From Sputnik News
“In a study published in Nature Astronomy on Wednesday, a group of astronomers revealed that a mysterious bright flash observed earlier this year in several telescopes across the planet most likely came from the business end of an ultra-massive black hole called a blazar.”
My wife and I kept our daughter’s dog while she was deployed. I took the dog to a Dogs R Us for a veterinarian appointment. As I was paying for the work, the cashier said, “You’ve got your baby.” I said, “It is a dog.” She got all embarrassed and said, “My bad.” That was Strike Two. She said nothing else, thereby avoiding Strike Three.
An internet posting for a “lost baby.”
Bull shit. It’s a dog. Anybody who says his/her dog is just like my children needs to see a shrink.
“In these stories I’ve been translating what I learned in 1970 with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Viet-Nam and Cambodia.
“We – the Blackhorse – were an elite unit. I was very fortunate to have been assigned to a regiment in which you never had to worry if the guy next to you was going to do his job; he was, and so were you – whatever you thought of war or The War or our Vietnamese allies. (Generally the answer to all those questions was, “Not much.”)
“The flip side was that the distinction between the categories Not Blackhorse and Enemy got blurred. We didn’t view our job as winning hearts and minds: we were there to kill people and then go home. And we didn’t much care about the cost of victory so long as somebody else was paying it.”
“That’s something civilians ought to consider long and hard before they send tanks off to make policy. Because I can tell you from personal experience, it isn’t something the tankers themselves are likely to worry about.” -- David Drake, "End Note to The Day of Glory," Other Times Than Peace.
My thought.
Someone somewhere wrote that after Tet ’68 you could ask any 19-year-old grunt why he was in Vietnam, and the answer always was, “To kill gooks.”
That is simplistic. Any American in any branch of service, his job was to kill gooks, if not directly, then administratively, freeing trigger-pullers from the mundane things that make an army work. A Combat Arms Company Clerk’s job was to keep up with promotions, assignments, transfers and etc. so a soldier could go about the business of killing gooks. A cook’s job was to prepare and serve hot meals to trigger pullers so they would be of good physical and mental standard when killing gooks. A finance clerk’s job was to ensure trigger pullers were paid on time and in the right amount of money so his emotional standards remained high and he could kill gooks. This goes for any MOS, whether Stateside or In Country. Every soldier’s job is to support that guy with the rifle or machine gun or grenade launcher, that guy walking along a rice paddy dike or on a dusty mountain trail or down a village street. No matter a soldier’s written job description, his overall job is to kill gooks, whatever the definition.
“The FJB Administration is in the process of apportioning unspent Covid trillions to refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at $80/barrel. These are the same donkeys who foamed at the mouth when President Trump wanted to fill it at $24/barrel.”
https://www.virtualmirage.org/the-week-begins-2/
I could not
find any backup stories, but Google isn’t likely to have anything remotely
critical of Biden.
My wife and I were visiting one of her cousins in Shreveport, La., a few years back. J was born and raised in western Arkansas, not far from Oklahoma. During a conversation, J said, "I got my first full set of dentures two weeks after President Kennedy was shot." I did some quick math and figured, Dude! You were 23 years old! And it was your first full set of dentures? Dang.
From Weasel Zippers
“San
Francisco authorities proposed a new ‘dystopian’ policy heading for approval
next week that would license department robots to kill suspects who threaten
the lives of citizens and police officers in the crime-ridden city.
“San
Francisco Police Department (SFPD) drafted the blueprint for officers to use
its military-style weapons, which includes 17 remote-controlled robots
available in its inventory that are typically used for defusing bombs or
surveilling areas too difficult for authorities to access.
“’Robots
will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members
of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option
available to SFPD,’ the policy reads.”
Was a time
Hollywood envisioned killer po-leece robots as tools of vast right-wing
conspiracy keep POCs in their place companies. Now, we have one of the most
liberal Progressive queer-friendly cities in the country advocating metal
killers. “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Danger!”
(Or anywhere else)
It’s in Alpine, Texas
“In the 1940s and '50s, most any small town you visited in this part of the country was sure to have certain things: a wide thoroughfare called Main Street, a diner, a honky-tonk bar with Hank Williams songs on the jukebox and a baseball team. The mid-20th century was the heyday of American baseball; never were there more teams or more ballplayers. Where now the lowest minor league classification, excluding Rookie League, is Class A, in the late 1940s the professional talent reached all the way down to Class D teams. And baseball's popularity was by no means limited to the professional ranks. Towns that weren't big enough to support, say, the Brooklyn Dodgers' third-best Class D team still had baseball of their own in the form of semipro town teams.”
Gun Free Zone says:
“I’m tired of being peaceful with these people so my
suggestion is to bring back the play book of Friar Torquemada.
“When someone says
from the pulpit that Jesus was transgender and his stab wound was like a
vagina, don’t cry. Waterboard him until he confesses his blasphemy then
burn him at the stake.”
https://gunfreezone.net/calling-friar-torquemada/
Saturday on Facebook was a thing from some woman
praising her 5-year-old for saying Fruit Loops cereal “is Pride Cheerios.” Just
think about that. A mother who said her child recognizes as truth the
assignment of queer propaganda to cereal. Was a time the LGBTQ said, “We are
not after your children.” Events of the last couple or so years prove that to
be a lie.
Folks getting ready for invasion from any direction. In Boise City, Okla., an 8-inch howitzer M110. The chassis is the same as for the 175mm M107 gun and the M578 Light Recovery Vehicle. Boise City is in Cimarron County, the farthest west county of Oklahoma, bordered by Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. The Republic of Texas and the State of Texas claimed the three Panhandle counties, but the Federal government said, “No,” in one of its chagrins against Texas.
A good friend back in the '60s was at a party. This RB (Rich Bitch) sat on the couch between him and a friend. The friend looked at the RB and said, "You want to f*** me or s*** my d***?" The RB turned to John and said, "I don't know what to say." John replied, "He gave you a choice."
From Assistant Village Idiot
“The existence of DNA from extinct human species such as Neanderthals and Denisovans has been found by researchers studying the genomes of ancient South Americans. The report was published this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B1. The study, which examined ancient genomes from skeletal remains from Brazil, Panama, and Uruguay, also revealed the early South Americans' transcontinental travel habits. Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry has never before been linked to ancient South Americans, which is what makes this study remarkable.”
http://assistantvillageidiot.blogspot.com/2022/11/ancient-south-american-dna.html
Transcontinental travel habits. Interesting.
Also: https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/ancient-dna-south-america
“In 1996, an amateur archaeologist found a single upper arm bone sticking out of the steep riverbank—the first clue that the Tollense Valley, about 120 kilometers north of Berlin, concealed a gruesome secret. A flint arrowhead was firmly embedded in one end of the bone, prompting archaeologists to dig a small test excavation that yielded more bones, a bashed-in skull, and a 73-centimeter club resembling a baseball bat. The artifacts all were radiocarbon-dated to about 1250 B.C.E., suggesting they stemmed from a single episode during Europe's Bronze Age.”
https://www.science.org/content/article/slaughter-bridge-uncovering-colossal-bronze-age-battle
Before this find, archeologist held that a gathering of forces of that size was impossible for that time. Central governments did not exist, nor did towns. Families lived separate from others.
Interesting that this battle is not far removed in time from events noted in Eric Cline’s work, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed.From The Times of Israel
“Two women who say disgraced financier Jeffrey
Epstein sexually abused them are suing major banks JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche
Bank, saying the institutions benefited financially from his alleged sex
trafficking.
“According to
Reuters, the unnamed plaintiffs say the banks provided ‘the requisite financial
support for the continued operation of Epstein’s international sex trafficking
organization.’
“Two lawsuits were
filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.”
“(D)isgraced financier”? Why not “Accused rapist” or “Convicted pedophile”? “Accused sex trafficker”?
Going after the banks that
held and invested his money is a way to go.
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
TORONTO – In a prestigious medical journal, doctors from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have laid out policies and procedures for administering medically assisted death to children, including scenarios where the parents would not be informed until after the child dies.
The article appears just three months before the Canadian Council of Academies is due to report to Parliament on the medical consensus about extending voluntary euthanasia in circumstances currently forbidden by law. The Canadian Council of Academies is specifically looking at extending so-called assisted dying to patients under 18, psychiatric patients and patients who have expressed a preference for euthanasia before they were rendered incapable by Alzheimer's or some other disease.
Link at
Knuckledraggin
All you
folks Up North and Back East, you want stuff like that, go ahead and let your
state legislators know. And then live with your decisions.
Long, long time ago I got a Spin ID for Wheel of Fortune, so that I, a home viewer, might win some thousands of dollars or a trip to Antigua. How long ago, you ask? My Spin ID had five (5) numbers. Five!
Well, that number became old or obsolete or some such, no longer viable. So last night I went on-site to re-register. After filling in the blank spaces, I got to “Password.” The site had instructions—must be at least eight letters, at least one capital letter, at least one number and at least one special character. Okay. Submitted a Password did I, as instructed.
Not Good Enough, said red letters, and a red line boxed the Password space. I did it again. Not Good Enough. One more time. Same. Okay, Wheel, you’ve had your chance at giving money and/or a trip to me.
This morning in my Inbox: “Welcome, Bob!” A new Wheel Spin ID. I would have preferred to keep the old one (5 numbers!) because it ID’d me as a long-time watcher. But, somebody else makes the rules. I’ll go with the new one.
Just a
guess: BS changes started after Disney became owner of Wheel.
The Latécoère 631 flying boat airliner was the largest aircraft of its kind at time of construction, which began in 1938 and ended with the beginning of World War II. Work resumed when France and Nazi Germany signed an armistice in 1940.
The 631 first flew on 4 November 1942. Eleven were constructed. Of the 11 built, five were lost in accidents and one was destroyed by RAF Mosquitos on 17 April 1944.
The first accident occurred on 31 October 1945.
“An Air France Latécoère 631 (F-BANT) was operating a flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, when the propeller of No. 3 engine separated in flight and debris struck the No. 2 engine. A propeller blade sliced a 3 metres (9.8 ft) hole in the cabin, killing two passengers. A small fire started and an emergency landing was made in the Laguna de Rocha, Uruguay. The aircraft was subsequently repaired and returned to service.[3] The celebrated poet, diplomat and composer Vinicius de Moraes and writer Rubem Braga, both Brazilians, were on board.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lat%C3%A9co%C3%A8re_631
The 631 in flight and a shot of the spacious fight deck:
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Braas/4550.htm
The Texas Quote of the Day is a reminder that old-time cowboys faced many different kinds of hazards:
"Well, I never froze on the trail, but I did starve for water, and I don't mean maybe either. It was my first drive, too - that was what made it so hard on me. In the spring of 1869 we left Pick Duncan's ranch with a bunch of W Cross L's for the head of the Concho to go from there to the Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River. We left that good, clear Concho with one barrel of water, intending to refill at Hackberry water hole, mid-way on the plains.
Halting to answer the cook's 'come and git it' at noon, we went on until dusk, when we pitched camp (no where near that water hole) and when supper was finished, so was the water - fourteen men and not a drop, not to mention the stock, and three days to go.
We did not bed the cattle as planned but hit the trail all night and at nine o'clock next morning we stopped to rest an hour; then prodded 'em up and on toward that water hole. Finally when within a mile of it the boss said he would ride ahead and reconnoiter. He was back right now with 'It's so confounded dry you could bury a man in the cracks, they're so deep.' That settled it. We kept the herd hoofin' until three o'clock, halting for another hour, then trailing it straight through until the next day noon when we hit the canyon, twelve miles from Horsehead Crossing.
The cattle got wind of the water and pulled out plumb
pert. It was half an hour by sun when we got there, and when we got to that
river not one of the fourteen boys could speak above a whisper and several
could not shut their mouths for swollen tongues. If any of you have ever been
as thirsty as we were, you know just how good water just plain, brackish,
alkali, Pecos River water can taste. It was so good we laid up three days
drinkin' our fill and enjoyin' ourselves.
Water logged, full of good grub, rested and fresh as daisies, we started up the Pecos to the falls. There the horse wrangler, named Kuykendall, dismounted on herd and stood his gun by a bush. Remounting, he caught it by the barrel, the hammer caught in the brush, pulled back and blew his head off. We buried him and continued on to Hondo, thence to Denver where we delivered the cattle.
------ Charlie Harmon, an old Texas cowboy, quoted in an interview in February, 1930.
From Traces of Texas Facebook
Since a vein burst in my brain 36 years ago, doctors have written numerous prescriptions for drugs that keep me alive. That’s one up for the drug industry. Because the aneurysm happened when I was on Active Duty, the Army medically retired me with Tricare for Life. Hooray for soldier benefits. When I took Social Security at age 62, Medicare kicked in. I’m paying $163 a month, but that is world’s better than what most people pay for insurance coverage.
The first prescriptions were for Phenytoin for seizure control and Procardia for blood pressure. Two drugs. Over the years, brain damage residuals and continued blood pressure problems led to more and more prescriptions. I am not complaining about the number of drugs. They keep me alive.
Nor am I complaining about the frequency of delivery, although I sometimes wonder if the government drug warehouses know something the rest of us can only conjecture. I have enough prescribed drugs to last more than a year. Like I said, not complaining.
Here is what
I have:
Eliquis – 11
refills
Atorvastatin
– 7
Hydralazine –
9
Furosemide –
5
Phenytoin –
6
Gapapentin –
8
Amlodipine Besylate
– 7
Metoprolol
Succinate – 4
Lisinopril –
5
Potassium Chloride ER (Wax) – 4
As I said, I’m
not complaining. As an 18-year-old Private in 1964, I cared practically nothing
for the benefits way down the road. At almost 77, I appreciate every one of
them.
Wins Above Replacement is a meaningless statistic or measurement or whatever it’s called by people who try and lower the Game of Baseball to a matter of numbers.
What is WAR? MLB Glossary defines Wins Above Replacement:
“WAR measures a player's value in all facets of the
game by deciphering how many more wins he's worth than a replacement-level
player at his same position (e.g., a Minor League replacement or a readily
available fill-in free agent).
“For example, if a
shortstop and a first baseman offer the same overall production (on offense,
defense and the basepaths), the shortstop will have a better WAR because his
position sees a lower level of production from replacement-level players.”
Got that? Yeah, me, too.
But wait! There’s more!
The Formula
“For position players: The number of runs above
average a player is worth in his batting, baserunning and fielding + adjustment
for position + adjustment for league + the number of runs provided by a
replacement-level player) / runs per win
“For pitchers: Different
WAR computations use either RA9 or FIP. Those numbers are adjusted for league
and ballpark. Then, using league averages, it is determined how many wins a
pitcher was worth based on those numbers and his innings pitched total.
“Note: fWAR refers
to Fangraphs' calculation of WAR. bWAR or rWAR refer to Baseball-Reference's
calculation. And WARP refers to Baseball Prospectus' statistic "Wins Above
Replacement Player." The calculations differ slightly -- for instance,
fWAR uses FIP in determining pitcher WAR, while bWAR uses RA9. But all three
stats answer the same question: How valuable is a player in comparison to
replacement level?”
https://www.mlb.com/glossary/advanced-stats/wins-above-replacement
Adjustments. Any time you throw “adjustments” into a
theory or formula, you get “Global Warming” and “Climate Change.” WAR belongs
in the same closet as those unprovables.
‘Kamala Harris Heads to Philippines to Pick a Fight With China’
‘Chinese Defense Minister Ready to Hold Meeting With Pentagon Chief’
Yes, the same VP who praised the US alliance “with the Republic of North Korea,” and who said “Ukraine is a country in Europe” to explain the Ukrainian security crisis. If the VP explains China as “a country in Asia,” don’t be surprised.
Defense Minister Wei Fenghe: "The Chinese side is proactive and open to exchanging views with the United States during the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting with Dialogue Partners, and the relevant agencies of the two sides are in contact and in coordination on this issue."
No word on whether US Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin has been informed of Wei’s preferred pronoun.
From Providence, R.I., schools.
In case the
title is not clear in its racial discrimination, the Providence web site states
the prejudice thusly:
An
applicant must “Identify as Asian,
Black, Indigenous, Latino, biracial, or multi-racial.”
Or,
“No white folks need apply.”
https://www.providenceschools.org/Page/5843
Additional
information at https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/11/providence-ri-teacher-loan-forgiveness-program-only-open-to-non-whites-challenged-by-legal-insurrection-foundation/
‘Sad: With Beer Sales Outlawed, World Cup Attendees Forced To Just Sit There And Watch Soccer’
FIFA officials should hire a few hundred English soccer hooligans to run amok in the stands to keep audience from going camel-hair crazy at having to watch a bunch of sissies from all over the world fake injuries and take off T-shirts.
Question: Can English persons be “hooligans?”
Google
dictionary has “drunken hooligan” as an example of proper usage. Still with
the anti-Irish.
“The mystery of how the coin came to be where it was discovered is likely to remain for some time.
“’It’s
difficult to explain at this point why it’s there, who dropped it. It’s not the
sort of thing that you’d expect to be hanging out of the pockets of migratory
fishers,’ says Brake.
“According
to the former curator of the Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum, Paul Berry — who
worked with the team studying the find — it was likely no longer in circulation
when it was lost, but that doesn’t help provide answers as to how it got there.”
Because we’ve been so good at sticking around until mission is met.
1. The Afghans didn’t
think we were serious about leaving. That probably came from all our double
talking on the topic, maybe even Biden’s postponement of the pullout deadline.
Nobody thought we were leaving, which is why all those Americans in-country didn’t
bother to leave when told to GTFO.
2. The Afghan government
was excluded from peace negotiations with the Taliban. Which should have been
an obvious problem point to even a casual observer.
3. They were excluded,
because it was thought that would (somehow) help the Afghans integrate the
Taliban into their government. I’m not sure how that would help, but I’m no
international relations expert.
4. Lastly, the Taliban
wasn’t really interested in negotiating. Shocker.
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=133687
San Francisco. Sodom upon the bay.
“The Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program will provide low-income transgender residents with $1,200 each month, up to 18 months to help address financial insecurity within the community.”
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=133710
The picture
is of a Biden bureaucrat presently holding office in the swamp.
Heart disease; cancer; medical error.
So says Johns Hopkins University.
But, hey, if your advising physician has a degree from a medical school that promotes equity and race-based applications, some deaths from “medical error” is worth it, don't you think?
Gov. Gregg Abbott invokes “invasion clause” to fight illegal immigration.
“Moreover, Abbott said, through the order, he can build additional border wall, deploy gun boats on the Rio Grande river, designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, boost cooperation with other US states to address illegal migration, and enter into agreement with foreign countries such as Mexico to enhance border security.”
President Trump talked about
designating Mexico’s drug cartels terrorist organizations and hinted he would be
pleased to take out the cartels.
“Kosovo is Serbia”
“The launch comes amid bans and restrictions on RT and Sputnik broadcasting, as well as the outlets' social media channels, adopted by EU countries in March 2022 after the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.”
From a Tennessee relative’s FB page regarding his wildlife management profession:
“Due to Facebook’s insane censorship, almost 100% of my business ads get rejected.”
FB doesn’t like pictures of dead rodents.
The relative also says, “If you have a rodent infestation, more than likely there’s a hungry rat snake taking advantage of the situation.”
Rats, snakes, squirrels, raccoons, possums, starlings – any wild animal that can intrude upon your house, will. People go where the jobs are, animals go for food.
For what it's worth, liberals and such see animal infestations the same way they see hordes of homeless people, all for catch and release until the infestation is in their neighborhood.
'Um, this ain’t New York City, lady’
Customer in NC complains barbecue was pink
“RALEIGH, N.C. - A North Carolina restaurant said a customer called 911 after her barbecue was pink, not understanding how the cooking process works.
“Clyde Cooper’s BBQ in downtown
Raleigh said the story may sound like a hoax, but in fact, it was real.”
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/restaurant-says-customer-called-911-over-pink-bbq
“Let us seperate, they are unworthy to be our Breathren. Let us renounce them and instead of suplications as formorly for their prosperity and happiness, Let us beseach the almighty to blast their counsels and bring to Nought all their devices.” – Abigail Adams to John Adams, Nov. 12, 1775.
“Let us beseech the almighty to blast their counsels…” Strong
words, and no doubt applied by both Mr. and Mrs. Adams.
The Handley Page Hampden was a twin-engine RAF bomber used mostly in the early years of World War II. Until spring 1940, British practice was not to use its bombers to actually bomb anything, but to drop propaganda leaflets on German cities and a few real bombing missions on the German fleet.
In addition, Hampdens were used laying mines in areas frequented by the German naval ships. Those missions, called “Gardening,” increased with the German invasion of Norway. It should be mentioned that British and French forces were en route to invade Norway, but the Germans got there first.
Wikipedia says, “(T)his activity proved highly effective, experiencing a low casualty rate of less than 1.9 aircraft per mission.” For every 10 Hampdens sent out for Gardening the North Sea, two would not return, on average. “Highly effective” does not count if you are aboard one of the two.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Hampden#Specifications_(Hampden_Mk_I)
Damned Good Show gives a good account of an RAF squadron flying the Hampden.
Threatened with a First Amendment lawsuit, a Vermont high school has backed down from punishing a member of the girl’s volleyball team who protested when girls were told to accept a biological boy in their locker room. One part of the school’s assigned punishment was that the real girl “take part in a restorative circle … to help her understand the rights of [transgender] students to access public accommodation …”
Whaaat? A “restorative
circle?” Is that anything like South Africa’s “reconciliation committee?” Set
up by a new government (wokeism) and demanding that people found guilty without
a trial adhere to an alien manner of thought? In the girl’s team case, all
girls are required to believe, “It’s OK and normal for this person with boy
parts to undress and dress in front of us and to watch us undress and dress.”
The only way to defeat those people and their intent to kill our Republic is to sue and sue and sue. Never, never, never give up.
From Gun Free Zone
“I kicked the Libertarian hornets nest on Twitter.
“M**********r, do I
hate Libertarians.
“Keep in mind I
used to be one.”
In
Libertarianism, the author found “a hotbed of antisemitism and an attitude of ‘I
got mine, fuck you.’”
“There
wasn’t an antisemitic conspiracy the Libertarians didn’t wholeheartedly traffic
in.”
https://gunfreezone.net/god-damn-do-i-hate-libertarians/
Here is the only thing to remember when someone
starts talking about Da Joos controlling everything:
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.” – Genesis 12:3
Any
questions?
Or, for Ukraine, if you prefer
“The
overwhelming majority of them are Poles, of which there are 5,000, Rogov
specified. He also said Japanese, Australian, Canadian, French nationals and
people from Spanish-speaking countries among mercenaries.
“Rogov
also recalled that more than a thousand mercenaries had already been killed in
the city of Zaporozhye.”
https://tass.com/russia/1535673
Poland
and the USSR fought a brutal war for two years, 1919-21, following the
Bolshevik overthrow of the Kerensky government, with Poland planning to take
back western Ukraine, which once before had been part of Poland. Plus, Russia occupied
Poland for more than 100 years, 1815-1918, as agreed by the major European
powers. As with the Balkans, no love lost between neighboring countries.
Brian Nguyen selected as “teen winner” of Greater Derry beauty pageant to compete for Miss New Hampshire.
I tell you what. You look at the pictures here
https://www.weaselzippers.us/486991-biological-male-wins-miss-america-pageant-in-new-hampshire/
and you have to figure the only way Brian is Greater Derry queen is because the real girls: had absolutely no talent; or, Wokeism. I’m betting on the latter.
If you want,
there are many stories on what Miss Brian had to say about winning. Read ‘em or
don’t. I didn’t.
Depends on who has the figures.
More than 15,000 families have received “compensation” for deaths, according to We Can Explain Telegram channel.
“On September 21, Sergey Shoigu, the Russia's Defence Minister, said on the RT TV Channel that the total losses of Russian militaries in the SMO in Ukraine had amounted to 5937 people.”
Источник: https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/61653/
© Кавказский
Узел
Back in WW2, U.S. intelligence agencies did not hesitate using Sicilian mob bosses in furthering Allied causes vs Nazis and Italian Fascists. The most publicized cooperative effort was between U.S. Naval Intelligence and alleged mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano, who was serving a 30-50-year term in New York state prison for his part in a prostitution ring. Wikipedia has a fairly accurate account of the Naval Intelligence-Mob operation.
“During World War II, the US government struck a
secret deal with the imprisoned Luciano. In 1942, the Office of Naval
Intelligence was concerned about German and Italian agents
entering the US through the New York waterfront. They also worried about sabotage in
these facilities. Knowing that the Mafia controlled the waterfront, the US Navy contacted
Lansky about a deal with Luciano. To facilitate negotiations, Luciano was
transferred to Great Meadow
Correctional Facility in Comstock, New
York, which was much closer to New York City.[63]
“The Navy, the State of New York and Luciano reached a
deal: in exchange for a commutation of
his sentence, Luciano promised the complete assistance of his organization in
providing intelligence to
the Navy. Anastasia, a Luciano ally who controlled the docks, allegedly
promised no dockworker strikes during war. In preparation for the 1943 allied
invasion of Sicily, Luciano allegedly provided the US
military with Sicilian Mafia contacts. This collaboration
between the Navy and the Mafia became known as Operation
Underworld.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano#World_War_II,_freedom,_and_deportation
The U.S. Army’s history of the Sicilian campaign also
mentions meetings between military intelligence offices and Sicilian criminal
groups before and after the invasion, which began on July 9, 1943.
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the “Russian Mob”
has held the interest of movie and television script writers. For several
years, Russian Mob stories became a staple for NBC’s Law and Order, so much so that one might believe the Russians a
threat to U.S. national security.
Yet in the real war between Ukraine and Russia, no mention
has been made of where the Mob stands on good guys and bad guys.
Is someone hiding something?
Daddy had worked graveyard shift at Red River Army Depot the night before and was asleep when the house caught on fire. The Depot was running three shifts, repairing and rebuilding vehicles damaged from the war in Korea. Daddy had worked at the Depot since the late 1940s.
The house was wood, with what was then called a “tin roof.” The house was at least 50 years old and had never been painted. That many years of hot Texas sun made the walls very dry. Electrical wires were bare in the walls and attic or wrapped in paper. Squirrels were known to eat the paper and then become electrocuted when touching both AC wires. Sometimes, too, old age caught up with paper-coated wires and the two AC wires lost the insulation and came in contact with each other, producing a spark, which in a dry attic often caused a fire. Daddy said that is what he figured caused the house to catch on fire.
Smoke woke Daddy. He knew immediately that the house was on fire. He knew, too, that the old, dry house would burn fast. He grabbed a pair of pants, shoved through the bedroom window screen and got out. He walked away from the house and watched it burn. There was nothing he could do; he had no way to fight the fire. The house did not have running water. The well was in the kitchen.
Mama and I were at the café east of Maud on Highway 67. Daddy and Mama had started the café with a VA loan. The café was a new attachment to an older building that during the war produced something. There were lots of electrical motors on tables when Daddy bought the building. He opened the place first as a BYOB dance hall clearing out the electric machines and wood tables and building a stage. There already was a hardwood floor. Daddy played in a Saturday night dance band, so didn’t have to worry about finding a house band. When the dance hall didn’t pay off, Daddy and Mama made the building into a bowling alley, with the café added to the front. Bowling didn’t make any money, either, so they closed the alley and went with the café only.
Mama, Daddy’s older sister Ruby and I were standing outside the café before noon that morning. I was absent from school, first grade, because of a reaction to the smallpox vaccination from a week before. Mama and Ruby were talking, and then we all saw a dark cloud of smoke about three or four miles to the northwest.
Ruby said, “Wanda, that looks like it could be near your house.”
Mama knew Daddy was asleep at the house. She said to Ruby, “Watch Bob!” She jumped in the car, a brown 1938 Pontiac coupe, and drove away, fast, spinning gravel.
To get to our house, Mama drove through Maud, turned north onto a dirt road a mile or so west of town, then down the sand and clay road for another mile, then took a right onto the half-mile path. She later said, “I took those curves on two wheels.”
I don’t know what Mama and Daddy did when she got to the house. It must have been pretty much on the ground by then. It was a small house -- two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen as near as I remember. We spent a few days with relatives. Everybody lived within 10 or 15 miles. At that time other than Mama and Daddy, there were Carolyn, my older sister, me, Francis, 3 years old, and Bill, who was 2. Within a week, Mama and Daddy had another rent house.
We went to the remains the day after the fire. The house was burned. That was the first house fire I had seen, and it was completely burned.
As we looked
at mostly unidentifiable things, my cousin Bobby Holly pointed and said, “Bob!
There’s your cap pistol.” It didn’t look like my cap pistol. My cap pistol had
been a Christmas present. It was the best cap pistol I ever had. I looked at
the melted aluminum and plastic. I would not cry. “I don’t care,” I said.
