News Clips

[nivek]

Major power outage in Central America cut electricity to some 15 million residents



A major power outage in Central America cut electricity to some 15 million residents on Wednesday, with the worst impact felt in Honduras and Nicaragua.

The two most-affected countries saw power for nearly all residents “practically go down to zero volts,” siad EOR communications head Evelyn Flores. The grid operator said the outage began at 1 p.m. (1900 GMT) but the cause and specific origin of the massive loss of power still being determined.

Energy use fell from 8,300 megawatts to just 2,400 megawatts across the region with the exception of Panama and Costa Rica, which were mostly unaffected, EOR added.

(More on the link)

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[wwkirk]

Obvious inside job?
"Also unharmed: members of the president’s security entourage"
Suspects in assassination told police the plan was to arrest, not kill, Haiti’s president

 

[wwkirk]

Haiti police arrest suspect accused of orchestrating President Jovenel Moise assassination - CNN


Haitian doctor with Florida connections arrested as a leader in Moïse assassination plot
Among the unanswered questions: How Sanon, who once filed for bankruptcy, could be behind a costly conspiracy. Some of the people arrested said that they were paid $3,000 a month and had been living in Haiti since January.

Questions have been raised about Moïse’s presidential guards and how the assailants were able to break into his residence and get past the guard gate and two dogs. Police sources have told the Herald that four members of the presidential security detail, including the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace, Dimitri Hérard, have been removed from their leadership duties and must report daily to internal affairs.

 

[wwkirk]

Yikes! I live in the Bronx!

A "major gang war" between ruthless Bronx crews that are fearless of cops has left a 13-year-old boy and two other teens dead in just the past five days, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Monday.
"We can’t keep them in [jail], and they’re going after each other,’’ a high-ranking police source said, referring to juvenile suspects who end up back on the streets after being sent to family court instead of being prosecuted as adults.
A city prosecutor added, "They don’t go to jail, so they do robberies, get in fights and carry guns.
"Life on the streets in 2021."

‘Major gang war’ in NYC leaving teens dead in the streets

Police: 13-year-old killed by gun violence in the Bronx

Fortunately, it hasn't come to my neighborhood...yet....

 

[pigfarmer]

Yikes! I live in the Bronx!

well, there's Da Bronx and then there's Da Bronx but that one's a bit close to home - not the first place I might suspect.

I whizzed by your neck of the woods like, four times in the past few days. Up and down I95 to and fro the Throg's Neck. Open road tolls are a gift from Heaven. Next time through I'll toot the horn

Oh, and yes I wear my sunglasses because the future of NYC is so bright. Maybe because that idiot is going away.

 

[wwkirk]

DEA: Haitian Assassination Plot Suspect was Agency Informant

“At times, one of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was a confidential source to the DEA,” the DEA told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Following the assassination of President Moïse, the suspect reached out to his contacts at the DEA. A DEA official assigned to Haiti urged the suspect to surrender to local authorities and, along with a U.S. State Department official, provided information to the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender and arrest of the suspect and one other individual. DEA is aware of reports that President Moïse’s assassins yelled ‘DEA’ at the time of their attack. These individuals were not acting on behalf of DEA.”

 

[wwkirk]

Meanwhile, in Cuba...




The Left’s Favorite Dictatorship Is under Siege

 

[HAL9000]

Interesting that Obama lifted a lot of the embargoes etc against Cuba and it was helping them get sorted out.

But Trump immediately reinstated them as part of his 'anything Obama did, I'll undo' policy..

 

[wwkirk]

well, there's Da Bronx and then there's Da Bronx but that one's a bit close to home - not the first place I might suspect.

I whizzed by your neck of the woods like, four times in the past few days. Up and down I95 to and fro the Throg's Neck. Open road tolls are a gift from Heaven. Next time through I'll toot the horn

Oh, and yes I wear my sunglasses because the future of NYC is so bright. Maybe because that idiot is going away.

Dammit! The cops just knocked on my door and asked if I heard "shots fired." I didn't, but maybe the gang war is coming my way.

 

[pigfarmer]

Dammit! The cops just knocked on my door and asked if I heard "shots fired." I didn't, but maybe the gang war is coming my way.

No joke. South Bronx normal. West Bronx coin toss. There were a couple of places I used to go they told me not to turn my back on the street while I was waiting to be let in.

 

[nivek]

 

[nivek]

One-hour Allegiant Airlines flight from Vegas to Stockton turns into 17-hour journey from hell due to unmanned control tower, storms and an overnight stay at LAX



A one hour flight from Las Vegas, Nevada to Stockton, California turned into a 17-hour trip when Allegiant Airlines flight 161 was unable to land. The plane flew from Las Vegas to Stockton back to Las Vegas and then landed in LAX before finally landing in Stockton. Passengers expected to land in Stockton on Monday at 9:30 pm but did not arrive until Tuesday at 2 pm. Passenger Jade Watts said, 'It was absolutely horrible.'

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[wwkirk]

Being a prison guard is dangerous. Note the assistance that never seems to come!

Shocking video allegedly shows accused Parkland school shooter attack jail officer

 

[nivek]

20-foot sinkhole opens up in the middle of NYC street - the third ground collapse in a week - after heavy rain from Storm Elsa flooded the city



A massive 20-foot sinkhole opened up in the middle of an Upper East Side street on Thursday, just days after a sinkhole nearly devoured two cars on the city's West Side. Thursday's ground collapse, which occurred just before 9am at East 89th Street and York Avenue, is about 15 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep, according to the NYC Emergency Management agency.

Cities nationwide remain on heightened awareness when it comes to infrastructure issues following the deadly building collapse on June 24 in Surfside, Florida. At least 94 people were confirmed dead at the building as of Monday. No injuries or evacuations were reported on the Upper East Side, according to Citizen. The Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation and Emergency Management agency responded. Con Edison was notified to inspect infrastructure at the sinkhole site.

While the exact cause of Thursday and Sunday's sinkholes has yet to be revealed, they typically occur when a water main or sewer collapsed due to old pipes giving way. They can also form when water-drainage patterns are changed, the US Geological Survey reports.

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[pigfarmer]

Nothing good is going to happen to Manhattan over the next few years. There are very likely areas like that condo in Florida that have already been compromised that we just don't know about. Subway's going to finally get that Big Rinse they need.

 

[pigfarmer]

Imagine the horror show down there that never sees the light of day. Eeeeeeeee.

 

[pigfarmer]

Good thing is, we've all had a huge Blamestorm over these past few years and know exactly who's at fault for whatever. It's the other guy's fault and if only they hadn't hobbled your great plans. Also got rid of all those pesky statues and made sure the streets are full of racial love and unity because those things are important during a flood. Oh and don't forget about all the 'infrastructure' and 'high speed rail' talk that is of immense value.

All of these things will be critical for the situation our seaboard cities face well, right now from what I can see. I'm not worried because of all the preparation and planning I see, otherwise we just might be screwed.

 

[nivek]

 

[pigfarmer]

First Woman Completes Training for Elite U.S. Navy Program

First Woman Completes Training for Elite U.S. Navy Program
The Navy said the woman was the first graduate of a special warfare training pipeline that feeds the Navy SEALs and other elite commando forces.

SEAL candidates in Coronado, Calif., last year.Credit...Mc1 Anthony Walker/U.S. Navy, via Associated Press

By Mike Ives July 16, 2021

A woman has joined a United States Navy special warfare unit for the first time, the latest gender barrier to fall in the five years since women became eligible to apply for any combat job in the military.

The service on Thursday said the woman was the first female graduate from a Navy special warfare training pipeline that directly supports the SEALs and other elite commando units.

A Navy spokeswoman said the woman would not be identified, which is a standard policy for members of the special forces.

In a statement, Rear Adm. Hugh W. Howard III, the commander of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command, said the woman’s graduation represented “an extraordinary accomplishment.”


“Like her fellow operators, she demonstrated the character, cognitive and leadership attributes required to join our force,” he said.

The Navy said in a news release that the servicewoman was among 17 graduates of a program to become what it calls special warfare combatant-craft crewmen.

S.W.C.C. personnel specialize in what the Navy calls “covert insertion and extraction” operations using small, stealthy, heavily armed watercraft capable of high speeds that can operate independently, or be delivered by larger ships and helicopters.

In addition to receiving training in weapons and navigation, S.W.C.C. sailors also go through parachute training in order to drop their speedboats into the ocean from cargo planes, such as during the 2009 mission to rescue Americans aboard the hijacked ship Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean.

Only about 35 percent of S.W.C.C. candidates graduate, the Navy said.

The woman who graduated on Thursday will be among the operators on three special boat teams that transport Navy SEALs and conduct their own classified missions, The Associated Press reported.
She is one of 18 women who have tried out to be a S.W.C.C. or a SEAL, the spokeswoman said. Fourteen of them did not finish the special warfare training. Three other women are currently training to become Navy SEALs or S.W.C.C. operators, the spokeswoman said.

The share of women in the U.S. military has been inching upward for decades. When the draft ended in 1973, women accounted for 2 percent of enlisted forces and 8 percent of the officer corps in the U.S. military, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the Council on Foreign Relations that did not include statistics from the U.S. Coast Guard. By 2018, those figures had risen to 16 percent and 19 percent.

In 2018, two years after the Pentagon opened all combat jobs to women, First Lt. Marina A. Hierl became the first woman in the Marine Corps to command an infantry platoon.

Chief Master Sgt. JoAnne S. Bass of the U.S. Air Force became the first woman to serve as the highest ranking noncommissioned member of a U.S. military service.

Last week, Chief Master Sergeant Bass celebrated the legacy of another pioneer, Sgt. Esther McGowin Blake, the first woman to enlist in the Air Force.

became the first to earn the title of Green Beret after graduating from Army Special Forces training.

fought for her right to be recognized after she passed the Special Forces Officer Course but was told by the head of the school that she would not be graduating.

In 1981, after an Army investigation and about six months after she finished the course, she was assigned the “5 Golf” code for Special Forces officers and sent a certificate of graduation backdated to Aug. 21, 1980.

She retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2003 after 28 years of service, proudly wearing her Special Forces tab for the remainder of her career.

But for all the recent advances, even high-ranking female officers still face gender-based discrimination.

In March, President Biden nominated two women — Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost of the Air Force and Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson of the Army — to lead two of the military’s combatant commands. Their Pentagon bosses had agreed on their promotions before Mr. Biden took office, but held them back out of fears that President Donald J. Trump would reject the officers because they were women.

 

[pigfarmer]

Normally I'd put this in the podcast recommendation thread but it's relevant to the female Navy SEAL article above. We're fortunate to have people like Major Vidt and she had some interesting comments about women in the military. She's a pilot first, anything else second.

117 - C-17 Globemaster III – The Fighter Pilot Podcast