-12-06
  Turkey Agrees to Withdraw Foreign Forces from Libya


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