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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:14:23 GMT -8
Did you know that "Dammit I'm mad" spelled backwards is "Dammit I'm Mad"?
From Coughin' to the Coffin
The BBC has found evidence of a considerable number of Covid-related deaths in China's rural regions, as the virus spread from big cities to more remote areas with older populations.
In Xinzhou region of northern Shanxi province the coffin makers have been busy. We watched the skilled craftsmen as they carved elaborate decorations into the freshly-cut wood. Over recent months, they say, they haven't had time to stop.
One villager, a customer, told us that at times the coffins have sold out. Laughing with a dose of the black humour you find in the area, he added that those in the funeral industry had been "earning a small fortune".
There has been much debate about the real number of Covid deaths in China, after the virus ripped through its megacities.
Some 80% of the population - more than a billion people - have been infected since China scrapped restrictions in December, according to leading epidemiologist Wu Zunyou. Last weekend China reported 13,000 Covid-related deaths in less than a week, adding to the 60,000 deaths it has counted since December.
But these deaths have been in hospitals. In rural areas there are only sparse medical facilities and those who die at home are mostly not being counted.
There is not even an official estimate for the number of village deaths. But the BBC found evidence the death toll is mounting.
We visited a crematorium and they too have been busy, mourners dressed in white walking forward carrying the ceremonial box which would eventually contain the remains of a loved one.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:16:11 GMT -8
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before. There's This Cult Leader and He Tells Female Followers...
A messianic leader of a multi-million dollar spiritual organisation in western Canada has been charged with four counts of sexual assault.
John de Ruiter, 63, has led the College of Integrated Philosophy in Edmonton for decades, skirting controversy and accusations that he is running a cult.
A representative for Mr de Ruiter told the BBC in a statement that he will fight the charges in court.
He will return to work at the College this week, the group's website said.
Police in Edmonton, Alberta said they arrested Mr de Ruiter - who they describe as a "self-appointed spiritual leader" - and charged him with sexually assaulting four women in different incidents between 2012 and 2020.
According to reports to police, Mr de Ruiter told certain female members of his group that he "was directed by a spirit to engage in sexual activity with them, and that engaging in sexual activity with him will provide them an opportunity to achieve a state of higher being or spiritual enlightenment".
Police believe there may be more victims and have asked them to come forward.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:21:29 GMT -8
Leopard vs Abrams. Two Heavyweights The main difference between the Abrams and Leopards is the engine. The Leopard 2 has a diesel-powered MTU MB 873 engine, which is much easier to maintain and more widely used across Europe, while the Abrams uses a more powerful and more complex turbine engine. According to Freedberg, because the Abram tanks are used significantly less across Europe, Ukraine may struggle to cope with logistic infrastructure such as obtaining spare parts, warehousing and general maintenance. The four-person tank will also require additional training on the complex machinery. They are very similar. Big vehicles, heavily armoured. Much better protected than anything the Soviets built, or anything the Russians currently have. ............................ Russia is apparently trying to respond to the news of incoming Western tanks by rolling its flagship T-14 Armata onto the battlefield for the first time. However, there are a few problems: they’ve only built about twenty, all of those are prototypes with known issues, and the ones that have actually been handed off to Russian troops are in such bad shape, no one wants them.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:25:12 GMT -8
Bad and WorseA new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that large majorities of Americans believe that both Donald Trump (77%) and Joe Biden (64%) acted inappropriately in how they handled classified documents after leaving office. However, when asked which was more serious, a plurality (43%) said Trump's actions were a more serious concern. This comes as Biden sees incremental improvements in how the public views his handling of issues ranging from the pandemic to the economy to climate change. However, on several important issues, including immigration and gun violence, perceptions of Biden are stagnant. Similar to the handling of documents, the American public broadly disapproves of how both Republicans and Democrats are doing their job in Congress. Here too, however, Republicans see greater disapproval numbers (72%) than Democrats (60%). Lastly, as we approach the one-year mark of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Americans continue to broadly support aiding Ukraine (46% right amount + 20% too little). 
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:28:08 GMT -8
Governor DeathSentence Is in Favor of More Death Sentences
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:30:44 GMT -8
One More Win for Entertainment Over News
Will 538 Find a New Home?
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:32:19 GMT -8
Isn't It Ironic?
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:36:20 GMT -8
Conscription: Long-Term Effects
1. Brief conclusions: Over the next 6 months an attempt will be made to mobilise between 700,000 and 1 million people. /2
2. We estimate the target group for the first call-up to be 2-3 million people. In total, the probability of being drafted among members of this group exceeds 25%. /3
3. We estimate the expected casualties during the first 6 months among the conscripts at 60-70%. Of these we estimate 15-20% killed, 45-50% wounded.
4. The demographic damage from the war in Ukraine to the Russian population will be many times greater than the damage from the COVID pandemic. 5/
5. We expect two waves of a spike in crime. The first wave will be among those returning from the war. The second wave will be among orphans who will grow up without fathers. 6/
6. Sabotage of conscription and all methods of evading military service is an optimal strategy at the individual level and makes it impossible to conscript significantly more young men. 7/
But this strategy does not significantly alter the number of conscripts in the first months of the campaign and thus avoid the loss of human life associated with it. 8/
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:39:25 GMT -8
The QOP Has a Debt Ceiling Problem. Not Only From the Wack Jobs. It's From Their Real Bosses.
At a GOP leadership “private legislative retreat” this week, McCarthy led a panel on the debt ceiling “but didn’t offer much input,” a source told Bloomberg. Go figure. However, Rep. Patrick McHenry, the Financial Serviced Committee chair and one of McCarthy’s key negotiators in the speaker vote, did apparently have things to say about the debt ceiling. He was there on behalf of his real bosses (the banks). According to Bloomberg’s source he “warned fellow House Republican leaders to be reasonable and realistic as they demand federal spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s debt ceiling.”
At the meeting, according to the source, they “underscored” that they will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, and tried to distance themselves from the radical Republican Study Committee budget proposal released last year and the even more extreme plan from Sen. Rick Scott, which would sunset Social Security and Medicare—along with every other single law on the books—every five years.
Anyway, why does what McHenry is doing matter? Because McHenry is and always has been one of the top recipients of money from the banks and financial service companies he’s supposed to be regulating. Because what McHenry was doing was giving the very powerful financial service industry’s message directly to McCarthy.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:40:41 GMT -8
Here Today. Gone Tomorrow.
Twitter reinstated and then quickly re-banned the account of Nick Fuentes, the prominent white supremacist who most recently made headlines for joining the antisemitic presidential campaign of rapper Ye. After a year-and-a-half exile from the platform, Fuentes’ account returned Tuesday morning. By Wednesday, it was banned again.
Twitter representatives have not yet explained the reinstatement nor the subsequent ban.
In a Twitter Space on Tuesday night, during the brief 24 hours he was back on the platform, Fuentes mocked critics who have accused him of antisemitism and said, “Don’t care, bitch. Jews run the news, bitch. Sup ... Jews run the media. Back on Twitter, let’s fucking go.”
Fuentes also praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and the Unabomber, according to Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:42:08 GMT -8
Vengeance Is a Dish Best Served By Squeaker McCarthy
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has avenged Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) by blocking two Democrats from serving on a House committee.
McCarthy announced Tuesday he would refuse to seat Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff of California on the House Intelligence Committee — pure political payback for Democrats removing Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) from committees in 2021.
In a public letter to Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who had named the pair to the intelligence committee, McCarthy said that “in order to maintain a standard worthy of this committee’s responsibilities,” he would reject the appointment of the two Democrats.
Greene has emerged as McCarthy’s top ally on the far-right flank of the Republican Party. Democrats booted her from committees in 2021 when it came out that she had trafficked online in conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric toward political opponents, especially Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), before coming to Congress. McCarthy won Greene’s support for his speakership partly by promising to put her back on committees if Republicans controlled the House — a promise he has kept.
McCarthy did not explain in his letter why Swalwell and Schiff shouldn’t serve on the committee, but he has repeatedly claimed Swalwell would be unable to get a security clearance due to a past affiliation with a Chinese spy and that Schiff had lied to the American people. Both allegations are specious.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:49:47 GMT -8
Man Shoots Dog: Not News. Dog Shoots Man: News!
A man died Saturday in Kansas after he was shot by a rifle that fired when a dog stood on it, local authorities said.
The shooting took place at around 9:40 a.m. in a pickup truck on the 1600 block of East 80th Street, a rural road roughly 45 miles south of Wichita.
The victim, Joseph Austin Smith of Wichita, was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time, according to press releases from the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office. There was a rifle in the back seat, as well as hunting gear.
A dog stepped on the rifle, causing it to fire a round that struck Smith, the sheriff’s office said. Units responded within minutes of a 911 call and began CPR, but Smith died at the scene.
The sheriff’s office did not disclose the identity of the person who owns the truck and the dog, or the person who placed the 911 call.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:52:04 GMT -8
Washington Isn't Reeling, But the Media Goes Wild!
Washington is reeling after another batch of classified documents was discovered in the home of another high-profile politician – this time, former Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.” He said they were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden got a rare show of support from an unlikely source: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told reporters on Capitol Hill that he'd be "shocked if there's anything sinister" in Biden's mishandling of classified documents.
There's a Real Story Here About Mishandling of Classified Documents in the Executive Branch, But Don't Expect the Media or the QOP House to Deal With It.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:53:34 GMT -8
A Heartbeat Away? That's a Nightmare.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is angling to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2024, according to two people who have spoken to the firebrand second-term congresswoman about her ambitions.
"This is no shrinking violet, she's ambitious — she's not shy about that, nor should she be," said Steve Bannon, the former top Trump aide who hosts the War Room podcast, where Greene has been a guest.
"She sees herself on the short list for Trump's VP. Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back," he added, referencing Roberts, the late political reporter who worked for NPR, ABC News and other outlets.
A second source who has advised Greene said her "whole vision is to be vice president." The source, who has ties to Trump but spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said he also believes Greene would be on Trump's short list.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2023 9:55:00 GMT -8
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