|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 9:57:57 GMT -8
Those who jump off a bridge in Paris are in Seine.
Spreading Violence in the Mid-East Increases the Chances of a Wider War - Lebanon Edition
The UN and France have called for restraint as fears of further escalation of the Israel-Gaza war around the region rise in the wake of the strike on a Hamas leader in Lebanon late on Tuesday.
Saleh al-Arouri, a senior official in Hamas’s politburo, was killed along with six others in the attack on the outskirts of Beirut. Israel has not taken responsibility, but concern was rising on Wednesday that the conflicts that its war with Hamas have sparked across the region could expand further.
Spreading Violence in the Mid-East Increases the Chances of a Wider War - Iran Edition
At least 103 people were killed Wednesday and 141 injured in the Iranian city of Kerman after twin blasts near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, in what officials called a terror attack.
The blasts, at least one of which was caused by a bomb, state TV said, came on the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death in a US air strike, and threatens to accelerate tensions in the region that have spiked since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The first explosion was 2,300 feet (700 meters) from Soleimani’s grave, and the second was 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) away as pilgrims visited the site, IRNA added.
Soleimani was killed by a US airstrike ordered by former President Donald Trump at Baghdad International Airport four years ago Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 9:59:47 GMT -8
The Dumbest Man in Politics Relies on the Dumbest Man on the Internet
Gateway Pundit is a right-wing conspiracy theory website whose founder, Jim Hoft, has for years been dubbed by critics as "the dumbest man on the internet."
Despite this, however, he has one very powerful and loyal reader in former President Donald Trump.
In fact, Trump insider sources tell the Washington Post that the former president came to rely on Gaetway Pundit in the wake of his 2020 election loss, despite the fact that the website pushed one debunked conspiracy theory about voter fraud after another.
In fact, Trump even went so far as to shove printouts of Gateway Pundit articles at his aides to prove that his false claims about the 2020 election had validity.
ALSO READ: Republican congressman violates federal law with botched cryptocurrency disclosures
"When he was looking for evidence, Gateway Pundit was one reliable place he knew he could go for validation, and maybe even some new ideas," said one aide.
Despite Trump's enthusiasm for the website, however, even some of his own allies acknowledge that it is a poor source of information.
In fact, one former Trump administration official told the Post that citing Gateway Pundit was a surefire way to lose a debate, even in conservative circles.
"You can’t use it to make an argument," they said. "You can only use it to hear what you want to hear."
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:01:19 GMT -8
The Ticket From Hell
A majority of Trump supporters want Ron DeSantis to be Vice President if their guy gets back into the White House, according to a USA Today study. The paper also said there was more chance of snow in July.
"Sorry, folks," the reporter wrote. "That's almost certainly not going to happen, given the fractured relations between the two after DeSantis emerged for a time as the most likely alternative to Trump.
"The former president rewarded DeSantis with the derisive nickname 'DeSanctimonious.'"
Coming in second was Vivek Ramaswamy, whose potential for a VP spot is a little less unrealistic. "The entrepreneur and political newcomer has done the most of any in the field to emulate and defend Trump in the GOP debates that the former president has declined to join," USA Today reported.
Also read: 'Trumpian' tactics already being used by Biden to sidestep law: columnist
Coming in third was Nikki Haley, who "has tried to navigate a line between criticizing Trump but not so much that his supporters might refuse to back her, now or later."
Coming in last was RFK Jr. "If chosen, it would be the first time a close member of that storied Democratic family appeared on the Republican line as a candidate."
The research was carried out by USA Today with Suffolk University Poll.
Or Would It Be the Ticket That Takes Us to Hell
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:03:53 GMT -8
What Russia's escalating air attacks meanRussia's Vladimir Putin vowed to increase attacks on Ukraine - now Kyiv is realising what he meant. On Tuesday night President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 500 missiles and drones against Ukraine in just five days. At least 32 people have died in Ukraine's capital in that time, 30 of them in one attack - on 29 December, when Russia launched one of the largest ever aerial attacks of this war. And it's not just the capital. Nearly 60 people have been killed nationwide, with Kharkiv in the northeast, Zaporizhzhia in the south, Odesa on the southern coast and even Lviv in the far west all suffering strikes. Since launching its invasion Russia has never stopped attacking Ukraine by the air, but this latest series of strikes marks a deadly escalation. What does this new phase in the war mean for Ukraine? And what's the plan behind Russia's renewed aerial assault?
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:06:53 GMT -8
Cyber-Kid NappingThe "cyber kidnapping" scam that extorted the Chinese family of a foreign exchange student studying in the US is part of a larger criminal trend that parents across the globe could fall victim to, experts warned. Student Kai Zhuang was reported missing by his high school last week and later found "very cold and scared" in a tent in rural Utah after anonymous scammers convinced the 17-year-old to isolate himself, according to local police. Once the teenager was alone in the wilderness, officials said the kidnappers sent a ransom demand and a picture - that Zhuang took of himself - to his parents in China and claimed he had been abducted. Zhuang's family eventually paid $80,000 (£62,600) to the perpetrators. Experts told the BBC that advancements in technology have made it easier for criminals to pursue cyber kidnapping schemes. While there is no clear data on the number of cases, they said, Zhuang's experience is not an isolated occurrence. "The way it's being perpetrated in most cases, [it] could happen to anyone," said Joseph Steinberg, a cyber security expert who has advised business firms and governments. "The crimes have gotten much more targeted and much more expensive." Police believe kidnappers began manipulating the 17-year-old exchange student as early as 20 December, when he was seen with camping equipment in Utah. Typically, cyber kidnappings involve criminals calling or messaging a victim to trick them into thinking a loved one has been kidnapped, though the person is actually safe, Mr Steinberg said. Victims have reported hearing screaming on the phone while the perpetrator claimed their loved one was in danger to secure a ransom. "They will do anything to keep you on the phone," said Marie-Helen Maras, the director of the Center for Cybercrime Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "They'll threaten to cause harm if you hang up or if you try to contact anyone to frighten their targets into making rushed decisions." There have been several cases in which Chinese foreign exchange students in other countries - including Canada and Australia - were coerced into staging their own kidnappings to extort money from relatives, said Dr Maras, who has studied cyber kidnapping cases. Cyber kidnapping in US illustrates growing crime trend
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:08:36 GMT -8
Leave the Luggage ... Keep Your LifePassengers dashed to the emergency exits of a burning Japan Airlines jet without their hand luggage, in compliance with the flight crew's instructions. The simple act of leaving their valuables behind would be a "major factor" behind the speed of the evacuation, with the last person escaping just before the aircraft was engulfed in flames on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday, aviation experts say. Japan Airlines Flight 516 turned into a fireball after it collided with a coastguard plane as it landed. Five of the six people on board the smaller aircraft - which had been due to deliver aid to victims of the powerful New Year's Day earthquake - died. But everyone on Flight 516 survived, with the flawless evacuation from the cabin as it filled with smoke astounding the world and winning praise from many. Aviation experts and industry professionals told the BBC it boiled down to staff on board putting their rigorous training into practice and "well-behaved" passengers who obeyed safety protocols. "I don't see a single passenger on the ground, in any of the videos I've seen, that has got their luggage with them… If people tried to take their cabin luggage, that's really dangerous because they would slow down the evacuation," said Prof Ed Galea, director of the fire safety engineering group at the University of Greenwich in London. To see what happens when passengers try to take their luggage with them, one only has to look back to a crash landing in Dubai in 2016. Footage from inside the Emirates Boeing 777 involved shows people panicking as they clamber to grab their possessions, before they fled down emergency slides. Japan jet crash: How crew pulled off flawless evacuation from plane inferno
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:13:02 GMT -8
What Would They Have Done About a Sign that Read "I'm a Mormon and I'm Proud"? A group of Utah rabbis were told to remove signs that declared "I'm a Jew and I'm proud" from a basketball game on Monday because they were told it was causing a distraction to the players. Rabbi Avremi Zippel is a longstanding Utah Jazz fan and was at the Delta Center Monday night to see the team face the Dallas Mavericks. He and three other rabbis brought the signs to protest the involvement of Kyrie Irving, now a Mavericks player, who was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 for tweeting a link to a movie widely considered to be antisemitic and for initially failing to disavow it. The Anti-Defamation League rejected Irving's subsequent donation of $500,000 and Nike severed its commercial ties with him. Zippel said in a string of posts on X that Irving spotted the sign early in the first quarter and told him: "No need to bring that to a game." Zippel said Irving then spoke to Mavericks security staff, before Jazz officials came to check the rabbis' tickets and tell them to put the signs away. The Jazz said in a statement that the signs were in breach of its audience code of conduct that maintains games must be played "without distraction or disturbance." "During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday's Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a distraction and interfered with the play of game," the statement said. The statement said that a "part-time employee" who told the rabbis that the content of the signs was problematic was "incorrect." "The issue was the disruptive interaction caused by usage of the signs, not the content of the signs," the statement said. Zippel wrote on X on Tuesday night that the Jazz took the side of Irving and said the team had cited a spurious policy to get the signs taken down. "Bottom line: there was one person, in a building of 18,000+, that was triggered by sign that says 'I’m a Jew and I’m proud,' Why that bothers him so, to the point that it sparks an interaction, should be the real question anyone is asking," Zippel said. Utah Jazz told rabbis to remove 'I'm a Jew and I'm proud' signs during game involving Kyrie Irving
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:18:00 GMT -8
Look Who's Running to Replace George Santos
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:19:58 GMT -8
Way to Go, Esther!
The Woman Who Saved Israel's Fragile Democracy – for Now
Ex-Supreme Court President Esther Hayut did Israeli society a huge favor on Monday by presiding over the ruling to effectively kill off the government's judicial overhaul. But Israel remains as divided as ever, and will still be when the war ends
The first and most important conclusion from the ruling is that the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul is over. Just before the first anniversary of Justice Minister Yariv Levin's unveiling of his "legal reform" program last January 4, and after the most turbulent 362 days in Israel's history, the plot to eviscerate Israel's Supreme Court and hobble its democracy has failed.
This government will not have the power or the credibility with the public – or most likely the time – to try it again. That doesn't mean a future right-wing government won't make another attempt at weakening the judiciary, but it must be hoped that any future constitutional changes will be made in a more consensual manner.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:22:02 GMT -8
Night Court with a Gun
An armed man broke into the Colorado Supreme Court early Tuesday and took a security guard hostage while firing multiple gunshots and causing “significant and extensive damage,” authorities said.
The individual, who was not immediately identified, shot out a window to gain access to the Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center in Denver shortly after being involved in a two-car crash outside the building around 1:15 a.m., the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) said in a release.
The man, who allegedly pointed a handgun at the other driver before fleeing the scene, entered the building and held an unarmed guard with the CSP’s Capitol Security Unit at gunpoint. He then demanded access to other parts of the building, which also houses the Colorado Court of Appeals, the CSP said.
“The individual obtained keys from the security guard and proceeded into other parts of the building and accessed an unknown number of floors,” state police said.
The suspect fired multiple gunshots inside before calling 911 and voluntarily surrendering around 3 a.m. No injuries were reported, though there is “significant and extensive damage to the building and the investigation is ongoing,” police said.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:27:27 GMT -8
I've Got a New DrugUnder a microscope, this drug-resistant superbug looks as benign as a handful of pebbles. Yet carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, or CRAB, is a nightmare for hospitals worldwide, as it kills roughly half of all patients who acquire it. Identified as a top-priority pathogen by both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CRAB is the most common form of a group of bacteria that are resistant to nearly all available antibiotics. Victims are typically hospitalized patients who are already sick with blood infections or pneumonia. In the U.S. alone, the bug sickens thousands and kills hundreds every year. But 2024 is starting with some encouraging news on the global health front: For the first time in half a century, researchers have identified a new antibiotic that appears to effectively kill A. baumannii. The compound, zosurabalpin, attacks bacteria from a novel angle, disrupting the route that a key toxin takes on its journey from inside the bacterial cell to the outer membrane that shields the bug from the immune system’s defensive onslaughts. No other antibiotic approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration takes this approach, and the element of surprise is an important advantage against even microscopic foes. A. baumannii has had no opportunity to develop resistance against the drug, which means that, for at least a little while, zosurabalpin could ward off severe illness and death. “As far as I can tell, the scientific approach is brilliant,” said Dr. Oladele A. Ogunseitan, a professor of population health and disease prevention at UC Irvine who was not involved with the study. A potent antibiotic has emerged in the battle against deadly, drug-resistant superbugsThe Most Dangerous Pathogen is StupidAntibiotic-resistant superbugs claim the lives of more than 1 million people globally each year. The rise of drug resistance is due in part to human folly — we have long over-prescribed and misused antibiotics — but it is also because bacteria are continually finding ways to evade threats. Over the last 50 years, these pathogens have evolved defenses faster than we can produce new drugs.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Jan 3, 2024 10:30:11 GMT -8
The Most Dangerous Pathogen is Still Stupid
The email, addressed to the 13-year-old swimmer from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, came out of the blue. “Between approximately 2019 and 2022, you allegedly engaged in a pattern of behavior which constitutes Sexual Misconduct,” it read, with both final words capitalized.
That was in April 2022. It took three months for the 8th grader to learn what the accusations were: A claim he had slapped another teammate on the butt in a locker room 10 months earlier, in June 2021.
More than 20 months later, the case remains open, even after local police in the town 40 miles north of Denver investigated and dismissed it within weeks. Now 16 and a high school sophomore, the teen's promising swimming career has been plunged into uncertainty by the temporary sanctions imposed by SafeSport — and the hard-to-escape taint of presumed guilt as the case drags on.
“Their allegations are entirely untrue,” said the teen, whom The Associated Press is not identifying because he is a minor. “So my reaction, when I heard them, I was thrown off and confused. And then I was upset."
The SafeSport Center was established in 2017 to investigate and punish abuse in Olympic sports in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar gymnastics molestation cases that revealed flaws in the way U.S. sports leaders handled sex-abuse cases.
The center’s mandate extends well beyond the Olympics, however, reaching into the grassroots level of more than four dozen sports. The teen swimmer's situation illustrates the impact of that broad authority as its overtaxed investigative team takes on cases that often don't involve elite athletes in the Olympic system or even directly entail sexual abuse or misconduct.
How Is One Slap a "Pattern of Behavior"?
|
|
