September 8, 2021

7.0 earthquake about 7 miles outside Acapulco tonight

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 has struck Acapulco in southern Mexico, seismologists and residents say. Details are still limited but shaking was felt as far away as Mexico City.

The earthquake, which struck at 8:47 p.m. local time on Tuesday, was centered just north of Acapulco, a city and major seaport on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The area is about 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Mexico City.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the earthquake’s preliminary magnitude at 7.0, down from an earlier estimate of 7.4. It struck about 12 kilometers below the surface, making it a very shallow earthquake.

Details about damage or casualties were not immediately available, but shaking was felt as far away as Mexico City, where power outages and gas leaks were reported.

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2021/09/powerful-earthquake-hits-southern-mexico/

September 5, 2021

How the Navy failed to stop a murderous special operations leader. (Eddie Gallagher)

In recent years we’ve had a raft load of fanboy books by and about Navy SEALs and other special operators at war. But in Alpha, David Philipps, a reporter for The New York Times, has produced a serious study of a SEAL unit in crisis as it fought ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017. By Philipps’s credible account, the unit’s leader, Eddie Gallagher, was a one-man wrecking crew for ethical behavior. He murdered a teenage captive by plunging a knife into the helpless prisoner’s neck. He entertained himself by repeatedly firing his sniper rifle at people who clearly were civilians, such as old men, schoolgirls, and people doing their laundry in the Tigris River. He frequently disobeyed orders from his superiors and hid information about his unit’s whereabouts on the battlefield. He had a drug abuse problem.


Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALs by David Philipps Crown, 480 pp.

The story gets worse. Gallagher’s immediate superior, a Navy SEAL lieutenant, was intimidated by him and went along with his misdeeds. The chain of command above that officer was aware of Gallagher’s behavior but did nothing to constrain him. Indeed, when the commander of SEAL Team 7, Robert Breisch, was told of possible war crimes violations by members of Gallagher’s team, instead of pursuing their allegations, as was his clear and legally required duty, he told them to report the violations themselves. But Gallagher’s immediate subordinate worried that if he vocally asked for an inquiry into the murder of the prisoner, Gallagher would find a way to kill him—which would be easy enough in a combat zone.


But Philipps’s book isn’t just about Gallagher. It’s about a system that enables evil because it doesn’t want to look bad. After the Mosul deployment, Gallagher was assigned to teach special operations urban warfare in the United States, and the compliant lieutenant was promoted to teach the art of command in such fights. Despite his justified fears of death, Gallagher’s concerned deputy went on to report the murder three times—only to have the Navy fail to act on each occasion. The institutional Navy’s response was to figure out a way to handle the situation quietly. When that failed and Gallagher’s story became major news, the Navy was still unable to discipline him, and the SEAL was embraced by high-level political figures, including then President Donald Trump.

In the spring of 2018, several members of Gallagher’s platoon lost patience with their leader’s misdeeds and essentially demanded an investigation. Gallagher responded by seeking to intimidate witnesses. Among other things, he gave the names of his accusers to an old SEAL buddy, who responded in a text message, “some day we will just kill them.” This book brims with such striking quotations, mainly because Philipps was able to read a trove of some 6,000 texts written by Gallagher and 2,300 others sent by members of his platoon.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/september-october-2021/seal-of-disapproval/

September 3, 2021

""Trump fucking hates DeSantis" a Trump confidant told Vanity Fair." I knew it!

Although DeSantis looks like a front-runner now, a lot can go wrong between now and the New Hampshire primary. For one thing, DeSantis’s supposed success at managing COVID is being torched by the delta variant raging out of control in Florida. DeSantis also needs to win reelection in 2022 (a recent poll showed him losing to Republican turned Democrat Charlie Crist). But assuming DeSantis prevails, former staffers told me that his abrasive personality could become a liability under the pressures of a national campaign. DeSantis is known to only trust his wife, Casey, a former newscaster, and his staff has seen heavy turnover. “He has zero relationships. He just doesn’t speak to you,” one former staffer told me. In May, Politico reported that former DeSantis staffers set up a “support group” to commiserate over their experiences working for him. DeSantis didn’t respond to requests for comment.

DeSantis’s biggest challenge, though, will be navigating his fraught relationship with Trump. “Trump fucking hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,” a second Trump confidant told me. (“Ron is a good guy,” Trump said.) According to a source, advisers for Pompeo have been promoting DeSantis in hopes of stoking Trump’s jealousy. “Pompeo’s people are building up DeSantis as the leader of the Republican Party to piss Trump off,” the source said.

Part of Trump’s irritation with DeSantis is that Trump feels that DeSantis doesn’t give Trump enough credit for his rise. “Trump tells people, ‘I made Ron.’ Trump says that about a lot of people. But in this case, it’s actually true,” a prominent Republican said. (“He gives me good credit,” Trump told me.) According to sources, then Congressman DeSantis cultivated Trump’s support during the 2018 gubernatorial election by hanging out at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel. “He asked me if I’d endorse him,” Trump recalled. For much of the primary, DeSantis trailed Florida agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam. But after Trump backed DeSantis in June, DeSantis zoomed 12 points ahead and went on to win by nearly 20 points. “The second I endorsed Ron, he blew through everybody,” Trump said.

Once in office, DeSantis irked Trump further by putting his political ambitions ahead of Trump’s demand for blind loyalty. According to a source, DeSantis announced publicly in the fall of 2019 that Trump would attend the Florida GOP’s annual statesman dinner before the White House signed off on the invitation, which effectively forced Trump to appear. Last year, I reported that DeSantis rejected Trump’s pleas to close Florida’s beaches as the pandemic raged. In the wake of the Surfside condo collapse in June, DeSantis and Trump clashed over Trump’s plan to hold a MAGA rally in Florida while the search for survivors continued. (Trump denied there was a dispute, but DeSantis didn’t attend the rally.) On July 1, DeSantis appeared alongside Biden and praised him for the federal government’s response to the tragedy. The moment recalled the greeting between New Jersey governor Chris Christie and President Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/the-race-to-inherit-trumps-maga-base-is-already-on

September 3, 2021

Top federal health officials warn that booster shots initially may be limited to Pfizer recipients

Top federal health officials have warned the White House that the Biden administration’s plan to begin offering booster shots to most Americans later this month may have to be limited initially, with third shots made available only to people who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter.

Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients on Thursday that their agencies may not be able to approve a more expansive coronavirus booster plan that they, along with other top doctors across the administration, endorsed last month.

Woodcock and Walensky told Zients that, by the end of this month, they may be able to approve and recommend booster shots only for people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Some officials said Friday that reviews of the other vaccines’ boosters could take an additional few weeks, though they cautioned it depends on the data.

Now, Woodcock and Walensky, who have faced criticism for endorsing a plan before their agencies completed their reviews, have warned that staff may need more time to make a determination about boosters for people who received the Moderna vaccine. The FDA has only partial data on Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters. Pfizer and BioNTech submitted late-stage booster data late last month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/03/booster-shot-delay-pfizer-first/

September 3, 2021

Florida is reporting an average of 325 coronavirus deaths a day, by far the highest on record

Florida is reporting an average of 325 coronavirus deaths a day, by far the highest on record https://newsnodes.com/us_state/FL


https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1433549919323779102?s=20

This is a 7 day average.

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1433546165149069335?s=20

REAKING: Florida, which reports a backlog of COVID-19 deaths every Thursday, has added 1,338 new deaths, up 48% from last week



So much for relying on monoclonal antibodies instead of vaccines.

September 1, 2021

Joe Rogan has COVID and is taking Ivermectin.

Also Zpak, prednisone and monoclonal antibodies.


https://twitter.com/zachzachzach/status/1433165332928032768?s=20

August 31, 2021

Two dead and 10 injured after Mississippi highway washed away by heavy rain

Two people were killed and 10 others injured after part of a highway was washed away Monday night near the town of Lucedale, Mississippi, officials said.

The incident occurred on the two-lane Highway 26 in George County, Trooper Cal Robertson of the Mississippi Highway Patrol told CNN on Tuesday. The washout was likely related to the rain from Hurricane Ida, he said.

Seven vehicles went into the hole created by the washout, according to Robertson. It's about 50 feet in length and 20 feet deep, he said.
"I've never seen anything in my 23 years in law enforcement like this," he said .Three of those injured were in critical condition, he added.

Highway 26 is a main artery between Mississippi and Louisiana, the George County Sheriff's Office told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/31/us/mississippi-highway-26-collapse-flooding/index.html

August 31, 2021

A tree was uprooted in Morgan City , LA yesterday. What's going on with the lawn here?

Is this turf? Just curious . I've never seen anything like this before. Doesn't look like the tree has any roots.


https://twitter.com/Cleavon_MD/status/1432075874044612613?s=20

August 28, 2021

Jesse Jackson has been moved to a rehabilitation center. Jacqueline has been moved to the ICU

She's not on a ventilator but is receiving increased oxygen.



https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1431390909703274497?s=20

August 27, 2021

Sirhan Sirhan granted parole by parole board

https://twitter.com/WRAL/status/1431367094709403657?s=20




SAN DIEGO — U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassin was granted parole Friday after two of RFK's sons spoke in favor of Sirhan Sirhan’s release and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars. The decision was a major victory for the 77-year-old prisoner, though it does not assure his release.

The ruling by the two-person panel at Sirhan’s 16th parole hearing will be reviewed over the next 90 days by the California Parole Board’s staff. Then it will be sent to the governor, who will have 30 days to decide whether to grant it, reverse it or modify it.

Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and he should be released if he’s not a threat to others.

“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” he said. “I think I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.”