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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
I don’t know about others but reader view allows me to read the Daily Beast without all the bullshit.
Generally though the damning part seems to be that Bill courted a friendship with Epstein, possibly to gain more contacts, *after* he was convicted for sexual assaulting children.
(Also the dailybeast reminded me that fucking Lawrence Krauss was good buds with Epstein.)
La lava empieza a destruir algunas casas en la ciudad de Goma tras la erupción del Volcán #Nyiragongo en República Democrática del Congo pic.twitter.com/iO0Z0VErvf
— Alerta Cambio Climático (@AlertaCambio) May 22, 2021
Mount Nyiragongo in Democratic Republic of Congo
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Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
One of the many youtube rabbitholes I’ve fallen down into is aviation videos and based on my armchair studies, ATC falsifying an emergency is a very big no no, and I expect there will be an investigation into how this happened. If they really dispatched a fighter jet, they could lose commercial passenger services and become a no fly zone.
For a whole bunch of reasons but the most basic is that pilots must be able to trust ATC in an emergency, any possible chance the pilot is going to second guess one of the control centers that help keep these $100 million tubes full of hundreds of people from slamming into each other because they might have someone important onboard is just an accident waiting to happen.
Ryanair’s CEO has come out with a more harsh statement now calling this a state sponsored hijacking, after revealing there were Belarusian KGB agents on board and a fighter jet was indeed dispatched. Which is a bit like holding a British office building hostage with bombs, to find their target. Belarus accused of 'state-sponsored piracy' as fury mounts over diversion of Ryanair flight - CNN
The sanctions have already begun with multiple surrounding countries declaring Belarusian airspace off limits and Britain is revoking Belavia airlines gate permissions, which may get extended by the EU to all EU countries. Gain one journalist, lose one international airline.
This isn’t just one of the more ham fisted ways of doing this, but it’s one that now suddenly makes a whole bunch of countries suddenly care about a journalist they certainly didn’t really before.
A lot of really young guys getting heart disease in Belarus:
FYI, 3 days ago another Belarusian political prisoner – Witold Ashurok – has died of an alleged ‘heart disease’. His family last heard from him on 30 April, although previously they got letters from him every 10 days. Prison officials still refuse to hand his body over to family. pic.twitter.com/SU2p7DxisK
It’s kinda of amazing to watch every dictator or wannabe dictator use the same playbook.
I expect this will push Belarus further into a Russian satellite state as no European carrier is going to trust the Belarus going forward, to travel to Europe (assuming they are even allowed to leave) will probably require flying to russia, then switching to a european carrier
Four militants from the Palestinian Liberation Front, who were accused of hijacking the Italian cruise liner, Achille Lauro, were on a chartered Boeing 737 from EgyptAir, which was taking them from Cairo in Egypt to Tunis in Tunisia.
The USA made plans to intercept the airliner, using military jets flown from one of its aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean, to force the airliner to land at an American military base.
Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger, on learning of the interception plan, objected, telling Joint Chief of Staff, William Crowe, "That's a terrible idea. I'm dead set against it, interfering with a civilian aircraft. We'll be castigated all over the world."
However, President Reagan decided to go ahead with the interception, and several planes, including F-14 Tomcat fighters, were launched.
The airliner was intercepted by USA F-14 Tomcats in international airspace over the Mediterranean, and escorted to the US base of Sigonella in Sicily.
This was different from the recent Belarus incident in that the plane was chartered, and was carrying mainly PLF personnel, plus members of Egypt's counterterrorism unit - it wasn't a regular passenger flight.
It caused a long-lasting fight between the USA, Italy, and Egypt, with some repercussions persisting to the present day. The Wikipedia article makes interesting reading, some thirty five years on.
I can’t wait for news to hunt for some mental illness, when the illness is society. At this point, it’s no coincidence that the demographic most focused on and praised by society is the same one who has tantrum murder suicides.
Oh hey look, angry white dude was caught in 2016 coming back from the philippines with terrorist, bomb making books and a hand written journal of his grievances with the VTA.
Once they realized he wasn’t Muslim, he was sent on his way and customs never informed the VTA or San Jose Police that 5 years ago this mass murderer was working on his hit list, while earning over $100,000 a year at the VTA.
(Oh oh excuse me sir, I didn’t realize you were white, here’s your list of targets back, and from all of us at US Customs we hope you have a pleasant work place assault.)
"Hundreds of anti-vaccination protesters stormed Westfield in Shepherds Bush on Saturday evening.
Pictures and videos from the shopping centre show a huge group of people clashing with police as they attempted to enter the building.
Once inside, protesters lit red flares as terrified staff locked themselves inside shops and customers fled.
Officers soon gained control of the situation and moved the demonstrators back outside."
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“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.” —Henry Ford