[Guardian] On n Wednesday, police finally arrested Frank James, the man accused of shooting up a crowded subway train in New York City, wounding 10. James, strangely, had called in the tip himself, telling police he was at a Manhattan McDonald’s. Other New Yorkers spotted the subway shooter too, assisting the police.
Eric Adams, the New York City mayor, touted the arrest as another victory for the New York police department and called, once more, for increased surveillance on the subways. "We believe we have a technology that we can use in the subway system that many passengers are not even going to be aware that they are walking past a device that could detect weapons, and we are excited about the possibilities and I’m not going to leave any legal technology off the table when it comes down to keeping New Yorkers safe," Adams said on MSNBC.
A former police captain, Adams was elected mayor last year on a promise to crack down on crime. He was able to outflank more liberal rivals in the Democratic primary as public safety became a top issue for voters. Since taking office, he has visited numerous crime scenes and vowed, at various points, to reintroduce tougher policing practices.
Progressives are wrong to simply mock police for taking 30 hours to apprehend James or relying on tips to find him — that’s how policing usually works. Some online commentators have argued that the shooting proves police can’t prevent any crime because Adams had already dispatched more cops to the subways and James was still able to detonate a smoke bomb and unload his gun on passengers. Police can deter crime and most working-class New Yorkers want them to catch criminals and solve crimes.
#1
What did the FBI know about Frank James and when did it suppress that knowledge?
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
04/16/2022 5:53 Comments ||
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#2
I think the FBI keeps guys like this around as "they might be useful, at some point." Sort of like the thinking of that reclusive crank in the neighborhood who keeps a couple live grenades around the house.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/16/2022 5:56 Comments ||
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#3
had called in the tip himself, telling police he was at a Manhattan McDonald’s
"... Now get here before I die of cholesterol all by mahself, you stoopid mutherfcukers!"
[TED] In this unedited conversation, Elon Musk — the head of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company — digs into the recent news around his bid to purchase Twitter and gets honest about the biggest regret of his career, how his brain works, the future he envisions for the world and a lot more. (This conversation with head of TED Chris Anderson was recorded April 14, 2022)
[TED] In 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who was dying of pancreatic cancer, delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that made the world stop and pay attention. This moving talk will teach you how to really achieve your childhood dreams. Unmissable.
A new set of guidelines say to keep your waistline less than half of your height
NICE says a healthy waist-to-height ratio — where you divide your waist measurement by your height measurement — is classed as 0.4 to 0.49
A ratio of 0.5 to 0.59 puts people at an increased risk of health problems which can include the likes of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease
We put 12 individuals to the test to see what the new guidelines say about them
#1
It is long overdue to ditch BMI. Ever since I started seriously lifting, my BMI has shot up and my health has improved. My waist measurement has not changed at all even though I am able to lift 5 times more weight. So yay.
#1
Not exactly. AFAICT, the more the bureaucracy they added in government to "avoid graft and corruption" the less that gets accomplished and the more corruption it takes to get anything done.
#2
Equipment from large military contractors and other countries are also part of the effort. However, the equipment listed above is available commercially at dramatically cheaper prices than what’s offered by the large existing defense contractors, and developed and delivered in a fraction of the time.
"Government is not the solution. Government is the problem."
~ President Ronald Reagan
#3
The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations (DFARs) were massively expanded after c.f. major corruption in Naval procurements circa the 80s. They impose a significantly complex process that entails identifying requirements, validating them, issuing a formal request for proposals, evaluating the proposals, negotiating, and contract issuance. Then the actual procurement begins. Lots of people earn lots of certifications authorizing them to carry out various steps / roles in the process. (Mine is SPRDE Level 3 from a decade ago FWIW. A search on that will bring up more than you want to know about the whole procurement mess.)
Congress has divided the DOD budget into major line items, with detailed sub-categories. Line 6 in the DOD budget is for RDT&E, the stages for meeting operational needs with tech. 6.1 is basic research, 6.2 is early applied R&D, and so on through procurment, validation, and test / deployment of items, etc.
It's illegal to spend money from one sub-line to another. Only Congress can do that.
So one issue that arises WRT off the shelf tech is, what line item must be used to fund this. Another is, what are the formally validated requirements for it? How will the off the shelf item be validated WRT meeting those requirements?
Systems engineers get involved in most cases because the tech item doesn't stand / work alone, so interactions with larger systems must be defined and validated. And usually that means across the service branches.
It's a frigging mess. Palantir challenged the long, slow, bumbling attempt at an integrated Army info sys by providing analysts with a flexible way to assemble tactical level data / intel, share observations / questions, etc. The brass hated it. The boots on the ground analysts were enthusiastic users.
Palantir founder Peter Thiel previously had co-founded PayPal with ... Elon Musk. Musk is issuing a similar challenge to the Beltway swamp with SpaceX.
You will note where those two align WRT markets, free speech, etc.
#6
So, here is the Defense Acquisition University (yes, there's such a thing) page on SPRDE certification levels for Science & Technology Mgmt, the sub-category of SPRDE that I had to be certified in to manage a DOD research grant program and to serve as the technical rep for the contracting officer on a contract.
It was the longest 2 years of my life.
We're talking many years of time and money spent in accruing certs (for guvvies) and equivalents for contractor personnel to learn their way around the maze. Compare the results at Boeing of late with the agile design / build / test / redesign method at SpaceX to decide if the investment of taxpayer dollars is still cost beneficial.
#7
lotp, you're having a remarkable career. The one procurement issue that keeps floating across my layman's field of vision is the USN's surface combatant problem, which is periodically addressed in detail here. Assuming surface combatants are still relevant after the recent events in the Black Sea, we're in a world of trouble.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/16/2022 11:29 Comments ||
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#8
Posted by: lotp 2022-04-16 09:32 Palantir founder Peter Thiel previously had co-founded PayPal with ... Elon Musk. Musk is issuing a similar challenge to the Beltway swamp with SpaceX.
My organization acquired Palantir...the brass hated the fact that we needed it for our version of targeting downrange, but it is very effective. Really good at visualization, especially the flow of bad guy monies.
Interesting that Elon Musk was part of the group that brought Paypal to the fore. A large um, venture capitalist bunch was involved as well that was rumored to have connections to a certain agency.
This continues to prove that things are never as they seem. Now I am not sure that I trust Musk.
[Rob Adolph - Tampa Bay Times] The United Nations just voted Russia off the Human Rights Council. Embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants much more from the international body, and who can blame him? Serious war crimes have been committed by the Moscow regime.
The U.S. and E.U. have decided to add more layers of increasingly harsh economic and financial sanctions against Russia and its leadership — official and unofficial — following the brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Previous sanctions have not worked. New sanctions will probably not work either, at least not in the near term. Short of combat, how can the international community further punish the regime in Moscow in ways that will have genuine impact? It can remove Russia from its permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Why does Vladimir Putin enjoy a seat? There is only one answer: The late Soviet Union possessed a huge arsenal of atomic weapons. Although Russia contains a significant natural resource base, the nation is not a global leader in technology, innovation, finance, manufacture or any other commercial or financial enterprise. Russia is by most accounts a massively under-developed kleptocracy.
Reckless dictators like Putin, no matter how many nuclear missiles they possess, should be excluded from the globe’s most exclusive nation-state club. Permanent Security Council members that violate international law and norms of conduct by invading another member state without just cause should be expelled from what today is called "The Big Five" — the U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia.
Robert Bruce Adolph is a former US Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel and United Nations Chief Security Advisor, who holds graduate degrees in both international affairs and national security studies and strategy. His previously published works have appeared in nearly every US military publication of note. Most recently, he penned the commentary series "Dispatch from Rome" for the Military Times. Adolph also recently published the book entitled "Surviving the United Nations: The Unexpected Challenge."
#1
Besoeker, thanks for bringing this to my attention.
This guy is a moron. The Security Council seat for Russia is there for Russia to protect its interests without killing millions of people. Believe me, Russia will protect their interests even if it means killing a bunch of US Special forces officers to do it.
Probably the reason this author is alive to write this tripe is that Russia/Soviet Union was able to peacefully protect its interests at the UN during his service rather than killing him and his unit.
[BBC] It’s an unthinkable idea. Is it possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons as part of the Ukrainian conflict? In this political documentary on BBC Select, esteemed British broadcaster Jon Snow explores the chances of this kind of escalation as the Russian strategic nuclear force is put on high alert. If Putin went nuclear, what would be the consequences for the world?
#2
Maybe it's time for me to put a radio, my ultimate backup hard disk drives and laptop in a Faraday cage at home.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
04/16/2022 5:54 Comments ||
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#3
I think if there's any nuke usage, it will be an excuse our gummint will seize upon to shut down the intertubes, newspapers (except those directly distributed by the gummint) and broadcast news. Most proles will get their information from trucks with loudspeakers that will circulate the neighborhoods.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/16/2022 5:59 Comments ||
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#4
Most proles will get their information from trucks with loudspeakers Chinese Drones that will circulate the neighborhoods.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2022 7:13 Comments ||
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#5
^ You saw that video I linked here the other day.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/16/2022 7:58 Comments ||
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#6
in a Faraday cage at home
Little point in saving an end node when the hub has melted.
#7
So we are now in the uncomfortable position of having to trust Joe Biden and his handlers not to push Putin so hard that he feels he has no other option.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/16/2022 12:40 Comments ||
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#8
What's going to happen when Putin blows up all our GPS satellites in orbit? The Uber guy an the pizza guy won't know how to find your house.
#10
Golly gosh, indeed! Now we know that if a nuke does go off, it was that rat bastard Putin and not a false flag op because all those people warned us about it. Top. People.
So we are now in the uncomfortable position of having to trust Joe Biden and his handlers not to push Putin so hard that he feels he has no other option.
Would this be the same Team Brandon that pushed Putin into thinking he had no better option than to invade Ukraine? I wonder which little hamlet Zelensky would give up to add some more drama to his movie.
In my case, I use an all Metal Medium size Trash Can with a Rubber sealant sprayed several coats thick (flex-seal) in the interior. Used an Exterior Strap to insure a tight seal. Grounded using a Car Jumper cable to a grounding rod.
Tested it by placing my cell phone in it and tried calling it. The cell phone never rang. Place a AM/FM Battery power radio in it, turned the volume full up and sealed ....No Sound.
Either I have built a soundproof enclosure, or I may have hit on a simple Faraday container with everything purchased at Wally World for under $50.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Platon Besedin
[REGNUM] Today, April 15, 2022, in the hero city of Sevastopol, they said goodbye to the legendary cruiser Moskva. And the epithet "legendary" here is not for the sake of a red word - it is a statement of fact, and nothing more. "Moskva" is the same part of Sevastopol as Malakhov Kurgan or Chersonese. He is native, he is from childhood. I am telling you this as a citizen of Sevastopol.
And with "Moskva" I, like many others, are associated primarily with victories. Parade on May 9, for example. Or Russian Navy Day, where the cruiser—the “aircraft carrier killer,” as it was called—always took center stage. I also remember how in 2008 the Sevastopol residents welcomed "Moskva" on their native embankment. Then the steel hero with living heroes on board returned after the pacification of Georgia.
Now it won't come back. And today in the Sevastopol square of the 300th anniversary of the fleet, they said goodbye to the "Moskva." Already forever. Many were crying as if a close friend had passed away. The one who lived. Yes, the loss of ships is always perceived by the people as especially painful, but this is already a special case. The cruiser Moskva, indeed, intertwined with Sevastopol, becoming one of its symbols and certainly its talisman.
Yes, he has long been with the Black Sea Fleet and with the hero city, respectively. Launched in July 1979. So consider: he lived for 43 years. For a person, the age is considerable, but for a warship it is generally very, very solid.
After its flooding, by the way, many pedaled this very topic. Like, the old man was shabby. The cruiser, indeed, is somewhat outdated and required modernization. And here the damned question arises: why was this modernization not carried out? Although only a very sleepy one did not say: "Moskva" needed improvement. However, they didn't happen. Was there no money? What were they going for? Opportunities not found? Now what?
You can, of course, diligently broadcast that the Moskva cruiser is outdated morally and technically, but such speeches are relevant when you have dozens of modern and ultra-modern ships in ports, which, at least, are not inferior, but better than the object under discussion. How about with us? Is everything alright? It is reported that there are two ships equal to the "Moskva" in the Russian fleets. But how many spectacular, powerful yachts have been built by Russian oligarchs for the people's money.
In general, these attempts to justify the loss of the Moskva cruiser look, to be honest, sometimes not only unconvincing, but also harmful. After all, one should not be afraid to speak with the people - to speak, if not frankly, then at least semi-frankly. With us, it comes to the point that people learn information about the fate of the cruiser from the Pentagon. Is it correct? It seems to me that this military conflict should teach all of us exactly the dialogue between the people and the authorities. And this applies not only to the situation with the cruiser.
The special operation in Ukraine, in principle, raised a lot of damned questions. After the Crimean War, the Russian poet exclaimed: “Is it possible that the Russian soldier will return to the same thing? ..” He exclaimed with the implication that Russia needs changes, solid, intelligible. So the special operation, like that doctor, examines the patient, removes the bandages and diagnoses the state of affairs.
After all, many things in Russia were unwilling and could not be changed, not because there were not enough resources or opportunities for that, but simply because everyone was satisfied with the prevailing parity. The tops, elites, groups of influence (call it what you want) divided the country and everything seemed to suit everyone. But after February 24, things got so bad that only a madman does not understand: the changes are not just overdue - they rolled in like waves, and not to implement them means signing a death sentence for yourself. Sorry for the stamp, but in this case it is as accurate as possible and more than appropriate.
We have come to a great choice - to remain the same and lose Russia or, having changed, making systemic conclusions and taking drastic measures, try to save our Fatherland. Half measures, standard rhetoric and mechanisms are indispensable here. Only maximum mobilization and unpopular decisions can forge our victory. And then the death of the cruiser "Moskva" is not without sadness, but it certainly will not be in vain.
In the meantime, we say goodbye to the era and wait for changes. And I remember how, on one of my visits to the cruiser Moskva, I was there together with Yulia Chicherina and Vadim Samoilov. And they sang before the sailors. Mentally so, under an acoustic guitar. They sat straight, in a military way, but periodically glanced at the senior officers, and one of them nodded, giving a sign, and the sailors dragged along with Vadim and Yulia:
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. By Dmitry Steshin
[KP] Cooks out of the Environment
After a series of unsuccessful attempts to get out of Mariupol , I, the “Azov” and Vushniks (Ukrainian Armed Forces) retreated back to the industrial zones and to their borders in urban areas. Their room for maneuver is shrinking every day - the industrial zone of the Ilyich Plant is practically cleared, fighting is still going on in the port, but the outcome is clear.
Only the industrial metropolis - Azovstal - is holding on - the military from Russia and the DPR left it "for dessert", collecting all the reptiles in a heap - in one place. But, not all militants want to die in Mariupol...
Yesterday, at the location of our battalion (the location of the DPR battalion "Vostok"), business executives drove a medical van based on the American "Hummer". Two dozen "Azov" people crowded into it, trying to get out of the encirclement, hiding behind a red cross:
- We pierced his wheel, he flew into a ditch, almost turned over, - the Vostok fighter tells me:
- And then they rushed into the loose. But, you see, they were clearly divided into two groups of ten! One immediately went to the industrial zone, back. And the second, we later found out, broke into a house in the private sector. The owner was almost beaten to death, his wife was made a nightmare.
- What for?
- And so that if anything, she said that there was no one in the house. We sat there for several hours, dropped our backpacks, chargers for walkie-talkies, batteries, rations and left for Zaporozhye. We tried to leave.
The city is now blocked for civilians to enter - too many Nazis tried to break out of Mariupol in civilian cars with pieces of sheets on the antennas and door handles. Therefore, the standard question at every checkpoint, to people sitting in such cars: "Is everyone all right?."
The fighter checking the car at the same time carefully peers into the faces of women, trying to read the signal for help. You can only leave after many hours of checking. Illegal "Taxi service" taking people out of Mariupol for a lot of money, withered by itself.
Already at the entrance to Mariupol , we are stopped by a commandant's office patrol. We talked with a young military policeman, who told how THEY leave the almost killed city:
- Do you see, over there, a field with hills? Watching this morning, four bodies are coming. Barely dragging legs ...
It's raining in the Sea of Azov now, and every step on the virgin soil is three kilos of mud on your boots, you can't run. The fighter continues:
- We are also barely crawling through the mud to intercept them. Three, in camouflage, with guns, immediately started running and ran into the abandoned house, left. And the third remained standing, he was a civilian. He says: "Guys, don’t drive in, there is no weapon, I dropped it in Marik, there are no documents, I’m a vushnik, a cook."
The Komendach laughs contagiously, and so do we. The abundance of captured cooks, drivers and signalers is simply amazing! This is the joke of the week. With whom they fought in Mariupol for a month is a mystery. We say goodbye, we wish each other caution and Victory, as is now customary in recent times.
On the Zaporozhye highway, already a few kilometers from Mariupol, there were more cars that “cut down” our secrets. The highway is empty, straight as an arrow, and for some reason the encircled people think that this path from the city is open to them. I was struck by an old "Japanese woman" with a shot windshield. She was decorated with the letters Z from all sides, while losing a sense of proportion. On the hood there is a clumsy inscription from a balloon: “Work brothers!”.
The brothers did their job, no offense. The fighters didn't leave ...
Impact to the Soul
At the Hypermarket at the entrance, there is a familiar picture - thousands of citizens receive humanitarian aid, eat, collect water from watering machines.
People immediately hang on us, they have two questions: “When will all this end?” and “What is there at the front?”. Everything else is strung on the second question: “Is it possible to drive to Zaporozhye?”, “And to Kherson?”, “And to the Crimea?”
We with my friend, military correspondent Vlad Yevtushenko,who is a fighter of the "East," patiently explained. I frown inwardly at a simple thought: “Well, what do you, dear local authorities, hang out in such places on plain paper the daily report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the People's Militia of the DPR?
Even print and distribute, people will pass from hand to hand! Read aloud! Yes, I'll deliver it myself! I hope they hear me. Because in recent days, in Mariupol , due to electronic warfare (electronic warfare systems), not only cellular communications and television, but even radios do not work: people complained to me, “one hiss, they made antennas, it doesn’t help.”
Stop. And, actually, where are the city authorities? Searching unsuccessfully. We find a few more distribution points for humanitarian aid, which is good. At school No. 53, where a new mayor was elected a week ago, the yard is covered with smoke from bonfires. People have made field kitchens in garbage bins - they have roofs and some sort of walls.
A middle-aged man loosens the ground on the lawn with a rake, will there really be a garden? No, here Death mowed down - crosses are scattered across the lawn. The man does not turn to us, it seems he sees us with his back, says through sobs:
- My wife is dead. Because of you. We ran here with weapons, now you are shooting, what happened? Say hello to your parents.
We are turning around. Vlad's face just tipped over, he says that he hasn't been so nasty in his soul for a long time. For understanding: Vlad from Poltava, went to fight in 2014, was wounded by a tank shell near the Donetsk airport, shrapnel to the temple, eyesight goes down, poor motor skills. Disability was transferred from the 2nd group to the 3rd, not because Vlad got better, so there are fewer problems with the bureaucracy. I didn't see my mother for 8 years. She, as we were advised in our hearts, can’t even say “hello”, her Security Service of Ukraine grazes ...
On Metallurgov Avenue we find the Employment Center. Men in overalls are inserting glass, tomorrow the city administration will start working here - it's almost the Center. On the other side of the avenue, a military excavator roars, a crane hauling broken slabs and dumping them into a truck. A whole block of apartments in a sooty high-rise building collapsed, along with the entrance, from the roof to the very bottom.
I ask the Ministry of Emergency Situations, they say, is everyone preparing the house for reconstruction? Indeed, good news! The rescuer hits me in the very soul, the second time in 15 minutes, so it turns out:
- Brother, what a reconstruction. Two weeks ago, twenty of our Donetsk reservists ran into this house, on the first floor. And the dill (Ukrainian) tank laid down the entrance... So they lie there like that... We'll be poking around for a long time, come tomorrow, we'll get it.
Snipers and God's Work
In the Drama Theater of Mariupol, according to rumors, crushed people are also lying under the rubble. I can't get into it for the second week. Others get in - I don't. I always come at the moment when the battle begins at the theater.
The quarters around are considered a "gray zone," they have long been passed by sappers. And I myself was here - in the neighboring building of the SBU. And then a day passes and in dilapidated houses, suddenly Nazi “troikas” start working: a sniper, a grenade launcher, and a submachine gunner, for cover.
And this time, too, it was not possible to get to the place of the monstrous provocation (the Azovites blew up the Drama Theater, gathering hundreds of people here, and announcing that it had been bombed by Russian aircraft). If we consider everything that is happening in Mariupol as God's providence, then everything was predetermined so that we would save the girl Tatyana, wounded by a sniper. Too many coincidences, they clung to each other.
Prospekt Mira, the architectural axis of the city, rests against this unfortunate Drama Theatre . I drove carefully, the car wobbling between unimaginable iron rubbish from roofs and facades, cut down by fragments of lanterns and hanging wires. The last intersection, the intersection with Nielsen Street, a little lower down this street - the SBU from my last report (on the website kp.ru and in the issue of "KP" for April 11). And then, my grandmother, another heroine of that text, throws herself under the wheels. The one to whom I gave the loaf of bread hidden in the car “in the most extreme case”. She still held my sleeve with a bird's paw, so that I would not run away, would not change my mind about giving her bread. Grandma lives! I lower the window, she screams:
- Rather, the girl is injured! Take me to the hospital, please!
Vlad, a former ambulance paramedic, starts fiddling in a cramped car, unbuttoning the medical package and also shouting:
- Faster! Show the way!
Grandmother runs to the corner of Nielsen Street and freezes, pressed against the wall, does not go further. Everything is clear, the street is being shot through. Waving hand:
- There! There!
He points to the entrance to the courtyard, 20 meters from it, and immediately the end of the house will close us. Trying to get through in one throw, the engine roars, we don't hear the whistle of a bullet, but we can clearly hear the screech of a ricochet from the metal, on the other side of the avenue, already behind us.
Dirty, plague-ridden people in the cellars are waiting for us in the yard. I put a blanket on the back seat, Tatyana is dragged out of the basement, she screams at every step. Above the knee on the thigh is a bloodstain, but the artery and veins are not affected, lucky. Tatyana's manicure is striking, on gray, almost black hands. Another sign of underground life, the only consolation of Mariupol women. Tatyana spent 52 days in this cellar. It began to rain, she went out of the yard, to pick up pieces of metal torn from the roofs - to close the windows ... I ask who will accompany? Tatyana's husband, Igor:
- I have no documents!
The family's documents burned down along with the apartment, and few people understand what a disaster it is in the warring Mariupol. I promise that I will agree with the roadblocks and bring them back - another problem of the city without transport. I still try not to think about the fact that I will have to skip this corner of Prospekt Mira three more times. On the way to the infamous Regional Hospital, Tatyana says that she had a small shop. Father - a retired lieutenant colonel, lives in Rostov. Husband, Igor, a pensioner, a former judge, and he was afraid of document checks in vain. At checkpoints, it is enough to shout “Wounded!” and they wave their hands to us: “Drive faster!”.
"Enemies" and "Ours"
In that same unfortunate hospital, where a month ago, the living were lying in the corridors mixed with the dead , and the corpses were piled in heaps in empty wards, something subtly changed. For the better. Because it doesn't get any worse.
A minute and volunteers in white suits appear. Body armor is hidden underneath. They bring a bloody stretcher, and a couple of minutes later Tatyana is on the operating table. We are all taking a breath. I'm talking to volunteer Alexei. He is from Mariupol, he came to the hospital himself, he brought friends. With the future, he decided:
- I have all hopes only for Russia.
Already without a camera, Aleksey briefly, obscenely, characterizes the current Ukraine and what it has done to his hometown. Tatyana appears, jumps on one leg, but does not cry out, she was anesthetized. He shows a bag with a 7.62 bullet, and Vlad, for comparison, clicks a 5.45 cartridge out of the magazine. She says: “I was at the end of my life, so I kept up, went down and didn’t have the strength to break a bone.”
We do not leave Tatyana in this hospital, we tell her that "it will be better in the basement." We promise to bring to the dressing on Monday. Perhaps there will be no more snipers in the area. Hope.
We return back. We are greeted by the whole yard, thanked, vying with each other to tell how we lived in recent months. I remember the phrase: "Bread is now more expensive than gold, and only smoke is even more expensive." They show how a sniper and a grenade launcher hit their yard - they waited until everyone gathered with bowls near a common pan. Vitaly, a blacksmith from Azovstal, says:
- I then ran to the militia, crawled through. They came, put the DShK (Degtyarev-Shpagin heavy machine gun), hit it so hard that the sniper hung upside down through the window sill!
Then we are led to look at a small courtyard cemetery near the Ukrainian propaganda monument to the “Victims of the Holodomor”. After 2014, they were sculpted in all Russian-speaking cities of Ukraine, as a warning to Muscovites, cotton wool and separatists. After what happened in Mariupol, this symbol of the "new Ukraine" causes only righteous malice. On the way back,
I notice that the corner of the yard has been cleared, and the flower beds have been dug up and the first sprouts are already breaking through on them. And at the sight of these beds, no words are needed to understand how they want peace here.
Tatyana's neighbors, old-timers of the city, explain to us where these sniper groups come from deep in the rear:
- The center of Mariupol stands on the catacombs. According to legend, the Cossacks dug them, and they were also used during the Crimean War. Just stone was mined for construction. Everyone who grew up in the center knows where the exits are. One is just on our street, two more are also nearby, on Kuindzhi street and in the City Garden. But there are more of them, of course, in the spring the passages usually open in the beams.
Of course, the “Azovites”, who had been preparing Mariupol for defense for eight years, could not help but know about these catacombs. And we, unfortunately, heard about them only now. And it cost a lot of blood.
In parting, Tatyana tells us: “God sent me today both enemies and his own,” the most precious words of the day, we did not expect them, did not count on them ... A little later, in the car, my friend, Vlad from Poltava , notices that "black longing" let him go. It also made me feel a little better.
On April 7, 2022 Fannie Mae posted the following Consumer Outlook report.
"Consumer Pessimism Regarding Direction of Mortgage Rates Hits New Survey High"
IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: As the coronavirus (COVID-19) unfolded, the government imposed a foreclosure moratorium, a mortgage forbearance program, and mortgage servicing guideline which was the reason for the LOW Foreclosure Rates recorded in 2020 and 2021. With that foreclosure moratorium now lifted, the 2022-2023 reports will start to show the true US Housing Market situation.
Highlights contained in the report were:
* In March 2022, a survey-high 69% of respondents indicated that they expect mortgage rates to continue their upward ascent>.
* The "Good Time to Buy" component set a new survey low, with 73% of respondents reporting that it's a bad time to buy a home.
* Consumers are expecting their financial situations to worsen over the next year.
* Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) down 8.5 points compared to the same time last year.
* Home Price Expectations: Those responding feel home prices will continue to increase over the next 12 months increased from 46% to 48%.
* Mortgage Rate Expectations: the percentage of those who expect mortgage rates to go up increased from 67% to 69%.
#1
And those who own a buildable lot and have the $ to pay a builder to put up a house, are SOL due to supply chain problems getting building materials.
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 ||
04/16/2022 6:06 Comments ||
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#2
^ #1
Was in Home Depot, Lowe's and 84 Lumber RE-RE-pricing materials for a project I started before the world went crazy.
It seems the items are running anywhere between 14% to 40+% more depending on the item and IF in stock.
eg.
3/4" Plywood (Exterior) being the highest now at $63+ to $68 a sheet depending on which store.
#3
Bought my house in '94, the going rate for 30 year fixed as 10% with money down. Back then the banks had to borrow the money from the citizenry via savings at an attractive rate rather than just call up the Feds and get a nearly 0% stack to run things.
[Israel Unwired] Hamas and Hezbollah have raised the stakes against Israel by shifting focus from rockets to using assassin drones — gifted to them by Iran. In return, Israel has developed the means to stop the drone threat.
The Iron Beam using the latest laser technology, has the ability to knock out the drones and rockets before they do damage.
Why is this important?
In the next war, it is clear that Hezbollah and Hamas will attempt to work together to do maximum damage to Israel and the Jewish State’s infrastructure.
The Iron Beam is the first step to counteracting this threat.
[SHTF] A board member of German insurer BKK ProVita recently had analyzed the data of millions of insured individuals of the BKK group. The results conclude that the number of COVID-19 "vaccine" side effects is much higher than is being reported by the German federal agency and medical regulatory body, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI).
[NY Post] Finally, some common sense: In an open letter to President Joe Biden, 46 retired generals and admirals this week denounced the ongoing Iran deal negotiations.
"In Ukraine, we are bearing witness to the horrors of a country ruthlessly attacking its neighbor and, by brandishing its nuclear weapons, forcing the rest of the world largely to stand on the sidelines," they noted.
And: "The new Iran deal currently being negotiated, which Russia has played a central role in crafting, will enable the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to cast its own nuclear shadow over the Middle East."
Biden is hell-bent on putting a new Iran deal in place despite all those begging him not to. A group of 18 House Democrats this month warned that it would be an even bigger disaster now than the 2015 Obama accord (which then-President Donald Trump wisely killed). Top US diplomats have quit the negotiating team over the weak positions they’ve been ordered to take.
Israeli experts estimate that Iran could go nuclear within four to six months under the deal Biden’s minions are negotiating. Why offer major concessions to a hostile regime for that?
Of all the Biden policies that leave us scratching our heads, this one takes the cake
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2022 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#3
And his administration has overtly bullied financial institutions if they extend credit to oil/gas production and processing companies thereby blowing up their cash flows. Smaller firms are affected adversely.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/16/2022 13:03 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[SHTF] A board member of German insurer BKK ProVita recently had analyzed the data of millions of insured individuals of the BKK group. The results conclude that the number of COVID-19 "vaccine" side effects is much higher than is being reported by the German federal agency and medical regulatory body, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI).
