Blue_Tires

Blue_Tires's Journal

February 14, 2019

MEANWHILE, in South Carolina...

https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1094784566030725121

February 14, 2019

MEANWHILE, in Florida...

Why hasn't "Bonnie and Clyde, Except With Boats" been optioned into a big budget movie yet?

https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1095395864820932608

February 12, 2019

How Trump's Swamp Works Now

At 3:45 p.m. on October 6th, 2017, an unassuming man in his early sixties with a low, raspy voice and a thin, wide smile arrived at the White House. He had been here before, in the George W. Bush years, when he was one of the most sought-after fundraisers in the Republican Party. But a scandal had derailed his life, and afterward he had disappeared from politics. In early 2016, the opportunity arose to make his return. The man had helped Donald J. Trump’s long-shot campaign raise millions of dollars, and he could rightly say he played a role in the most improbable presidential victory in American history. Now, Elliott Broidy had come to deliver an urgent message. After a brief visit with Jared Kushner, he was summoned to meet the president in the Oval Office.

Broidy told Trump about a recent trip he’d taken to the United Arab Emirates, the small but wealthy Persian Gulf nation, on behalf of a defense-contracting company he owned. Broidy raved about the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s de facto leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, known as MBZ, whom he had met with while in the Emirates. He said that MBZ and Mohammed bin Salman, the young crown prince of Saudi Arabia, were creating an all-Muslim counterterrorism force made up of 5,000 Arab soldiers to fight against the Taliban and ISIS. With the help of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Broidy said, his company would assist the UAE and Saudi Arabia to train and assist those pan-Arab fighters.

Trump loved the idea. As far as he knew, Broidy had business interests in the Middle East and had briefed the president as a courtesy. What Trump didn’t know — and Broidy didn’t disclose, according to his detailed notes about the meeting obtained by Rolling Stone — was that Broidy was also waging a secretive, multimillion-dollar PR and influence campaign in Washington, D.C., to persuade the Trump administration to punish Qatar, an enemy of the UAE and Saudi Arabia — but an ally of the U.S.

Broidy’s operation came with code names (Trump was “Chairman,” MBZ “Friend,” Qatar the “snake”), convoluted money trails and a shadowy liaison to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The liaison urged Broidy to make the most of his time with Trump (his “priceless asset”) and reiterated MBZ’s wishes in an email sent to Broidy a few days before the Oval Office meeting. “Again, take advantage of it to tell him that Friend would like to come asap to meet you [Trump] SOONEST out of official site,” the go-between wrote in a long email. The two crown princes “are counting on you to relate it blunt and straight as it is!?.?.?.?Tomorrow is a Pivotal and could turn out to be a Historical and milestone meeting!”

Broidy did as he was told, telling Trump that MBZ stood ready to travel to the U.S. for a meeting but would prefer a more private setting than the Oval Office. Broidy recommended New York or New Jersey. When Trump asked Broidy for his thoughts about Qatar, Broidy slammed the Qataris as financial supporters of terrorism and included them with North Korea and Iran in a new “axis of evil.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/elliott-broidy-donald-trump-swamp-793159/

Personally I can't even get mad at this anymore because this is *exactly* what I predicted life under Trump would be about. What DOES piss me off and will haunt me until my dying day are all the people left and right who swore that this was still a better alternative than living under a Hillary administration

February 12, 2019

Arkansas white supremacist gang arrested in string of violent crimes

Source: BBC News

Federal prosecutors in Arkansas have indicted 54 members of a white supremacy gang for allegedly committing acts of violence and drug dealing. The indictment names 54 people with ties to the New Aryan Empire, a white supremacist group which is known for Nazi swastikas and Heil Hitler salutes.

The charges, including murder, conspiracy, and drug trafficking, are are part of Operation To The Dirt. Prosecutors say the gang first formed in an Arkansas jail in 1990.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Rybicki said the group is also known to intimidate witnesses and in one case burned an informant's face with a hot knife.

The New Aryan Empire (NAE) "has moved from our prisons to our neighbourhoods," Mr Rybicki said, adding that they count roughly 5,000 people as members.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47219960

"Economic anxieties..."

February 12, 2019

Greenwald and Snowden were unavailable for comment:

https://twitter.com/ASLuhn/status/1094939473845063681

February 12, 2019

Wreckage of World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet discovered

Source: CBS News

The research vessel Petrel is perched on a spot in the South Pacific Ocean that was anything but peaceful 77 years ago. Then, it was the scene of a major World War II battle between the U.S. and the Imperial Japanese Navies. For the U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, it would be her last battle.

Now, researchers are revealing Petrel found the wreckage of the USS Hornet in late January - exactly what they were looking for. The ship was found more than 17,000 feet below the surface, on the floor of the South Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands. The USS Hornet is best known for launching the important Doolittle Raid in April of 1942 and its role in winning the Battle of Midway. Richard Nowatzki, 95 now, was an 18-year-old gunner on Hornet when enemy planes scored several hits, reports CBS News' Mark Phillips.

"When they left, we were dead in the water," Nowatzki said. "They used armor piercing bombs, now when they come down, you hear 'em going through the decks ... plink, plink, plink, plink ... and then when they explode the whole ship shakes."

With 140 of her crew already dead, the order was given to abandon ship. The Hornet went to the bottom - three and a half miles down - which the crew of the Petrel has been scanning with a deep-sea sonar drone that sends back live pictures.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-hornet-wreckage-world-war-two-warship-discovered/

Technology gets better all the time, and there are so many things on the ocean bottom waiting to be found at previously impossible depths...

EDIT: I wonder if anybody is going to claim the $40?

February 8, 2019