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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 8:59:20 GMT -8
 Is It True that When Gazans Asked Israel to Not Kill Civilians, the Reply was "Go Fly a Kite"?The colourful kites fluttering in the skies of Rafah belie the reality they soar over: ragged tents packed tightly together, and lines of people trying to find food, water, and firewood. Running in and out of it all are children, brief smiles illuminating their exhausted faces as they look up at their flying miracles. That such a simple toy can bring them moments of joy is in and of itself a miracle – and proof of the undefeatable spirit of children who manage this in the midst of rubble, death, displacement, hunger, and freezing cold as Israel’s brutal war on Gaza nears five months. More than 1.3 million people are displaced in Rafah right now, a density that is in the top three worldwide. Only these people are not living in highrises or modern cities: they are packed tightly together in makeshift tents. Kites fill Rafah’s skies, a symbol of hope amid Israel’s war on Gaza |
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:00:23 GMT -8
Guns Don' Kill People. Sand Does.
A girl died and a boy was hospitalized after the sand hole they were digging in at a Florida beach collapsed on top of them, authorities said.
The children were playing at a beach in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea when they became trapped in the sand, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Multiple agencies responded to a call about the incident around 3:16 p.m. Tuesday. Cellphone video obtained by NBC South Florida showed several beachgoers using their hands to try and free the 7-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl.
Rescuers used support boards to prevent the sand from collapsing further and shovels to dig the children out from the hole that was about 5 deep, Sandra King, a spokesperson for Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, told the news station.
It's not clear how long the children were trapped before they were rescued. Staff members at the town hall said the beach does not have lifeguards.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:01:48 GMT -8
Guns Don't Kill People. Gila Monsters Do.
A Colorado man has died after being bitten by his pet Gila monster in what would be a rare death by one of the desert lizards if the creature’s venom turns out to have been the cause.
Christopher Ward, 34, was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by one of his two pet Gila monsters on Feb. 12. He was soon placed on life support and died Friday, Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero said Tuesday.
Jefferson County coroner’s officials declined Tuesday to comment on the death, including if tests showed yet whether Ward died from the pet’s venom or from some other medical condition.
Ward’s girlfriend handed over the lizard named Winston and another named Potato to Lakewood animal control officer Leesha Crookston and other officers the day after the bite.
Ward’s girlfriend told police she had heard something that “didn’t sound right” and entered a room to see Winston latched onto Ward’s hand, according to Crookston’s report.
She told officers Ward “immediately began exhibiting symptoms, vomiting several times and eventually passing out and ceasing to breathe,” according to the report.
Note: Don't Keep Pets Whose Names Include "Monster"
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:03:32 GMT -8
Guns Don't Kill People. Plastic Forks Do.
The Los Angeles Police Department released body camera footage Tuesday that shows a police officer shooting and killing a man who charged at him while holding a plastic fork earlier this month.
The Feb. 3 incident that killed 36-year-old Jason Lee Maccani is under investigation by the state Department of Justice, according to Police Chief Michel Moore, who told the Police Commission last week he had "concerns relative to the actions of the officer involved."
The Only Thing That Can Stop a Bad Guy with a Plastic Fork is a Good Guy With a Gun.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:04:42 GMT -8
Guns Don't Kill People. State Trioopers With Guns Do.
AConnecticut state trooper who killed a 19-year-old man while firing seven gunshots into a stopped car in 2020 is set to stand trial for manslaughter.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in the trial of Trooper Brian North. North has pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in the death of Mubarak Soulemane in West Haven.
Soulemane had stolen a ride-sharing car and led officers on a high-speed chase on Interstate 95 before North opened fire into the driver’s window at close range on the evening of Jan. 15, 2020, according to authorities.
North told investigators he fired because Soulemane had a knife and appeared to be readying to attack other officers on the other side of the car.
But Inspector General Robert Devlin, whose office investigates all uses of deadly force by police in Connecticut, concluded the shooting was not justified.
“At the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane,” Devlin wrote in a report. “Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:06:17 GMT -8
A Direct Pipeline From Russia to Comer and Airhead Jordan.Prosecutors revealed that the so-called whistleblower in the Hunter Biden investigation was feeding disinformation directly from Russian spies to Republican lawmakers. Alexander Smirnov admitted that "officials associated with Russian intelligence" were involved with passing along a story about President Joe Biden's son that became the basis of allegations in the GOP impeachment inquiry, and prosecutors said the former FBI informant was “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections.” NBC News reporter Tom Winter told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday that revelations about the sources for Smirnov's claims were nothing short of stunning. "I think when you look at this in the totality of what was in the detention memo, which was extraordinary – I mean, prosecutors use these to really put the hammer down and show a bit about what type of evidence they will bring forward," Winter said. "When you look at the filing [Tuesday], they went really deep and unclassifying information, information that was unclassified on Valentine's Day, when Smirnov was arrested, deep into his background, that he was a 10-year-plus source for the FBI." "He had a handler that he talked to nearly every day, which is a lot, by the way, for somebody who is a confidential human source," Winter added. "[He was] somebody who had been run out of the Seattle field office, assigned to an agent who works in the criminal squad there, and the key line from this, and we'll show a portion of the document that was filed [Tuesday], is that it says during his custodial interview on Feb. 14, so it occurs after Smirnov is in handcuffs, he admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about business person one who we've publicly identified is Hunter Biden. So he told the FBI after he is in handcuffs, 'Yes, I did this, and it came from individuals associated with Russian intelligence.'" 'We can just tell this guy whatever': How Russian spies fed lies directly to GOP lawmakers
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:08:40 GMT -8
He Left Out Kidnapping Americans and Murdering Russian Defectors Living in Other Countries.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:12:10 GMT -8
Tyranny of the Minority
Notice That: "Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker quoted the Bible to justify the decision:"
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:13:34 GMT -8
Not the Only Thing About Previous Guy That's Small
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:15:29 GMT -8
He Never Called It a "Witch Hunt". Did You Have "Communism" on Your Bingo Card?
Former President Donald Trump is back with another outlandish claim.
Following a New York judge’s ruling in Trump’s fraud trial, which, in part, requires him to pay $355 million in fines, the former president effectively compared himself to Alexei Navalny, the late critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a town hall with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
Trump, who has previously praised Putin, argued that he is a victim of political persecution through his remarks on Navalny. Trump is currently in the middle of several notable legal troubles — two of which involve his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
“And it’s a horrible thing, but it’s happening in our country, too,” Trump said, adding that the country is “turning into a communist country in many ways.”
“It is a form of Navalny,” Trump added. “It is a form of communism, of fascism.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:25:13 GMT -8
CNN Reports Accurately
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:27:03 GMT -8
I Think It's About Forgiveness
The Biden administration has approved another $1.2 billion in student debt discharges for more than 150,000 borrowers.
The latest loan forgiveness, announced by the Education Department on Wednesday, targets a specific group of longtime borrowers enrolled in the Education Department’s much-touted repayment plan, which adjusts monthly bills based on people’s incomes. It comes just a day before a group of federal negotiators is set to discuss broader plans for even more student debt relief.
It's also the first batch of forgiveness to come through since the Education Department sped up its timeline last month for implementing President Joe Biden’s income-based repayment plan, dubbed Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE. Initially, the relief wasn’t set to be approved until later this summer. At that time, the department couldn’t say how many borrowers might get automatic cancellation.
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The tens of thousands of eligible borrowers had to meet a specific set of requirements. In order to make the cut, they had to be enrolled in SAVE. They also had to be in repayment for at least 10 years on a loan of $12,000 or less.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:29:02 GMT -8
A Faculty Oranization Was Involved?
Harvard University issued a campuswide message Tuesday evening from its interim president condemning an antisemitic cartoon that was circulated—and then disavowed—by two student groups and a faculty organization.
“Perpetuating vile and hateful antisemitic tropes, or otherwise engaging in inflammatory rhetoric or sharing images that demean people on the basis of their identity, is precisely the opposite of what this moment demands of us,” wrote Alan Garber, the university’s interim president. “The University will review the situation to better understand who was responsible for the posting and to determine what further steps are warranted.”
The latest controversy at the prestigious university comes after a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism that played a role in the last president’s ouster, as well as recently launched federal investigations into antisemitism and anti-Muslim harassment on a number of campuses, including Harvard.
The cartoon was featured in a recent post on Instagram attempting to link the Black and Palestinian “liberation movements.” The cartoon depicted a hand etched with a Star of David and a dollar sign holding a noose around the necks of what appear to be Black boxer and activist Muhammad Ali and former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The three groups that posted the image issued apologies after it sparked criticism on social media.
“The inclusion of the offensive caricature was an unprompted, painful error—a combination of ignorance and inadequate oversight,” wrote the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and Harvard’s African and African American Resistance Organization in a joint statement. The groups said the cartoon had come from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, an activist organization from the 1960s.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:30:22 GMT -8
Like Lambs to the Slaughterhouse
Another industrial slaughterhouse cleaner has been accused by the U.S. Labor Department of illegally employing children as young as 13 to clean dangerous equipment on overnight shifts, according to a temporary restraining order filed in federal court Wednesday.
The Labor Department said that Tennessee-based Fayette Janitorial LLC illegally employed 15 children to clean a Perdue Farms poultry plant in Virginia and nine to clean a Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing plant in Iowa. They cleaned such equipment as head splitters and meat bandsaws.
Fayette has 600 employees in 30 states, according to the company’s website.
Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to work in slaughterhouses because the work is considered by the federal government to be too dangerous.
Last summer, a 16-year-old migrant was killed at a Mississippi slaughterhouse when he was sucked into a machine that he was cleaning.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 21, 2024 9:32:21 GMT -8
They Will Allow Us to Concentrate them All in a Few Areas. What Should We call These Camps?
Faced with a surge of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018 and 2019, Donald Trump’s White House discussed ways to more aggressively deploy the resources and the might of the U.S. military.
Aides and officials spoke privately about detaining migrants on military bases and flying them out of the country on military planes — ideas that the Pentagon headed off. Throughout his presidency, Trump himself would frequently demand to send troops to the border and catch people crossing.
“He was obsessed with having the military involved,” said a former senior administration official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
That approach and unfinished business have taken on renewed significance and urgency as the country confronts another migrant crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, and as Trump closes in on the Republican presidential nomination. The former president is making immigration a core campaign theme, promoting a proposal for an unprecedented deportation effort if he is returned to power.
Trump pledges that as president he would immediately launch “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” As a model, he points to an Eisenhower-era program known as “Operation Wetback,” using a derogatory slur for Mexican migrants. The operation used military tactics to round up and remove migrant workers, sometimes transporting them in dangerous conditions that led to some deaths. Former administration officials and policy experts said staging an even larger operation today would face a bottleneck in detention space — a problem that Trump adviser Stephen Miller and other allies have proposed addressing by building mass deportation camps.
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