[FOX] South Carolina election ballots reportedly ended up in Maryland this week, after mail-in voting for the Palmetto State’s June 9 primary has already begun, according to local news reports.
South Carolina election officials may cut ties with the company they used, Minnesota printer SeaChange, over the mix-up after about 20 Charleston County absentee ballots were found outside the state, the reports say.
Election officials say this isn’t the first absentee ballot issue they’ve had with the company, which prints and mails ballots for 13 South Carolina counties.
Some voters in Greenville County received the wrong absentee ballots when the Democratic presidential primary and the special election for sheriff were held just 10 days apart, Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire told the Post and Courier. Voters in Charleston received ballots that were folded in a way that made them tough to read by scanning machines.
In a year that will see record numbers of absentee voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, the election integrity of absentee voting has become a major issue, particularly among Republicans who warn of possible voter fraud.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 15:12
Comments ||
Top||
#2
I had a lovely conversation with one of the clerks at the Butler County Board of Elections. It seems all of the 317 delayed votes came from the same post office — mine. She was very apologetic, and said our secretary of state is furious.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 17:29
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Gone are the days of the locally produced, organically grown voter fraud. Nowadays its all mass produced big label brands like Clinton, or Obama, or Pelosi. Sure, it says hand crafted in small batches, but everybody knows machine produce with a regional label.
[ZeroHedge] Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, American leftists have been repeatedly caught parroting the rhetoric of the CCP as they decried President Trump's use of the term "Chinese Virus" as racist while amplifying unfounded claims that President Trump is solely responsible for all of the deaths in the US, despite the growing body of evidence that the coronavirus was spreading in the US even earlier than initially believed (the first known death has been dated to Feb. 6 in California, which suggests the virus was likely spreading in the US before the end of January).
As a reminder, China didn't inform the world about the evidence of human to human transmission (which they likely possessed for 6+ weeks at that point) until Jan. 22.
Despite all of this, Democrats have taken a distinctly "soft on China" tack, in opposition to President Trump's increasing hawkishness, even going so far as to side with the CCP (which, remember, just put 1 million+ Muslims into concentration camps) over the White House, as the National Review pointed out in a recent article.
One of the most galling examples of this phenomenon to date occurred Thursday, when former Obama-era ambassador and noted Sinophile Max Baucus, also a former Democratic Senator from Montana, compared President Trump to Hitler during an appearance in the Chinese press. Good WHORES stay bought
The former U.S. ambassador to China during the Obama administration has compared President Trump to Adolf Hitler and Joseph McCarthy on Chinese state-run television.
Max Baucus, who served as Montana senator from 1978 to 2014 until he was appointed ambassador to Beijing, compared Trump’s rhetoric on China to that of Hitler and McCarthy during a May 6 interview on CNN. Since then, Baucus has appeared on Chinese state television and repeated his claims.
"Joe McCarthy [and] Adolf Hitler...rallied people up, making people believe things that were really not true," Baucus told China Global Television Network on May 12. "The White House and some in Congress are making statements against China that are so over the top and so hypercritical, they are based not on the fact, or if they are based on fact, sheer demagoguery, and that’s what McCarthy did in the 1950s."
This is a fairly disgusting article from Skynews. BLUF: do not go long bats. Sell the BAT ETF.
Until recently, bats were a popular product in the market (in Indonesia), but sellers say COVID-19 has had a big impact.
"Because of the coronavirus my business is down. I now sell around five to six kilos of bats, usually it's 50 or 40 kilos," Mr Igol says.
It's a similar story in the nearby Langowan traditional market.
"Selling bats is difficult at the moment because people are scared. They have heard that coronavirus comes from bats, so they are frightened," stall-holder Patrice says.
A little pile of bats on wooden skewers sits at the end of her table.
"I used to sell 100 to 200 kilos per day and now it's only 25 kilos. I take these home," she says.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/22/2020
08:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA—Sitting at the governor's desk at the Georgia state capitol, Stacey Abrams told reporters she would step down from her governorship if asked to run for vice president.
"If Biden asks me to run, I'll need to focus on that full-time," she said. "As much as I love running this great state, if the country needs me, I'll be there."
A security guard patrolling the capitol building then entered the governor's office. "Come on, Stacey. Time to go. How many times do we have to have this talk?"
"Classic Greg," she said, laughing. "He's a real jokester. Anyway, yes, if Biden decides he is not a racist and wants me to run, I'll be there, giving my all to make sure we win the White House. It will be tough, but I know the people of Georgia will understand why I need to leave them for a while to save this country."
"But really, you can't be here," the security guard said uncomfortably. "Don't make me drag you out of here again."
[Fox News] A Pakistan International Airlines plane carrying 107 people has crashed in Karachi on a flight from Lahore, according to officials.
The Airbus A320 was flying to Jinnah International Airport, one of the country's busiest airports. It was toward the end of a routine 90-minute flight when it crashed on approach for landing.
There were no immediate reports on the number of casualties. The plane was carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members, according to Abdul Sattar Kokhar, spokesman for the country's civil aviation authority.
Pictures and video on social media showed smoke billowing from the crash site.
The military quickly was sent to the scene, according to a series of tweets from a spokesperson for Pakistan's armed forces.
"Army Quick Reaction Force & Pakistan Rangers Sindh troops reached incident site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration. Details to follow," the first tweet read.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020
07:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
American Greatness via Instapundit
When the pandemic ends, future generations will say of us now living: Why did the United States chain itself to a slave state, so as to strengthen the bonds of the supply chain? Why did our political parties finalize trade agreements with the Chinese Communist Party? Why did so many do so little for so long, while the sick died and the living could not bury the dead?
These questions should cause us to question our beliefs about economics and our opinion of most economists, because no rational actor would risk his life by outsourcing the manufacture of life-saving drugs to a country with no respect for the dignity of human life. No person, except a lifeless corporation with the legal status of personhood, would call inefficiency evil but ignore calls to condemn the evildoers who run China with murderous efficiency.
No reasonable person would argue that the road to freedom runs through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
But no reasonable person would believe such things without first suspending disbelief, because for good people to accept the good intentions of Communists—that takes economics. It takes economists to ignore reality; it takes economics departments to teach history without studying geography, reducing the nature of the nation-state and life in a state of nature to a series of math problems; it takes a village of idiot savants to write like Lenin and sound like Lennon.
It takes gall to say economics is a science. How many MBAs ever heard of "external diseconomies"?
[AspenBeat] Martha Stewart and Michael Flynn have something in common. Both were nearly ruined for lying to the cops.
In Flynn’s case, the FBI wanted to bring a case against the new president for criminal treason. Only one thing was missing: Evidence of treason.
The FBI figured that Flynn, the president’s new National Security Advisor, might have some dirt on the president. They just needed some leverage to get him to dish it.
#1
I agree. Why should it be illegal to lie to anyone if you haven't been sworn into a court? Yes, the wiser move is to shut up. But they can blackmail you with your silence as well (even if that is supposedly illegal).
When questioning any suspect, officials should not ask questions whose answers they already know, for the sole purpose of seeing whether the suspect will lie. If they do ask such questions, untruthful answers should not be deemed “material” to the investigation, because the FBI already knew the truth.
The FBI should not discourage the suspect from having his lawyer present during the questioning, if a false answer will subject him to criminal liability. Even noble ends do not justify ignoble means, and some of the means used by the special counsel have, indeed, been ignoble.
[From the disorganized mess that is WhatFinger] A forthcoming Australian scientific study concludes that the coronavirus causing the global pandemic contains unique properties suggesting it was manipulated in a Chinese laboratory and was not the result of a natural occurrence.
Five scientists who conducted the study discovered an unusual ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as the pathogen behind COVID-19 is called, to easily infect humans.
The scientists said there is no sign so far that the virus can be found in other animals, including bats or the exotic wildlife sold for fresh meat at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first identified and where China maintains a major laboratory studying such viruses.
#1
Funny, when anyone else said the same thing, it was a conspiracy theory and Youtube buried the videos. You can find them on https://altcensored.com/
#5
Notably, this approach surprisingly revealed that the binding energy between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and ACE2 was highest for humans out of all species tested, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is uniquely evolved to bind and infect cells expressing human ACE2. This finding is particularly surprising as, typically, a virus would be expected to have highest affinity for the receptor in its original host species, e.g. bat, with a lower initial binding affinity for the receptor of any new host, e.g. humans. However, in this case, the affinity of SARS-CoV-2 is higher for humans than for the putative original host species, bats, or for any potential intermediary host species.
and
Although bats carry many coronaviruses including SARS-CoV, a relative of SARS-CoV-2, direct evidence for existence of SARS-CoV-2 in bats has not been found. As highlighted by our data, the binding strength of SARS-CoV-2 for bat ACE2 is considerably lower than for human ACE2,
suggesting that even if SARS-CoV-2 did originally arise from a bat precursor it must later have adapted its spike protein to optimise its binding to human ACE2. There is no current explanation for how, when or where this might have happened. Instances of direct human infection by coronaviruses or other bat viruses is rare with transmission typically involving an intermediate host.
[Jpost] The number of countries that have reported cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 and impacting children has nearly doubled in the past week to 13, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a daily briefing on Thursday.
New York, which has taken a lead in tracking the so-called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in the United States, is one of 25 US states with reported cases of the syndrome, Cuomo said.
[BLUF]
[Strategic Culture Foundation] The truth clearly was that Orwell never forgave himself for what he did as a young agent of empire in Burma. Even his literally suicidal decision to go to the most primitive, cold, wet and poverty-stricken corner of creation in a remote island off Scotland to finish "1984" in isolation before he died was consistent with the merciless punishments he had inflicted on himself all his life since leaving Burma.
The conclusion is clear: For all the intensity of George Orwell’s experiences in Spain, his passion for truth and integrity, his hatred of the abuse of power did not originate from his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. They all flowed directly from his own actions as an agent of the British Empire in Burma in the 1920s: Just as his creation of the Ministry of Truth flowed directly from his experience of working in the Belly of the Beast of the BBC in the early 1940s.
#3
This is the kind of hyperbole that forms the basis for the fake news pandemic.
Every one writing these days seems to have an obsession with producing the most over the top, dire descriptions for any and every little conundrum. It really is tiring to wade through the swamp to look for rationality.
[TheTimes] Oxfam is to cut nearly 1,500 staff and withdraw from 18 countries, with further jobs cuts expected at its Oxford headquarters.
Oxfam International said that the cuts would affect about 1,450 of almost 5,000 programme staff, and 700 of its 1,900 partner organisations.
The charity has been haemorrhaging money during the coronavirus outbreak after a slump in donations from the public in the UK because of the Haiti sex abuse scandal.
Oxfam is to close its operations in Afghanistan, where it has worked for 50 years, and in Thailand.
Oxfam Australia had already made deep cuts this month.
h/t Instapundit
[BBC] A head teacher says he is "sorry" if homework asking pupils to define types of hardcore pornography led them to undertake inappropriate web searches.
The work was given to children, aged 11 to 14, at Archbishop Sentamu Academy in Hull, the Hull Daily Mail reported.
Principal Chay Bell stressed the assignment did not require internet research as the answers were in the material the pupils were sent.
Leon Dagon was "flabbergasted" when he saw his 13-year-old sister's homework.
The work is part of pupils' Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) learning, the school said.
The students were asked to "define" topics including hardcore pornography, soft pornography as well as female genital mutilation and breast ironing.
They were also asked questions about alcohol, drugs and smoking, as part of the homework.
Mr Dagon, who took to Facebook to share his concerns, said: "My little sister knows make-up and TikTok at the age of 13. She doesn't know about hardcore porn, and then asking her to define it.
"The majority of children nowadays will now go on the internet to help them with their homework and if you type that kind of thing on the internet, God knows what's going to pop up." Poor children, they're going to be irreparably hurt.
#2
Why do children need to be taught the various degrees of p0rnography? Those interested will figure it out on their own, and the rest will be happier devoting brain space to something useful and interesting.
[Jpost] The number of Iranians asking Israel for help has spiked in recent months, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
“Thousands of people are asking to come to Israel for medical assistance or to emigrate,” according to Yiftah Curiel, head of Digital Diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry.
The requests have arrived mostly through private messages on the Foreign Ministry’s social media accounts in Persian, as well as from e-mails. Some have been made openly, in public comments on social media, but by accounts using pseudonyms.
Curiel said many of the messages are serious asylum requests.
“Sometimes they are from people who have been forced to flee and are refugees in other countries, or people who had to flee after expressing solidarity with Israel,” he stated.
One of the messages they received was from a 31-year-old man who said he “had to escape Iran because of the corrupt regime. I asked for asylum in Turkey, and my wife and 4-year-old daughter and I are in unlivable conditions; there is no one who can help. We have been abandoned and our lives are in danger.”
Another is from a soldier in the Iranian army who said he is Jewish: “Because of my political and religious crime, I have to flee Iran. Please direct me how to receive asylum in Israel? Please answer me. My life is in danger and I cannot stay in Iran.”
Avginsaz moved to Israel from Iran in 1988, and said she thinks Iranians see Israel much differently than they did then, when they could only hear about Israel from official regime propaganda channels.
“Today, there is the Internet and our platforms, and more awareness,” she said. “These messages prove the Iranians see that anti-Israel propaganda is a lie.”
She used to answer every message the Persian accounts received, but now there are too many to respond to all of them.
“I try to answer as many as I can… but we don’t really have the ability to help them. I try to answer positively and wish them luck,” she said.
The Foreign Ministry’s Persian accounts are among their most successful, with a higher rate of engagement than some of their English channels, Curiel said.
“We have a very receptive audience,” he said. “There are lots of Iranians in Iran and in the Diaspora that support Israel, reject the regime and want to see a different future between the two countries.”The Foreign Ministry has accounts on five social media platforms at its Jerusalem headquarters – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and YouTube – in English, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Persian. The Persian Twitter account has 220,000 followers and there are almost 500,000 on Instagram.
Posts on the popular Instagram account vary, from announcing the opening of beaches in Israel this week to recommending The Spy, the Netflix series about Israeli agent in Syria Eli Cohen.
[Jpost] The settlement, signed on Tuesday, commits the National Lawyers Guild to refraining from discriminating against Israelis.
In a significant legal victory against efforts to boycott Israelis and the State of Israel, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG),
...founded in 1936 as a Communist front group in competition with the American Bar Association, so they deserve every loss inflicted on them...
a civil rights group in the US which supports such a boycott, has come to a settlement with an Israeli organization for refusing to grant it advertising space in one of its publications.
#2
I had no intention of implying anything, Mercutio — that’s the literal history of the group. I was shocked — I had no idea such ancient groups were not only still around, but active.
[American Thinker] I want to report a robbery in progress. Be on the lookout for the governors of California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. They are attempting to steal from the federal treasury in order to make up for decades of unfunded liabilities. Known associates include Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. They should be considered manipulative and dangerous and likely to stab innocent Americans from behind. Caution is advised.
I only partially jest. Right now, most Americans think the biggest story in the country is a virus from Wuhan, China that has shut down their places of business and forced their families into house arrest. That's only part of the story. There's another part being actively gamed out by shady political operatives in the smoke-filled back rooms of every "dark blue" statehouse, city hall, and precinct captain pool hall around the country: how they can turn this once-in-multiple-generations "black swan" economic catastrophe into a goldmine that gets them out of hock with their many creditors. The Democratic Party is attempting to cash in on the nation's current pandemic fears so that they may finally dig themselves out from the mountains of debt they've created through vote-buying schemes and interest group bribes that have kept them in continuous power of their state and city governments while creating the most financially insolvent treasuries in the nation.
The truth is that our present pandemic nightmare has set in motion an event that has been fermenting for over fifty years. Corrupt Democrat politicos have been fraudulently using the tax-and-spend powers of their offices to keep their natural constituencies financially beholden to their electoral success for generations and generations with no immediate plan for solving their growing financial albatross except the ephemeral hope that one day, somehow, they'd be able to offload the cost of all that graft and corruption onto the federal government's tab for the national taxpayers from faraway states to pay. Great-granddaddy Democrats who paid off dock workers or butchers or ice vendors for their votes by robbing from the treasury taught the lesson from one generation of grifters to the next, who used the same neat trick with ethnic groups and public unions and anybody else who saw no problem with getting rich and powerful in the present day while leaving the bill for future generations to settle.
Along the way, those same "ballot-harvesters" let each generation in on a dirty little secret: the outrageously generous pension plans and health benefits and other financial perks they handed out over the years had grown so big that they could never be paid down without the federal government's help. Since Uncle Sam would never let them go bankrupt and destroy the financial health of American citizens trapped behind blue state lines, their state and city money pits were simply "too big to fail." Someday, some public emergency would set off a cascading economic calamity that would finally allow them to sweep up all the "debt for votes" Democratic Party deficits into one giant, inscrutable, and byzantine federal bailout. And young Democrats are today calling up their old corrupt grand-pappies or toasting the ones who have long since departed and saying, "Here at last, all our great sins will be washed away, so that we may begin buying votes again with a clean slate."
[American Thinker] Half a year after the failed attempt to impeach President Trump over his "pressure" on Ukraine, a topic of the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine will be yet again getting close attention and presumably making it hot and sweaty in the Delaware basement.
A reason for that is a political scandal that burst out in Kiev on May 19, when a member of Ukrainian Parliament Andrey Derkach called a press conference where he released audio records of the phone calls between "individuals whose voices sound like" those of ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Vice President Joseph Biden, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry who discussed the course of Ukrainian domestic policy in very precise detail. On that tapes, Joe Biden factually tells Poroshenko what to do, and Poroshenko seeking advice, cooperates his actions and frankly reassures Biden that all his orders will be executed. Mr. Derkach said that the contents of those records are sufficient to incriminate Poroshenko a treason. As for our side of the pond, the tables are rapidly turning against Biden, who, so far, "magically" shrugged off all corruption accusations.
#3
Not Joe Biden voters, no. But how many Bernie Sanders voters will stay away in disgust or vote Trump in revenge, and how many more Trump voters will ford flowing lava to get to the polls?
#4
It is hard to understand why in tha face of corruption, criminality and sedition, many average Democrats don't reject and want to move away from that.
[Washington Examiner] A top Palestinian official said intelligence-sharing with the CIA has ended as a result of Israel’s plan to annex land in the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, announced the move Thursday, according to Reuters. Erekat said that Palestinian officials had already notified the CIA about the move after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced in a speech that all agreements with Israel and the United States were no longer valid.
"Things change, and we have decided it is time now to change," Erekat said.
The CIA declined to comment when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former opposition leader Benny Gantz made a deal to form a government earlier this month and have expressed plans to annex parts of the West Bank identified as areas belonging to Israel as laid out in President Trump’s peace deal. The potential move has been met with anger by Palestinians, with Abbas announcing an end to cooperation with Israel and the U.S. on Tuesday.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that Palestinian forces have begun to end cooperative policing in certain areas of the West Bank in response to the potential annexation.
"In light of the president’s instructions about ceasing security coordination, the Israeli side was notified," the official said.
The increasingly tense situation comes after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israel and met with government officials. Prior to his visit, he denied reports that the U.S. is trying to get Israel to back away from the move and said it would be "a decision that the Israelis will make."
Israeli officials confirmed Thursday that Abbas is following through with the threat to end security cooperation despite making similar threats in the past.we
#5
This is obviously the Arkansas chicken truck strategy, which calls for the driver to overload the flatbed by a good 50%. You can do that but it necessitates stopping and whacking all Hell out of the side of the truck, thus keeping the birds airborne for another 10 miles.
In this case plainly Klobuchar needs must be the truck driver. Thus when Uncle Badfinger goes off the reservation she can break out a cricket bat and get him back on narrative. Fortunately the adults are in charge.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia man whose cellphone video of Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting helped reignite the case was charged with murder Thursday, making him the third person arrested more than two months after the slaying.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 50-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. was arrested on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. No other details were given. The GBI said in a statement that it would hold a news conference Friday morning.
Arbery was slain Feb. 23 when a white father and son armed themselves and pursued him after spotting the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood. More than two months passed before authorities arrested Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Gregory McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot.
Bryan lives in the same subdivision just outside the port city of Brunswick, and the video he took from the cab of his vehicle helped stir a national outcry when it leaked online May 5.
#7
Gun toting redneck shooters were in no life threatening danger. They could have easily followed at a distance and summoned the police via cellie.... but no. Not sure what William Bryan had to do with it.
#14
RJ, the perps believed they were in the right. The guy who was shooting the video felt the same way and believed the video would be exonerating. Can't we just send these people to work for the Biden campaign?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 14:35
Comments ||
Top||
#4
This never happened during a Democratic administration, so it must be Trump's fault.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/22/2020 10:48
Comments ||
Top||
#5
When i was in Resolute canada in 1990 the north magnetic pole was 200 miles NW. things are picking up.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/22/2020 11:55
Comments ||
Top||
#6
If the poles are in the process of reversing it will happen over several thousand years, according to scientists, who say it's unlikely the field will disappear completely.
Unlikely. So they say.
Happens every 250K years, but last time was 750K years ago. So, we are rather more than overdue.
So what would be the practical effect of this flip? no protection from solar radiation for x days? Earthquakes? We have to paint N on the S of our compasses?
And how are satellites malfunctioning because of it because that doesn't compute in my head.
#8
...actually the earth is 'lumpy' not a perfect sphere. As the mass of the earth shifts around so does the relationships of the 'parking' spots for the sats. They have to be adjusted to keep them positioned to do their work.
#9
As the mass of the earth shifts around so does the relationships of the 'parking' spots for the sats
I blame Stacy Abrams
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 19:14
Comments ||
Top||
#10
@rjschwarz Hard to say. More cosmic rays incoming. So possibly a lot more clouds and resulting cooling and changes in weather patterns. It could last a long time. Bird migration affected.
#12
Only satellites in geostationary orbit care about parking spots and I would think they are so far away that the magnetic field would be irrelevant.
#13
Gravity varies slightly from place to place. Time varies slightly depending on your altitude and geo position. So very much fun. Gravity is a constant. Not. Time is immutable. Not. Speed of light is a constant. Says who? All the dummies that 'lernt it frum bookz?' I hate physicists.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/22/2020 22:37
Comments ||
Top||
#14
#11: depends on your frame of reference. :)
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/22/2020 22:38
Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] New law bars cooperation with Zionists, including ’hardware and software,’ as crime against God. So, no computers, internet, cellphones; healthcare ravaged; and no BMW for Khamenei
Ahead of its annual al-Quds Day orgy of Israel-bashing on Friday, Iran’s parliament has unanimously passed legislation banning "any cooperation" with Israel — specifically including the use of Israeli computer hardware and software — as a crime against God.
In normal years, al-Quds day is marked across the Islamic Theocratic Republic by orchestrated anti-Israel marches and speeches, the trampling and burning of Israeli flags, and other displays of hatred rather at odds with the regime’s frequent assurances to the international community that its friendly and peace-loving leaders have no interest whatsoever in acquiring nuclear weapons.
Continued on Page 49
[Breitbart] Baltimore Mayor Jack Young (D) wants President Donald Trump to cancel his plans to visit the city’s Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine on Memorial Day, citing health concerns stemming from the Chinese coronavirus and the price tag attached to a presidential visit.
"I wish that the President, as our nation’s leader, would set a positive example and not travel during this holiday weekend," Young said, according to CBS Baltimore. "I would hope that the President would change his mind and decide to remain at home. If he decides, however, to move forward with his scheduled trip to Baltimore we will, of course, be prepared for his visit."
Young also said the city "can’t afford to shoulder" the cost of the president’s visit as it loses $20 million monthly.
This week, the White House announced President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will travel to Baltimore Monday.
"The City of Baltimore remains under a Stay at Home order that was put in place to help safeguard our residents from the dangers associated with COVID-19," the president said in a statement. "We have worked closely with our health professionals to educate the public about the benefits of social distancing and staying home, unless leaving for an essential reason, like visiting a doctor or picking up groceries."
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), a frequent critic of the Trump administration, said he will not meet with the president and instead plans to celebrate his birthday with family.
[ToloNews] The US Defense Department has not withheld $1 billion in funding from Afghan cops despite Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vow on March 23 to cut that sum "immediately," five sources familiar with the matter said.
The Pentagon has been reluctant to shave the funds announced by Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper has not provided guidance to his agency on how to carry it out, three sources told Rooters.
It was unclear why the cut has not been made, whether President Donald Trump
Continued on Page 49
#1
From an electoral standpoint, Afghans hanging onto the skids of US helicopters would not be a good visual for November. If cuts are to be made, they should be implemented upon Trump's re-election, if that materializes. Biden would certainly carry them out to make room for the progressive wish list.
[ToloNews] Offensives mounted by Afghan forces have intensified in the west of the country, the senior deputy minister of interior, Lt. Gen. Abdul Saboor Qane, said on Wednesday, amid an increase in Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... attacks in many provinces.
The deputy minister, who visited Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... on Wednesday, said the government forces' operations are being launched in insecure areas in the west.
The Afghan forces operations against the Taliban were resumed last week following an order from President Ghani to switch from "active defense" to "offense" mode. A rise in violence generally by the krazed killer group, and two attacks with high civilian casualties in Kabul and Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , led Ghani to order the new military posture.
Speaking of the new "offense" mode", Lt. Gen Qane said: "We want to show it in practice, based on the issued order, that our forces have switched to offense mode instead of defensive," Qane said.
Herat residents, meanwhile, called on the warring sides to agree to a ceasefire during the Eid days.
"Our demand from the Taliban is to stop killing during Eid days," said Safiullah Yaran, a Herat resident.
"We call on the Taliban to join the grinding of the peace processor," said Omid Iman, a Herat resident.
[ToloNews] In Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , the convoy of Chaparhar district governor Mohammad Seddiq Dawlatzai was targeted by a jacket wallah on Thursday afternoon, said local officials.
The attack took place at 03:00 pm in Behsud district, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives close to Dawlatzai’s convoy, leaving him and his son maimed, said officials.
"The maimed are in stable, pH balanced condition," officials said.
However, ars longa, vita brevis... the officials did not provide further details about the attack.
[KhaamaPress] The Department of Defense (Pentagon) released its latest report outlining Pakistain’s continued support to Taliban ...Arabic for students... and the notorious Haqqani terrorist network.
The Pentagon report, prepared by the Inspector General, complied with the helip of the Department of State and United States Agency for International Development, covers the period from January to March of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.
"Pakistain continues to harbor the Taliban and associated murderous Moslem groups in Pakistain, such as the Haqqani Network, which maintains the ability to conduct attacks against Afghan interests," the report said.
The report also added that Islamabad has encouraged the Afghan Taliban to participate in peace talks but that it "refrained from applying coercive pressure that would seriously threaten its relationship with the Afghan Taliban to dissuade the group from conducting further violence."
This comes as Pak leaders have repeatedly assured Washington that they support peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... Pentagon stated in its report that Islamabad’s primary strategic objective in Afghanistan is to counter its regional archrival, India, and prevent the spillover of instability from the neighboring country.
"Pakistain likely views increased Taliban influence in Afghanistan as supporting its overall objectives and will seek to influence intra-Afghan peace talks in a direction favorable to Pakistain," the report noted.
Iran: More than 10,000 health care workers infected with virus
[IsraelTimes] Figure is over 10 times higher than earlier reports , which put the number of infected health care workers at only 800. Iran says more than 100 of those workers have died. Tehran advises against travel during coming Eid al-Fitr festival as virus cases mount. The Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is expected to begin on Sunday in Iran.
The Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS), the largest social security and welfare institute in Italy, says in a new study that the official death figures were not “reliable.”
Its study shows that 156,42 total deaths were recorded in Italy in March and April, which is 46,909 higher than the average number of fatalities in those months recorded between 2015 and 2019.
But only 27,938 deaths linked to coronavirus were reported during that period by the Civil Protection Agency, whose toll forms the basis of national statistics, the INPS says.
IMF approves $396 million for Jordan to fight coronavirus
[IsraelTimes] The International Monetary Fund approves $396 million for Jordan to fight the coronavirus pandemic, a disbursement equal to about a quarter of its projected need amid the global economic downturn. The funds are the latest from the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument, which allows nations to circumvent the lengthy negotiations usually required to secure a full economic assistance program — time most countries do not have as they struggle to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
BREAKING: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will NOT comply with the new guidance from Governor Walz that only allows 10 people inside or outside churches. A letter to parishes across the state is signed by Archbishop Hebda and all six bishops in the state. https://t.co/PyzFIorMed
Stem Cells for CV, is there anything they can't do?
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Broadway set designer makes medical history after becoming first American to receive placental cell treatment for coronavirus under FDA's 'compassionate use' rules
Edward Pierce, 49, is acclaimed Broadway scenic designer for plays like Wicked
Pierce fell ill with COVID-19 and was treated at a hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey
Doctors grew concerned as his condition deteriorated due to organ failure
There was little hope, so his wife agreed to use an untested method
Pierce was administered placental cells in around 15 parts of his body
Within 10 days, he was off a ventilator and breathing on his own
The placental cell therapy was developed by an Israeli biotechnology firm
Pierce was given treatment as part of 'compassionate use'
President Donald Trump said “we are not closing our country” if the U.S. is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections.
“People say that’s a very distinct possibility, it’s standard,” Trump said when asked about a second wave during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.
“We are going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country,” Trump said. “We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we are not closing our country.”
I fully expect that the corona virus, like every other virus, will reappear when the weather turns colder again. And I'm prepared for the renewed hysterical shrieking from the media (that is, assuming that it ever stops.) But the economic suicide that we're indulging in should never be repeated.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/22/2020 16:42
Comments ||
Top||
[Zero Hedge] Just when you thought the world has reached a level of peak absurdity, the Nigerian scheme makes a grand reappearance.
Washington state officials admitted losing "hundreds of millions of dollars" to an international fraud scheme, originating out of Nigeria, that robbed the state’s unemployment insurance system and could mean even longer delays for thousands of jobless workers still waiting for legitimate benefits. "Why are we sending all these EBT Cards to Lagos?"
As the Seattle Times reported, Suzi LeVine, commissioner of the state Employment Security Department (ESD), disclosed the staggering losses during a news conference Thursday afternoon. LeVine declined to specify how much money was stolen during the scam, which she said appears to be orchestrated out of Nigeria but she conceded that the amount was "orders of magnitude above" the $1.6 million that ESD reported losing to fraudsters in April.
While LeVine said state and law enforcement officials were working to recover as much of the stolen money as possible, she declined to say how much had been returned so far. She also said the ESD had taken "a number of steps" to prevent new fraudulent claims from being filed or paid but would not specify the steps to avoid alerting criminals.
Thursday’s disclosure helped explain the unusual surge in the number of new jobless claims filed last week in Washington, which as we showed this morning was the state with the highest weekly increase in claims....
#1
In related news, Washington state is happy to announce that a Nigerian prince is willing to share his family's fortune that has been held in Nairobi bank until the bank gets $10,000 for lawyers fees. After forwarding the money, Washington state expects to receive their share any day now.
#4
My guess is that the only Nigerian Princess with a real job works in the Washington State Unemployment Office. That my friends is what is called irony.
[FoxNews] Dead drunk: Mayor lies in a coffin and pretends to be a coronavirus victim to avoid arrest after breaking curfew rules to go drinking in Peru Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of a small town in southern Peru, accused of breaking coronavirus lockdown to go drinking with friends Drinkin can make folk stupid
When police turned up he jumped into a coffin and pretended to have died Officers were not fooled and charged him with breaking nationwide curfew Torres has been accused by locals of failing to take the virus seriously Here's how to help people impacted by Covid-19
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8343297/Peru-mayor-pretends-dead-police-arrest-breaking-lockdown.html
Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of a small town in Peru, jumped into an open casket and pretended to be dead when police arrived to arrest him for breaking curfew
The Americas is now at the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic, with the region seeing coronavirus case totals and deaths rise faster than any other region.
The region currently has 2.1million cases of coronavirus, a higher total than previous epicentre Europe which has 1.9million.
Europe still has the most deaths of any region at more than 169,000, but deaths in the Americas are increasing at a faster rate.
Peru has recorded a total of 104,020 cases and 3,024 deaths, and is among the top four countries in terms of the rate at which deaths are increasing.
Brazil and Mexico, also in the Americas, are also on the list along with Russia.
In total, there are now more than 5million cases of coronavirus confirmed worldwide after the WHO reported the single-largest daily increase of the pandemic Wednesday at 106,000.
Charts showing the world's biggest military spenders as of 2019, according to the SIPRI data.
China will increase its military budget by a slower 6.6% this year, the government announced at the opening session of its annual National People's Congress@AFPgraphicspic.twitter.com/tUcEjBNHNd
#4
I don't buy the numbers for China. China spends way more than 1.9% of its GDP. A lot of it is lumped under "Domestic security" items as well. Some agencies think it is closer to 6%.
[gCaptain] Canadian and Alaskan crude that normally travels to the U.S. West Coast is finding a market in China, where demand is almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
The Sofia became the second oil tanker in less than a month to ship Alaskan oil to Qingdao, China, when it left Valdez over the weekend, data compiled by Bloomberg show. At about the same time, the Maria Princess left Vancouver also bound for Qingdao, becoming at least the third oil tanker to sail from British Columbia for China this year. Draft readings indicate the ships were full when they departed.
The vast majority of Alaskan as well as Canadian oil, shipped down the Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia, typically winds up supplying refineries in either Washington state or California.
Recently, those flows have been disrupted amid depressed U.S. West Coast oil consumption caused by state-ordered lockdowns. By contrast, China, the country that suffered first from the virus, is further along in opening back up. Demand in the Asian nation dropped by close to 20% in February but fuel consumption has since rebounded as factories reopen and commuters drive rather than use public transport. Oil demand is now all but recovered there, according to people familiar.
Alaska North Slope oil prices have surged to near parity with West Texas Intermediate futures after collapsing to a discount of $9.50 last month, the widest in data going back to the early 1990s, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The price collapse coincided with reduced demand by U.S. West Coast refiners and prompted Alyeska to cut flows on the Alaska pipeline.
Last month, the U.S.-flagged Alaskan Navigator sailed from Valdez, signaling China as its destination. Maria Princess follows the tankers Mitera Marigo and Mare Oriens in sailing from Vancouver to China. Pipelines got to keep moving Alaska crude to prevent wax buildup.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/22/2020
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[17 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
My finest off the cuff riposte of all time: I was sitting in a bar having a drink while waiting to see the restored version of Touch of Evil. A guy and his lady friend, both pretty well oiled were sitting next to me at the bar. The woman admires my Breitling and asks me if it's a diver's watch. I tell her no, it's a pilot's watch. The guy then asks "But is it waterproof?" I replied "Not if you are a good pilot."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 7:23
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Too bad Timex owns the immortal tag line "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"
[Just The News] Democrat Ralph Northam invoked executive privilege to initially block release of travel dates but relented on appeal.
On a Saturday night in the dead of August last year, Virginia taxpayers footed the bill as a state-operated plane roared from Richmond to one of North Carolina's desirable beach destinations. The King Air 350 turboprop made the journey twice in six hours.
The VIP passengers? Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, the first lady of Virginia.
The listed purpose for a back-and-forth jaunt? The Northams took a brief break Aug. 31, 2019 from their Outer Banks beach vacation home in Manteo, N.C., to attend a horse race at the Colonial Downs track back in their home state and ceremoniously hand out a trophy to the winner. Then, they went back to the beach.
The trip is one of about two dozen that the Northams took to and from their beach home at taxpayer's expense since January 2019, spending part or all of 65 days in the North Carolina resort community, according to travel records obtained by Just the News under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act.
The governor's public calendar posted online for citizens to see does not show the trips or dates, and when Just the News first sought the records, Northam invoked executive privilege to deny release of his office calendar notations showing the dates he stayed at the beach home.
Just the News appealed, and the governor's office on Wednesday night relented and provided the calendar notations for his Outer Banks trips.
Those records show Northam spent about 13% of his last 505 days in office at his out-of-state beach home, which he first bought more than a decade ago as a private doctor before he was elected to the Virginia legislature or governor's mansion.
Dare County, N.C., tax records show the Northams' beach home is valued at more than $579,000, was built in 2001, and has four bedrooms and three bathrooms spread out over more than 2,500 square feet.
The governor's spokeswoman said Northam makes no apologies for the frequent trips, which cost taxpayers pilot time, driver time, fuel, and security detail expenses.
"The Governor has owned his house on the Outer Banks for over 16 years, prior to entering politics. He and the First Lady sold their Hampton Roads home (a short drive from Manteo) shortly after moving to the Executive Mansion, but like other governors, he continues to maintain a property outside of Richmond," spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky told Just the News.
"He travels there occasionally on the weekends, but has not been there since travel restrictions were put in place, nor since Stay at Home Orders went into effect. As you know, it is required that a governor's security detail go where the governor goes ‐ as with previous governors, this includes travel to their properties outside of the Executive Mansion," she added.
Emails released under the FOIA show that Northam's aides on some occasions had to schedule official events around the first family's many trips to Manteo, or decline invitations for official appearances. For instance, a June 5, 2019 email from aide David Cary to the first lady declined an invitation for her to attend a state business opening because she was going to be at the beach house.
"Just an FYI that this invite came in today for a day when you are in Manteo. I congratulated them on the opening and thanked them for thinking of us but said that evening doesn't work," Carey wrote the first lady.
#2
I know it's easy to dismiss this, well, the governor with all the usual observations and critiques so often brought to the fore. That he is a stooge, or moon walking simpleton, or that favorite of the Rt 15 corridor, congenital maturbator.
But a closer look reveals a, well, the governor left behind by the world like Charles Foster Kane. Consider his pitiful future after leaving the peoples' house in Richmond. Endlessly annoying capable adults with his incoherent stammering and moonwalk.
Tragically reduced at length to wandering downcast along the back streets with his colorful little jacket and tin cup in perennial search of that organ grinder who is never again to appear.
#6
Apologies, TW, I tried to break this informal survey of opinion as gently as possible. I DID leave out the more sprightly thoughts from the tawdry flesh pots of Loudon co.
No Borgia, I. But I was a junior teamster several lives ago.
Neither Cuban, although I grew up around a lot of Cuban and Hungarian refugees. I must admit I didn't fully appreciate what some of my school mates had been through.
Cut em off from any and all Fed funding, including student loans. See how they cooperate then.? They're already in an economic death spiral, they just don't know it yet
[Breitbart] Several universities around the nation are currently under investigation by the Department of Education over their alleged financial ties to the Chinese government. A report published this week suggests that many universities are refusing to comply with a standard request to produce internal documents.
According to a report by the College Fix, several universities and colleges that are under investigation by the Department of Education are refusing to release internal documents that may contain evidence of undisclosed financial grants from the Chinese government.
The report claims that lawyers for several universities refused to comply with a request to produce documents, arguing that they were entitled to privacy under "Freedom of Information Act exemptions and legal privileges." A letter from the Department of Education did not name the universities and colleges that have refused to comply with the request for documents.
Department of Education General Counsel Reed Rubinstein believes that many American universities and colleges have been compromised by foreign governments, China being one of the primary governments in question. "However, the evidence suggests massive investments of foreign money have bred dependency and distorted the decision making, mission, and values of too many institutions," Rubinstein said.
The Department of Education announced in February that it would investigate Harvard and Yale over their failure to disclose millions of dollars in gifts from foreign governments.
Universities and colleges are, however, entitled to some privacy due to the structure of the United States government. Rubinstein noted that the Department of Education will not be permitted to publicly release all of the documents that they receive from universities and colleges.
"Inappropriate disclosure of confidential information could lead to separation of powers concerns and will certainly impair the factfinding and enforcement work Congress has authorized us to do," Rubinstein added.
Breitbart News reported this week that Case Western Reserve Professor Qing Wang was arrested over his undisclosed financial ties with the Chinese government. Wang had reportedly failed to disclose his affiliations with several Chinese universities when applying for a multi-million grant from the National Institutes of Health for research he was conducting at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Turning point?
Not unrelated: the U. California is going to eliminate all test requirements for California applicants at the same time that the Assembly's Hispanic bloc is planning to overturn the ban on racial preferences in admissions.
People looking back 25 years from now will point to the Obama / China / identity politics era as the beginning of the precipitous decline in the quality of elite US universities.
#2
Indeed, Lex. And universities are already under some pressure from not only distance learning, but also companies no longer requiring a university sheep skin. But I also have little sympathy for these universities. They raised tuitions wildly knowing that they'd get their dough through the [guaranteed] student loan program.
#3
No problem. The gov't and taxpayer can quickly "refuse to cooperate" by cutting any and all funding to these institutions. Have a nice day communist SOB's.
[JustTheNews] A federal appeals court Thursday has agreed to hear a request from Michael Flynn's legal team to remove the district judge overseeing his case, and has also ordered the judge to explain his controversial and unorthodox conduct in handling it.
Judge Emmett Sullivan has been given a June 1 deadline to respond. The government has also been invited to "respond in its discretion" during that window.
Flynn's legal team had filed a request on Tuesday asking the appeals court to remove Judge Emmett Sullivan from the case, claiming the judge was biased against the defendant. Following the Justice Department's request earlier this month to dismiss the case against Flynn, Sullivan had appointed retired federal Judge John Gleeson to file an amicus curiae brief arguing in favor of not dropping the case against the general.
Flynn's lawyers sharply criticized Sullivan's handling of the case.
"The district judge's latest actions - failing to grant the Government's Motion to Dismiss, appointing a biased and highly-political amicus who has expressed hostility and disdain towards the Justice Department's decision to dismiss the prosecution, and the promise to set a briefing schedule for widespread amicus participation in further proceedings - bespeaks a judge who is not only biased against Petitioner, but also revels in the notoriety he has created by failing to take the simple step of granting a motion he has no authority to deny," the Tuesday petition read.
It accused Sullivan of being "an umpire who has decided to steal public attention from the players and focus it on himself. He wants to pitch, bat, run bases, and play shortstop." If an appeals court is ordering a judge to explain his actions, they are really fucking serious about this. Hopefully Sullivan gets thrown off the bench soon.
#4
...yes. For the last hundreds years the judiciary as granted itself powers and purview that is not in the Constitution or granted by the legislative branch. It's all pretense. Or an awareness that if he can do it, then all those Trump 'young' appointed judges can play the same game for a long time to whomever follows.
#10
As a Twitter thread from an appellate court laywer found by John Sexton explains: Yes, it's a huge deal.
Most of the thread is below, but here are the main points:
1. The appellate court could have just dismissed this motion out of hand, which they do most of the time. (As I noted, when you're dealing with a jailhouse lawyer's frivolous filings, it's only a matter of time before he cries prejudice and demands a new judge.)
They did not do this, obviously. They're taking this seriously. That fact means that this motion has already cleared a "huge hurdle" -- the appellate court accepts that this is serious matter requring their attention and not just a desperate last-chance gamble.
2. They could have politely "invited" Sullivan to file a reply with the court. Which is friendly and collegial.
They did not. They "ordered" him to. Which is unfreindly and reminds Sullivan who the ranking officers are here.
3. They could have asked an amicus -- a friend of the court; a respected lawyer or judge or legal commentator -- to file a reply on Sullivan's behalf and thereby spare him the indignity of having to, effectively, defend himself and act as his own lawyer.
They did not do that. They insisted that Sullivan himself reply.
This all seems like good news.
The three judges on this panel were appointed by Reagan, Obama, and Trump.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] New Yorkers are removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service.
Residents in the Big Apple were seen gathering outside bars and restaurants Wednesday night, tempted by the rising temperatures and seeking a way to relax while they grow increasingly weary of isolating inside their homes.
Public drinking is strictly prohibited in the state and offenders can be slapped with fines, but the pandemic has sparked a defiance among many residents who - unable to sit inside bars or restaurants - are setting up shop outside them.
More restaurants and bars have started reopening and turning to takeout beers and cocktails in recent weeks as a way to keep the lights on as New York City has not yet reached all the requirements necessary for a safe reopening of non-essential businesses.
Such dramatics! A reminder, dear state attorney general: you are not the boss of the president of the United States..
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
Michigan's attorney general said President Donald Trump will be told not to come back if he refuses to wear a face mask when he tours a Ford Motor plant
'Honestly, if he fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facility inside our state,' Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told CNN
Michigan requires some type of face covering in public enclosed spaces
Nessel threatened to take legal action against Ford Motors if the president doesn't wear a face covering
[WashingtonTimes] 'I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it'
President Trump wore a mask while touring a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan Thursday, deliberately out of view of TV cameras.
“I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” the president told reporters after his tour.
He pulled out of his pocket a Navy blue mask that appeared to have the presidential seal on it, showing it to reporters without putting it on again.
The Ford plant in Ypsilanti is building ventilators instead of cars and trucks, to help in the fight against the coronavirus crisis.
Ford confirmed in a statement that the president did wear a mask during his tour on the plant floor, as per company policy.
“[Chairman] Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived,” the company said. “He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The president later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit.”
#3
And why is Michigan suddenly suffering from an outbreak of Bitchy Female Elected Officials?
Never registered for the draft? Haven't had the epiphany that you didn't own your own body? That one day you might be asked to give the 'last full measure of devotion' for all that power you throw around?
The law, the authority behind the law, and the power derived from the consent of the governed. You can claim any of it, but ultimately if you don't have the consent it means you're just screaming at the moon. Consent is not established by any ritual. Consent can be withdrawn at anytime when those you claim for your legitimacy decide its not a good day to die.
#7
Sorry, have to agree that no mask is bad in several wys: it gives fuel to the '2sets of rules' class, but more importantly, in other situations where unmasked folks entered a business there was a period devoted to deep cleaning the areas that person was in. What give DJT super no Covid coties powers? And how much down time followed to clean the place up?
IMHO, he stepped in it this time.
#8
Screw the bitch. And screw the masks. We should only wear them if we want to, and every show of defiance to this BS attitude of 'Do as I say or else!" is a good one. He didn't step in it, he rubbed their faces in their own nonsense, and more people should to the same.
He is taking hydroxychloroquine and zinc daily as a prophylactic. Also, he wore a mask inside the factory, but not outside for the press.
Separately, it isn’t just Bitchy Michigan Females, but Bitchy Maryland Males as well. And not even only Democratic politicians — Trump Derangement Syndrome is only majority-Democrat.
#14
Seems to me the Michigan AG is the perfect candidate for getting sent to a 'stan black site for some enhanced interrogation techniques of Demorat election fraud.
#1
"Oh, they used a *supercomputer*! That makes all the difference", he said, with a barely concealed sneer.
Neanderthals managed to survive in ice-age Europe for a couple hundred thousand years, which suggests they had something going on in terms of survival.
My money is on disease. Similar to how the population of the Americas was nearly wiped out by smallpox and influenza brought by the Spaniards, I'd bet the new arrivals brought some novel nasty the Neanderthals had no immunity to. Hey, that sounds kind of familiar!
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
05/22/2020 9:01
Comments ||
Top||
#4
Neanderthal groups were small, about 8-12, did not have large trade networks and were sparse in population density and had primitive hunting techniques that mostly involved running up to something and stabbing it with a spear.
Cro-Magnon had huge trade networks, small to large groups, up to decent sized towns, traveled widely and had advanced technology and hunting techniques that required little risk to the hunter.
Doesn't take a super computer to figure out that not only the Cro-Magnon will outbreed the Neanderthal, but out compete them as well. As soon as they showed up in Europe, the Neanderthal were doomed as a separate species.
#9
Re: #6, And the same model used for predicting 'climate change'. Still waiting for proof. So far AFAICT, not a single 'climate change' predictions has come true.
#12
I’ve read that Homo sapiens neanderthalensis needed 4000 calories per day, compared to half that for us Homo sapians types. Having better tools that allowed more efficient hunting techniques just cranked up the competitive difference.
#1
Makes sense. Should be pretty easy to train AI models for journalist-bots here, too. Just build a linguistic corpus with the phrase du jour parroted by every blue check Twitter media character and apply some machine learning altos, rinse and repeat.
#1
The story is much bigger than the headline suggests. Rogan is doing this as a huge f-you to Youtube and Google, which have been censoring his shows. He is especially pissed because he wanted to bring on medical experts to present different views on corona, and Youtube told him no. Remarkable, especially from a Bernie supporter!
#7
I know who he is. What he is. He's just a guy trying to make a buck online. Oh, BTW. Whatever Spotify is paying him, they ain't getting any of it from me. Hokay?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 18:20
Comments ||
Top||
#8
^ niceworkifyoucangetit
[Ella Fitzgerald sings] Ooooo! And if you get it, tell-ell me hooowwww
#11
MM - you made your opinion apparent earlier and way too often
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 19:03
Comments ||
Top||
#12
Oh, sob. I hurt somebody's feewings. This got me banned from instawhoever, so go for it.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:06
Comments ||
Top||
#13
Not my feelings, I don't think I've EVER listened to a Rogan podcast, so suck it. I don't ban, I do criticize childish behavior. Now who's hurt?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 19:09
Comments ||
Top||
#14
Not me, Frank. I'm not hurt at all. And I stand by every word I said. I don't speak to hear my voice. Ever. Rogan is a product. A product some people apparently love. Sort of like Chunky Monkey ice cream. If you like it, fine. If you get upset when someone else says they don't like ice cream, WTF?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:18
Comments ||
Top||
#15
I'm here because I like to R E A D. There are a lot of very well read Commenters here who send links that reflect their appreciation of good writing. I've been turned on to good books here that Joe Rogan will never read. I can't do much with podcasts because the people on them think they are on TV or radio. They are neither. They are doing something else, but expect me to see Rod Serling or hear Ted Mack. And none of them know much if anything about either of those guys. I do respect what they are doing but please don't tell me it's some magical thing that's never been done before. Pant, pant.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:32
Comments ||
Top||
#16
The suck it part reminds me why I don't look at Ace of Spades for many years.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:37
Comments ||
Top||
#17
Just curious: How many sites have you been banned at?
I haven't seen anything ban-worthy from you to date, so actually...just curious
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 19:50
Comments ||
Top||
#18
Insta banned me five years ago for calling Tesla a cult. He's a lawyer so he'd never admit it being like that now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:55
Comments ||
Top||
#19
I got the "this is my living room" bullshit. Uh, yeah.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 19:57
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Jordan Peterson. Mike Tyson. Elon Musk. Joel Salatin. Richard Dawkins. Brian Cox. Dan Crenshaw. Lawrence Krauss. Brian Greene. Jay Leno. Ed Snowden. Evander Holyfeld. Sean Carroll. Gary Taubes. Johnathan Haidt. Sir Roger Penrose. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Candace Owens.
#22
^ I have friends who rave about it, just never listened. I did see that Elon Musk clip smoking a blunt on the news
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 20:00
Comments ||
Top||
#23
re: #20
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/22/2020 20:01
Comments ||
Top||
#24
LGF is a parallel universe. I used to read it every day. Then he melted down and I left. Didn't comment enough to get banned.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:02
Comments ||
Top||
#25
I miss the hell out of Babylonian Musings and Protien Wisdom.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:03
Comments ||
Top||
#26
And, hey, Frank. You went up my back and then asked me to explain myself. I respect you absurdly huge for that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:11
Comments ||
Top||
#27
I think we can all agree: profanity has a place but don't be gratuitous about it. No ad hominem. At all, Ever. (Towards Commenters. Lay into muzz preachers, communists, sex freaks at will) Nobody has to respect your lousy opinion (or mine) but we never stop respecting each other. If we do, we are very, very lost.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:20
Comments ||
Top||
#28
Oh, and. Rantburg is the most intelligent online community you could hope to find. It's real, which means it isn't always pretty. But there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:45
Comments ||
Top||
#29
Let's all remember what and who is important on Memorial Day.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 20:46
Comments ||
Top||
#30
Good to know you, M.
Have a fine weekend.
Here's to all Rantburgers -- and to all those whose sacrifices we remember with grateful tears and solemn joy on Memorial Day,
L.
IsraelTimes] [The Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... health ministry announces 19 new cases of coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , bringing the total number in the coastal enclave to 49.
All 19 of the patients had been recent arrivals in the Strip from Egypt and had been staying at quarantine facilities on the border when they were diagnosed.
The number of cases in Paleostinian areas of the West Bank remains at 368, the PA health ministry says.
Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, authorities also announce that Gaza’s pedestrian border crossings will be shut until the end of July.
The crossings into the coastal enclave have been largely closed since the start of the pandemic, but authorities there have periodically opened the borders for short periods of time.
[IsraelTimes] Facebook says that its Messenger app will be watching behind the scenes for scammers using the smartphone communication system.
Safety notices will pop up in Messenger text chats if activity taking place in the background is deemed suspicious by artificial intelligence software, according to director of privacy and safety product management Jay Sullivan.
He says the new safety feature "will help millions of people avoid potentially harmful interactions and possible scams without compromising their privacy."
The feature began rolling out to the Messenger app tailored for Android-powered smartphones in March and will head to Messenger on iPhones next week, according to Facebook.
"Too often people interact with someone online they think they know or trust, when it’s really a scammer or imposter," Sullivan says.
"These accounts can be hard to identify at first and the results can be costly."
Artificial intelligence software scans for scammers based on account behavior, such as sending messages in bulk targeting demographics or geographies, according to Facebook
[IsraelTimes] Israeli officials confirm Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... has followed through on his threats and halted all security coordination with Israel.
The ramifications of the decision are far-reaching, with Israeli and Paleostinian forces setting up for a military clash in the West Bank.
Abbas, in a speech earlier this week, said all agreements with the US and Israel were off due to the talk of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian security forces have begun withdrawing from the West Bank’s Areas B and C to Area A, which is under full PA control, the Haaretz daily reports, citing Paleostinian sources.
The sources say Israel has been updated about the development, which comes as the PA threatens to end all coordination with Israel over ramped up talk of annexation.
The report says the retreon the lamly affects the Paleostinian civilian populations in Areas B and C.
The report is not immediately confirmed by Israel.
The ramifications of such a withdrawal are not immediately clear.
[IsraelTimes] US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is released from federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home because of the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... pandemic.
Wearing a surgical mask and a baseball cap, Cohen arrives at his Manhattan apartment building at around 10:40 a.m. after his release from FCI Otisville in New York.
He removes boxes of legal documents from the trunk of a car. A uniformed doorman at the luxury residence, not far from Trump Tower, carries them into the lobby on a luggage cart.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to tax charges, campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress, doesn’t stop to speak with news hounds gathered on the sidewalk.
Cohen, 53, is released on furlough as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons. He began serving his sentence last May and had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021.
Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars.
[IsraelTimes] As authorities probe a number of fires that have ravaged the West Bank this week during the ongoing heatwave, the Kan public broadcaster publishes footage of a Paleostinian man getting out of his car on a road outside the Shiloh settlement and proceeding to ignite a brushfire before driving away.
[AnNahar] Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... will support any nation or group that fights Israel, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... said on Wednesday.
"We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this," Khamenei said in a post on his official English language Twitter account.
[IsraelTimes] Hungarian minister laments closure of so-called transit zones, where rights groups allege migrants colonists were kept in inhumane conditions.
Hungary said Thursday it would close "transit zone" camps where hundreds of asylum seekers and migrants colonists were held, following a ruling by EU’s top court against their detention.
The decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) earlier this month is the latest clash between EU authorities and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which has taken a hard line on immigration.
Continued on Page 49
In the face of a novel virus threat, China clamped down on its citizens. Academics used faulty information to build faulty models. Leaders relied on these faulty models. Dissenting views were suppressed. The media flamed fears and the world panicked.
That is the story of what may eventually be known as one of the biggest medical and economic blunders of all time. The collective failure of every Western nation, except one, to question groupthink will surely be studied by economists, doctors, and psychologists for decades to come.
To put things in perspective, the virus is now known to have an infection fatality rate for most people under 65 that is no more dangerous than driving 13 to 101 miles per day. Even by conservative estimates, the odds of COVID-19 death are roughly in line with existing baseline odds of dying in any given year. [Chart in original.]
Yet we put billions of young healthy people under house arrest, stopped cancer screenings, and sunk ourselves into the worst level of unemployment since the Great Depression. This from a virus that bears a survival rate of 99.99% if you are a healthy individual under 50 years old (1, 2).
New York City reached over a 25% infection rate and yet 99.98% of all people in the city under 45 survived, making it comparable to death rates by normal accidents.
But of course the whole linchpin of the lockdown argument is that it would have been even worse without such a step. Sweden never closed down borders, primary schools, restaurants, or businesses, and never mandated masks, yet 99.998% of all their people under 60 have survived and their hospitals were never overburdened.
Why did we lock down the majority of the population who were never at significant risk? What will be the collateral damage? That is what this series will explore.
The March 16 report by Imperial College epidemiologist Neil Ferguson is credited (or blamed) with causing the U.K. to lock down and contributing to the domino effect of global lockdowns. The model has since come under intense criticism for being "totally unreliable and a buggy mess."
This is the same Neil Ferguson who in 2005 predicted 200 million could die from the bird flu. Total deaths over the last 15 years turned out to be 455. This is the same Neil Ferguson who in 2009 predicted that 65,000 people could die in the U.K. from the swine flu. The final number ended up around 392. Now, in 2020, he predicted that 500,000 British would die from coronavirus.
His deeply flawed model led the United States to fear over 2 million deaths and was used to justify locking down nearly the entire nation. Dr. Ferguson is a character of Shakespearean drama and tragedy. His March 17 presentation to British elites on the dire need to take action ironically may have infected Boris Johnson and other top British officials, as Mr. Ferguson himself tested positive for COVID-19 two days later. Then in May he resigned in disgrace after he broke his own quarantine rules to meet clandestinely with a married woman.
But I don't place most of the blame on people like Ferguson. If you are a hammer everything looks like a nail. I blame government leaders for failing to surround themselves with diverse viewpoints and to think critically for themselves....
#1
So the author does not place most of the blame on wanker Ferguson. Sure, in the end, the politicians must decide. But with such an absurdly wretched track record (evidently blindly followed by the politicians), he is an absolute disgrace to science and his professional field.
#4
one of the biggest medical and economic blunders of all time.
Definitely a Clusterf**k for the Ages. But I'd argue that freaking out *was* the correct first move. This was a novel virus, meaning no one had been exposed, it was likely to burn thru the population like wildfire, and we didn't know the fatality rate. Back of the envelope says 300,000 Americans * 1% fatality = 3 million people dead. Not a good outcome. Let's prepare for the worst. And we did.
But that's when things started to go off the rails. Remember our old pal Boyd and the OODA Loop? Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. It's a technique for making decisions in a rapidly changing environment with limited information. The critical part is The Loop - you do it over and over, each time taking into account the new information you have about your environment. And that is where we screwed the pooch.
It became obvious almost at once that our model was wildly wrong. At that point, we should have looked at our plans in light of our new knowledge and revised them. But we didn't. It was press on regardless, and here we are, stuck with our original response.
As the epidemic has progressed, in addition to the model being wrong, we've seen the virus is not evenly distributed. Here in Michigan, the Detroit Metro area is a viral hotbed with something like 5000 deaths, but vast swatches of the state have zero or one. Not surprising really. Viruses don't spread by geography, they spread by networks of people. Does it make sense to have the same restrictions throughout the state? Maybe it's time for another pass thru The Loop.
In addition to the static response, you can add mixed messaging and stupid, arbitrary rules. Masks are useless vs you must wear a mask. Big box stores are open but they can't sell garden seeds, paint or flooring. No motor boating but sailing is ok. Top it off with a "You're not the boss of me!" pissing match between the governors and their subjects citizens and you have a Guinness class clusterf*ck. It's quite impressive really, but not in a good way.
#7
^Fiddlesticks BP.
(a) The first response in both UK and USA was to ignore it: because Chinese are not like us (doncha know?), they're unhygienic*. And there is "herd immunity"**. But then the stats from Italy started rolling in.
(b) To the extent that we have some (and I emphasize some) degree of safety now*** - it's because the "panic" induced a lot of technological research - so we are able to treat the infected effectively.
*The morons who penned all these articles about "dirty Chinese" don't realize that unhygienic means having better developed immune systems.
**So far, there is no evidence that herd immunity is achievable without vaccination.
***If you look at stats from South America, Russia, Middle East, and what data is available from China. Or, for that matter, statistics from USA - it's just starting.
#8
I took the opportunity to re-read Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness Of Crowds during the corona-vacation.
It should be required reading in every high school.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 ||
05/22/2020 7:35
Comments ||
Top||
#9
The problem is and will continue to be GIGO. No one had hard or clean data. Both China and Italy played the same game that our own health care 'professionals' did in labeling anything that remotely 'looked' like Covid as Covid without verifying the actual cause. That meant that the 'confidence' level of the models was low but was never sold as such but rather as absolutes. Never meet a apparatchik or politician that didn't want more power or money. That coupling with a 'chicken little' media that needs to sell air time or print columns meant we got what we got. In short, we got scammed by people and organizations out for their own interests and games.
#11
Thank you, Steve. I've been trying to figure out how to layout pretty much what you describe without touching off flame wars between the "lock it down or die" and the "let my people go" factions.
I was in the unhygienic crowd. But a large piece of that, for me, was those early security videos of vicious idiots licking elevator buttons for the purpose of infecting their neighbours.
#17
#15 It only takes one asymptomatic carrier to restart. Wait until people from NY & NJ start traveling around USA. Also, look at the CV19 stats in Mexico - you thing coyotes give their clients CV19 test?
#18
That lock down was to give us ample time to prepare,not become the new norm. We're more prepared to handle this shit,than two months ago. We'll be fine
I'm still amazed at the number of people who treat what is known NOW as if it were known ALWAYS and the number who refuse to reassess decisions based on new knowledge.
Don't get me started on the press who ask things like "you said X four months ago, now you say Y -- will you admit you were lying?"
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/22/2020 11:34
Comments ||
Top||
#22
Although I am tempermentally inclined to share grom's view -- at least in the sense that I'm not going bar-hopping this weekend-- #4 SteveS is an awesome comment. I would add that a lot of the "new information we have about our environment" is political information as opposed to anything directly related to the virus. And I wonder how this would have all played out if we were not in an election year.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/22/2020 12:13
Comments ||
Top||
#23
Look at the state of Washington, ground zero in this country. Today only 15 new cases and one death. If there was going to be this big huge 2nd wave,wouldn't it be logical it would happen there first? This virus does not lay dormant like locust. Sure the elderly need to stay extra cautious, but time to stop listening to the press,trying to sell advertising.
#24
Wait until people from NY & NJ start traveling around USA.
Which is bad enough even without covid-19.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/22/2020 13:31
Comments ||
Top||
#25
My initial fear was that covid-19 was a bioweapon and the lockdown was justified because nobody knew what to expect from it. So it was kinda like heading for the air raid shelters. It could still turn out to be a bioweapon and there may be long term ramifications of which we are still unaware. But, as the numbers became available, it began to look like it was maybe somewhat worse than a bad case of the flu. Maybe the bug is not so bad but the real intention of the Chinese communists was to wreck our economy.
So, like SteveS said so succinctly, as we kept OODA looping we should have adjusted rather than entering a new Great Depression, thereby giving the Chicoms exactly what they want.
Maybe the lockdown should have been better targeted; like nursing homes, subways, airplanes and New York City.
I think if the lockdown goes on much longer or if it is renewed at some later date, we could say with some accuracy that the cure is worse than the illness. As an old guy, I haven't suffered much from the lockdown. But I feel for young people who have lost their jobs.
One thing that has made me sick is all these air headed, pompous TV personalities telling us that "We're all in this together." The thought of being in anything together with Gayle King turns my stomach. The media has certainly fanned the flames of mass hysteria. It's something they do quite well.
My fondest hope for this whole sad affair is that it will be a catalyst for change in our relationship with China.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/22/2020 14:20
Comments ||
Top||
#26
I think the WuFlu be with us for a while, just like the 1968 Hong Kong flu and the 2009 Swine flu, both of which are still circulating, and killing people.
After the election, Coronavirus in the US will be old news.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/22/2020 15:23
Comments ||
Top||
#27
I work and live in a large city, relative to most of the country (Oklahoma City, OK). Yes, i get that its not Chicago or LA, but it cracks the top 50 or so list of cities in the US. I'm in my 50s. I've yet to wear a mask. I've washed my hands...maybe a dozen times more than I usually would have during the last 60 days. I've missed zero days of going to my office--I'm in real estate and we're "essential" here.
This has all been a bullshit freak show. The entire country should have never been shut down on what was only a problem in a dozen or less locations nationwide. I'm absolutely amazed how easily Americans gave up the rights and liberties.
#23 Look at the state of Washington, ground zero in this country. Today only 15 new cases and one death. If there was going to be this big huge 2nd wave,wouldn't it be logical it would happen there first?
bbrewer - agreed. The gap between the rhetoric and the reality on this issue is a chasm. It's ridiculous.
In addition to WA, look at what truly is Ground Zero for the US if not the world outside of Asia, the three counties in the SF Bay Area that include ca. 800,000 or ~23% of the 3.5m population who are Chinese or Chinese-American, most of whom have ties to Chinese cities and at least 50,000 of whom traveled to Wuhan etc after the outbreak - and before the March 19 lockdown.
There should be thousands of deaths in San Francisco alone, with the homeless dropping like flies. Instead there are a grad total of .... 40.
San Francisco + Silicon Valley
San Fran./San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties:
Total pop.: 3.5m
Total fatalities attributed to COVID: 254 Fatalities to pop. ratio: 1:13,779
Entire US pop.: 329m
Extrapolated fatalities if US had the same CFR as SanFran-Silicon Valley: 23,876 = low end of a typical flu season
#29
My daily anecdotal observation is that mask wearing is on a hard downtrend. It's a binky and it appeals to people who want a binky.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 16:35
Comments ||
Top||
#30
The armbands of the Karenteilung Morality Police, worn over the face.
Likely you've heard about the Michigan AG. Perhaps you saw the video of the little girl with 6 sum hours of sidewalk chalk getting washed off the concrete by Karen because the little one did the drawings without a mask on.
I wouldn't blame you if you don't walk in circles which are sending out step-by-step instruction on how to train youngsters to public-shame anyone without a mask.
Exclusive via a source on the ground: a strike suspected to be by the US hit a vehicle carrying ISIS fighters south of Turkish-controlled Afrin in NW Syria. One was formerly military chief of ISIS Hama Wilayat. They were traveling with documents claiming they were Ahrar al-Sham.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/22/2020
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[32 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
One of the side effects, when a big or medium shot gets hit is how the organization tries to figure out how we knew. No doubt takes a lot of effort, gets various folks sidelined, at best. A multiplier effect.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/22/2020 7:02
Comments ||
Top||
#2
So the US should do some random vehicle destruction just to boost the chaos.
#3
I don't like the title. It should be Strike suspected to be by the US hit a vehicle carrying [suspected] ISIS fighters south of Turkish-controlled Afrin
[IsraelTimes] After Etihad Airways made history with first direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Ben-Gurion Airport, Ramallah sources tell Arab media the shipment wasn’t coordinated with Paleostinians.
The Paleostinian Authority government has refused to accept medical aid from the United Arab Emirates after it arrived on the first known direct commercial flight between Israel and the UAE, PA sources told multiple Arab media outlets.
The UAE-based airline made history Tuesday, as the plane loaded with 16 tons of coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... aid for Paleostinians flew directly from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv.
Paleostinian media, as well as Russia Today Arabic, quoted a government source Thursday saying the aid had been rejected, explaining Ramallah was refusing to be used as a "tool for normalization" between Israel and the UAE. The two countires do not have diplomatic relations.
The source reportedly said the transfer of the medical aid had only been coordinated with Israel and the World Health Organization (WHO), and not with the Paleostinian Authority which governs Paleostinians in the West Bank.
That, the source claimed, indicated that the UAE intended to use the aid to improve its ties with Jerusalem on the "pretext" of aid to Paleostinians.
The source said any assistance to the Paleostinian people must be provided through coordination with Paleostinian authorities.
The Etihad cargo jet, painted in all white and lacking any marking, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport after seemingly flying a roundabout route through Iraq and either Jordan or The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... Etihad, a state-owned long-haul carrier, confirmed the flight to Ben Gurion Airport. Emirati government officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The flight struck a rare moment of public cooperation between the UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula, and Israel. The two emirates have no formal diplomatic ties to Israel, but have begun to increasingly cooperate openly after years of rumored back-channel discussions between them over the mutual enmity of Iran.
An Israeli official said the flight was delivering humanitarian aid provided by the UAE to the Paleostinians through the World Food Program, and that the cargo flight was coordinated with the Israeli government. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency issued a statement saying it delivered 16 tons of protective gear, medical items and ventilators "to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and its impact in the occupied Paleostinian territory." It did not acknowledge the flight or its significance.
Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... called the act a betrayal of the Paleostinians.
"Today, some Persian Gulf states have committed the biggest treachery against their own history and the history of the Arab world," Khamenei tweeted. "They have betrayed #Paleostine by supporting Israel. Will the nations of these states tolerate their leaders’ betrayal?"
[PJMedia] The United States Department of Justice announced criminal charges against an election official for stuffing a ballot box with fraudulent votes to help Democratic judicial candidates.
United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced today that Domenick J. DeMuro of Philadelphia, a former Judge of Elections, an elected official responsible for elections, has been charged and has entered a guilty plea. What did DeMuro do? He literally stood at the voting machine and cranked in vote after vote after vote for particular Democrat judicial candidates. He was allegedly paid by various unnamed political consultants for the behavior.
The Trump administration’s prosecution of election fraud stands in stark contrast to the total failure of the Obama Justice Department to enforce these laws. Right now, other federal prosecutors are aware of cases of double voting in federal elections as well as noncitizen voting.
[IsraelTimes] The Trump administration notifies international partners that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other’s territory — overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict.
We have satellites, so no need to send airplanes containing future hostages.
The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from US or commercial satellites.
See? And now we’ll know what you want to see when you purchase the information.
Exiting the treaty, however, is expected to strain relations with Moscow and upset European allies and some members of Congress.
President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed that the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but president George H.W. Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Currently, 34 nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet.
More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control and other agreements. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights, yet Russia has restricted flights over certain areas.
And now we know where to look. How clever of them.
Last month, top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in both the House and the Senate wrote to Trump accusing the president of "ramming" a withdrawal from the treaty as the entire world grapples with COVID-19. They said it would undermine US alliances with European allies who rely on the treaty to keep Russia accountable for its military activities in the region.
We’ll keep Russia accountable with satellites. But why are House Democrats fussing? It’s only the Senate that has anything to do with ratifying and unratifying treaties.
#3
Anybody know of any material on Francis Gary Powers? I recently heard of a documentary where his "employer" left him out to dry pretty much. From what I heard, he was done a horrible injustice. And he died in a helicopter crash. Hmmm
Later career
Powers worked for Lockheed as a test pilot from 1962 to 1970, though the CIA paid his salary. In 1970, he wrote the book Operation Overflight with co-author Curt Gentry.[25] Lockheed fired him, because "the book's publication had ruffled some feathers at Langley." Powers became a helicopter traffic pilot reporter for KNBC News Channel 4.
Death
Main article: 1977 Encino helicopter crash
Powers was piloting a helicopter for KNBC Channel 4 over West Los Angeles on August 1, 1977, when the aircraft crashed, killing him and his cameraman George Spears.[3]:251, 289–90, 324 They had been recording video tape following bush fires in Santa Barbara County in the KNBC helicopter and were heading back from them.
His Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed at the Sepulveda Dam recreational area in Encino, California, several miles short of its intended landing site at Burbank Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board report attributed the probable cause of the crash to pilot error.[26] According to Powers's son, an aviation mechanic had repaired a faulty fuel gauge without informing Powers, who subsequently misread it.[27]
At the last moment, he noticed children playing in the area and directed the helicopter elsewhere to avoid landing on them.[26] He might have landed safely if not for the last-second deviation, which compromised his autorotative descent.[27]
Powers was survived by his wife, children Claudia Dee and Francis Gary Powers Jr., and five sisters. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery as an Air Force veteran.[26][28]
#5
The RC-135 derivatives used for Open Skies are clapped out. There's no budget to refurbish or replace them. As has been mentioned, the Russians won't let us fly over places they might be useful and there are other ways to image those areas.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 10:34
Comments ||
Top||
#6
The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact
But...but...I thought Trump is Putin's stooge.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/22/2020 14:37
Comments ||
Top||
#7
All part of Putin's master plan to blame Trump when Russia nukes us.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/22/2020 15:35
Comments ||
Top||
[AnNahar] The Lebanese Army on Wednesday arrested two Sudanese nationals who had crossed into Israel on Tuesday.
"A patrol from the Intelligence Directorate on Wednesday arrested two Sudanese nationals in the southern area of al-Qawzah after their presence there raised suspicions," an army statement said.
"They confessed that they had crossed into the occupied Paleostinian territories on Tuesday through the electronic fence near the town of Yaroun before being arrested by Israeli enemy troops, who forced them to return to Lebanese territory on Wednesday, in breach of the applicable operational measures that call for coordination with the U.N. Interim Force in Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... ," the military added.
Another patrol from the aforementioned directorate meanwhile arrested four other Sudanese in the Alma al-Shaab-Wadi Hamoul area, who were preparing to cross into Israel, the army said.
An investigation has since been launched under the supervision of the competent judicial authorities, it added.
A similar incident had occurred on May 3, when Israeli forces caught five Sudanese men who crossed from south Lebanon. An Israeli military spokeswoman said it was believed the men had intended to seek work in Israel, which was home to more than 6,000 Sudanese asylum seekers as of January.
The five Sudanese were also detained by the Lebanese Army upon their return across the border.
Israel and Lebanon are technically at war, with Israel having fought a full-fledged war against Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... in 2006.
Israel also remains technically at war with Sudan, which supported hardline Islamists -- including, for a period, al-Qaeda -- under former president 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. Hee 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... . In February, the leaders of both countries met in Uganda for what the Israeli prime minister's office described as talks aimed at normalizing ties.
“You are about to see the largest aerial campaign in Libyan history in the coming hours,” LNA's Jaroushi said in a statement
GNA security chief Bashagha said a number of MiG 29s and SU24S reached Haftar from Russian countrolled Syria base. https://t.co/DmMLDfdg71 via @bpolitics
[IsraelTimes] The Paleostinian security services will stop sharing information with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
I’m speechless. When did this start, and what did the CIA give them to get them to agree?
in protest of Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank, a bigwig says.
"It has been 48 hours that the American Intelligence Service have been notified that the agreement with them is no longer in force," chief Paleostinian negotiator Saeb Erekat ...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state... says.
"Security cooperation with the US no more. Security cooperation with Israel no more."
The Paleostinian government cut all ties with the Trump administration in 2017, accusing the US President of pro-Israel bias.
Certain non-political relations were maintained, however, including between the Paleostinian security services and the CIA.
[IsraelTimes] 300 sites defaced with clip of Tel Aviv burning; while security agencies are bracing for Iran-linked attack for Quds Day, after port hack blamed on Israel, expert sees no Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... role.
Numerous Israeli websites were targeted Thursday morning in a cyberattack, with hundreds of websites estimated hit, including some belonging to major firms, political groups and other organizations and individuals.
Continued on Page 49
#1
initial investigation had indicated it was a "superficial defacing of websites of private bodies in Israel done via a single storage firm hosting those websites."
The Lebanese authorities announced on Thursday, that they thwarted a massive operation to smuggle cannabis into Turkey.
In a statement, the security forces stated that “after careful monitoring and control, wer were able to arrest two Lebanese nationals,” pointing out that their arrests were made in the Qabayet Akkar area in northern.
According to the security forces, their troops seized a large quantity of hashish, approximately two tons, after searching a truck in the Qabayet Akkar area.
The security forces statement added, “By investigating the detainees, they confessed that the amount of narcotics seized with them was intended for smuggling to Turkey, and that they had transported them from the Hermel region in the Beqaa, northeastern Lebanon.”
It is worth noting that cultivation of hashish in Lebanon is illegal, especially in the Beqaa region.
Didn’t Jordan recently get some hand-me-downs from Israel for their army? F-15s or tanks or something... Go for it, Your Kingness.
[IsraelTimes] Jordan threatens to review its relationship with Israel if the Jewish state goes ahead with controversial plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
"We will not accept unilateral Israeli moves to annex Paleostinian lands and we would be forced to review all aspects of our relations with Israel," Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz tells the official Petra news agency.
The deal underlying Israel’s new unity government, sworn in on Sunday, allows it from July 1 to initiate moves to implement US President Donald Trump ...the Nailer of NAFTA... ’s controversial peace plan for the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
The plan, rejected by the Paleostinians, gives the green light from Washington for Israel to annex Jewish settlements and other territory in the West Bank — including the valley running along the border with Jordan.
Razzaz accuses Israel of taking advantage of the world being "distracted" by the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... crisis to implement "unilateral moves on the ground."
His comments came days after Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that if Israel "really annexes the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."
[AnNahar] Iran's Revolutionary Guards killed two "counter-revolutionary terrorists" in a clash in the western province of Kurdistan, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
's website reported on Wednesday.
At midday on Tuesday, the Guards "in a joint operation with Kurdistan province's intelligence organization fought an eight-man counter-revolutionary group and killed two of them," state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
quoted a Guards' statement as saying.
Four other members of the group were maimed and the rest fled into the mountains, it added.
They were still being pursued.
The clash occurred near the town of Marivan, the statement said, without naming the group.
For much of the past 40 years, Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has been battling Kurdish bully boyz who use bases in neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan to mount attacks against the Guards and state institutions inside the country.
BREAKING / NBC News: The FBI has determined that this morning’s shooting at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi is "terrorism related" but they have not specifically stated why they believe that.
No information on the suspect has been released so far in the investigation.
FBI has declared the shooting attack at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi an act of terrorism.
SOCMINT investigation reveals that the shooter - identified as Adam Salim Alsahli - was ideological supporter of al-Qaeda (not ISIS). He also expressed support for AQAP online. pic.twitter.com/gkAAYeFntx
SOCMINT investigation reveals there's a LinkedIn profile by the name of Adam Alsahli with the location of Corpus Christi, Texas which has tagged Saudi Arabia's Umm al-Qura University as an educational institution for the class of 2017-2022. pic.twitter.com/jGPwy4q53Z
[BREITBART] The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to authorize a subpoena related to the GOP investigation into Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings on Wednesday.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson opened a vote to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, which is accused of trying to influence State Department policies. The consulting firm worked with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings while Hunter Biden was still on the board.
The vote, originally intended to take place last week, was postponed for one week "out of an abundance of caution, and to allow time for [committee members] to receive additional briefings." Despite initial resistance to the idea, Utah Senator Willard Mitt Romney, aka Pierre Delecto ...former governor of Massachussetts, the Publican nominee for president in 2012, now Senator from Utah. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals. He is currently a trans Republican and a member in good standing of the Never Trump Party, attempting to assume the mantle of the late John McCain... joined fellow committee members in a unanimous vote in favor of the subpoena.
Blue Star Strategies CEO Karen Tramontano sent a letter to Johnson ahead of the vote, asserting their history of cooperation and questioning the need for a subpoena after the firm has already volunteered for an interview. Tramontano also reminded Johnson that the firm has already provided documents related to "meetings with the U.S. government regarding Burisma."
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] ...months after she offloaded stock following a classified coronavirus briefing
New York Stock Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher donated $1million to pro-Trump group America First Action on April 29 Ahah! Plutocrats supporting Publicans, is it?
Couple are facing mounting criticism for offloading stock after Covid briefing And we all know the chairman of the Noo Yawk stock exchange doesn't have all that many spare millions lying around...
Loeffler & her husband sold stocks valued up to $3.1 million in the weeks after a classified briefing Obviously it's one of those selfsame 3.1 millions that went into the Trump coffers...
The couple also purchased between $450K and $1 million worth of shares in a popular teleconferencing company, who benefit from work-from-home models I mean, everybody knew they were gonna be rolling in bucks.
The couple deny wrongdoing and say stock trades were made without their knowledge A likely story. No way stocks managed in a blind trust were gonna make money.
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.