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New evidence suggests Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was intentionally destroyed by pilot Opinion by Jamie Johnson • Yesterday 3:00 p.m. 7 16 17 Comments Apilot on the doomed MH370 flight likely lowered the plane’s landing gear just before it plunged into the Indian Ocean, according to new evidence, which suggests it could have been a premeditated act of mass murder. A wall of condolence to the 239 people who were on flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur - Daniel Chan/AP© Daniel Chan/AP The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, dropped off radar screens after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, bound for Beijing on March 8, 2014. The plane took an unexplained U-turn from its planned flight path and headed back across the Malay Peninsula and the Malacca Strait before vanishing. The bodies of those on board have never been found. Little useful physical evidence has been recovered to prove what happened, until last month, when a landing gear door was found by a Madagascan fisherman. Initial analysis shows that the damage was from the interior side to the exterior side of the debris item and leads to the conclusion that the landing gear was highly likely extended on impact. Aviation experts Blaine Gibson and Richard Godfrey said in a new report: “The realistic possibility that the landing gear was lowered shows both an active pilot and an attempt to ensure the plane sank as fast as possible after impact. “The combination of high speed impact and extended landing gear show a clear intent to hide the evidence of the crash.”

Hundreds of Oath Keepers have worked for DHS in recent years: report Hundreds of Oath Keepers said they are or were employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a report published Monday found—a revelation that comes about two weeks after two leaders of the far-right militia were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 insurrection. In a joint investigation with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) found that more than 300 people on a leaked Oath Keepers membership list described themselves as current or former employees of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies including the Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Secret Service. Experts voiced alarm over far-right extremists—who according to DHS pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat—working at a federal agency responsible for combating extremism. "One active law enforcement official joining a militia group is one too many," Mike German, a former undercover FBI agent who has infiltrated white supremacist and far-right extremist groups, told POGO. "This probably represents that the tip of the iceberg as far as federal law enforcement officers that have been involved in or supported the activities of far-right, militant groups like the Oath Keepers." https://www.alternet.org/oath-keepers-2658957735/

The Left has on occasion said dumb things, but nowhere near the frequency, intolerance or degree of extremism as the Right. Nor has the Left staged such actions as those in Ottawa, Windsor or Coutts, bringing abhorrent Nazi flags, made racist/sexist insults or brought firearms to protests with plans to kill police and public officials.

I think the right-wingers would love to see moderates/progressives stoop to their level of rhetoric. Under those conditions, anything that might be construed as inciting violence against the GOP extremists would justify an escalation of their calls for a violent response. One of the stated goals of the Jan 6th rioters was to provoke an armed response from police and/or the national guard causing injuries or deaths so that Trump could invoke martial law and portray the rioters as martyrs to the cause of "freedom". To the GOP extremists, that would be a "Reichstag moment".

Belarus is sending groups of migrants across the border with Ukraine into minefields and UA guarded positions as a way of scouting out the border regions.

'We would have won': Marjorie Taylor Greene says Capitol rioters should have been fully 'armed' Since being sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has generated one controversy after another. And once again, the far-right MAGA Republican congresswoman is being slammed by her critics for promoting violence. Greene, if anything, has grown even more cocky since her landslide re-election in the 2022 midterms, which found her defeating Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers by 31 percent in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. The very pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theorist and election denialist expects to become even more prominent in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023 after its new Republican majority is seated, and she isn’t shy about openly calling for violence. On Saturday night, December 10, Greene was among the speakers at the New York Young Republican Club's 110th Annual Gala, where she said that the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building would have been fully “armed” if she had organized it. Greene told the crowd, “Then January 6 happens. And, next thing you know, I organized the whole thing, along with Steve Bannon here. And I will tell you something: If Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won — not to mention, it would've been armed. See, that's the whole joke, isn't it? They say that whole thing was planned, and I'm like: Are you kidding me? A bunch of conservatives, Second-Amendment supporters, went in the Capitol without guns, and they think that we organized that.” https://www.alternet.org/marjorie-taylor-greene-2658951212/

We shall see.

Trump is so ego-driven that he cannot conceive that he could possibly say or do anything that is not intelligent and compelling.

Trump Brags About Turning Down Deal To Bring Paul Whelan Home In a bizarre rant on his social media platform, Donald Trump bragged that he turned down a deal to bring Paul Whelan home from a Russian prison. Trump wrote on Truth Social: I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages. The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!

And he was Heiligh touted.

The whole Alberta UCP is comedy relief. Unintended, but comedy nevertheless.

She's as good a fall guy as they need. Then the Cons can wring their hands and blame the public for not accepting a woman as premier, and therefore not the fault of their politics.

Germany Arrests QAnon-Linked Extremists Over Plot to Topple Government GERMAN SPECIAL FORCES conducted a wave of arrests Wednesday, detaining 25 individuals suspected of harboring connections to a domestic terrorist group aiming to overthrow the nation’s government. German prosecutors allege that the far-right group has been heavily influenced by QAnon ideology. The large-scale action involved raids of over 130 locations, and investigations into an additional 27 individuals who were not arrested. The individuals detained include a Russian national, a member of the German nobility, and a former parliamentarian affiliated with the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The group had planned to overthrow the German government, in part by assassinating government officials and installing “Heinrich XIII P.R.,” identified by German officials as 71-year-old Prince Heinrich XIII, a German noble of the House of Reuss. Heinrich was among those arrested. According to a press release from the German attorney general’s office, the group was founded around November 2021. Prosecutors allege the organization adheres to the ideology of the “Reichsbürger,” or Citizens of the Reich, and is heavily influenced by QAnon. According to the statement, the group is “firmly convinced that Germany is currently governed by members of a so-called ‘deep state.’” The group also believes an “Alliance” of “technically superior secret society of governments, intelligence services and the military of various states, including the Russian Federation and the United States of America” had assets present in Germany prepared to assist in securing liberation from “deep state” forces. The organization had reportedly engaged in paramilitary training for its members, and began acquiring arms and equipment in preparation for its coup. Several of the accused individuals were preparing to occupy government positions and head agencies following the overthrow. According to prosecutors, the group targeted members of the Bundeswehr, the German military, and the German police

Who cares?

Someone said that you ought not argue with an idiot became onlookers won't be able to tell the difference between you two.

This happened at a public gathering three days ago, and reports indicated that Putin was drunk, fell down the stairs and shat himself. But....

Backfired: Putin’s Prison Recruits Spiral Out of Russia’s Control Russia’s most deranged gambit in its war against Ukraine is rapidly turning into a crisis as military leaders lose control over the prison inmates freed in exchange for a stint on the battlefield. About 20 armed inmates fled from the frontline in occupied Donetsk in recent days and the Russian military was forced to launch a manhunt for members of its own team, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday. Three of the “fugitives” were killed in the ensuing search, Ukrainian authorities said, wryly noting: “Beat your own, so that others are afraid, as they say.” The hunt was reportedly still on for the other fleeing inmates. The news comes just two days after a suspected Russian deserter fleeing the battlefield in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas crossed the border into Russia before opening fire and injuring two police officers. Independent media outlets identified the gunman as a prison inmate recruited to fight in the war. While many experts saw the prison-recruitment scheme for what it was from the get-go—a convenient way to bolster Russia’s fledgling troops using men deemed easily disposable—it seems many of the inmates are themselves finally coming around to that realization. The public sledgehammer-execution of Wagner defector Yevgeny Nuzhin last month certainly didn’t help matters, no matter how much Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mastermind behind the prison recruitment scheme, told inmates they’d go down in history as “heroes.” Now, Russian inmates say there have been other executions carried out against those perceived to have “betrayed” the mercenary group—and wannabe recruits are shown videos of it. One inmate at a penal colony in the Far East told the BBC’s Russian service that Wagner recruiters showed execution videos to inmates in the facility’s recreation room. https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putins-army-of-russian-prisoners-spiral-out-of-control-in-ukraine?ref=home

Dru Brown was both bad and good in his tenure here, and did not make a compelling case to be retained. When the #3 QB gets more playing time than #2, that says something. If Prukop is released, I would think the Bombers will try harder to re-sign Brown, though. Maybe they have a hot prospect on the line.

Much as they did with William Peterson and Jorja Fox, the Marg Hellgenberger in the CSI Vegas revival. To tell the truth, the Catherine Willows character was so badly written and acted it was an act of mercy to get rid of her.

If the Cons are floating the idea of a spring election, there must be bad news looming for the province if not the PCs.

"Follow the money"

House Report Says Washington Commanders Owner Had Role In ‘Toxic Work Culture' WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Commanders created a “toxic work culture” for more than two decades, “ignoring and downplaying sexual misconduct” by men at the top levels of the organization, according to a report published Thursday by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Commanders owner Dan Snyder was involved in the misconduct, according to the report, which said he inappropriately touched a former employee at a dinner, had staffers produce a video “of sexually suggestive footage of cheerleaders,” and ordered that women who were auditioning to be cheerleaders walk on the field “while he and his friends gawked from his suite through binoculars.” Snyder also interfered in what is known as the Wilkinson investigation, which the NFL eventually took over, that stemmed from former employees alleging in 2020 rampant sexual harassment by team executives, the report said. He also had a separate shadow investigation going, which the report said was used by his lawyers to “cast him as the victim of a defamation campaign ... and deflect responsibility for the team’s toxic work culture.” The team owner also interfered with the House committee’s investigation by “intimidating witnesses,” “refusing to release former employees form their confidentiality obligations” and blocking “the Committee’s access to tens of thousands of documents collected during the Wilkinson Investigation.” When Snyder did testify in a deposition to the committee, the report said, he was evasive and misleading and said more than 100 times that he did not recall things. The NFL is not shielded from criticism in the report, which says the league “misled the public about its handling of the Wilkinson Investigation,” “continues to minimize workplace misconduct across the league,” “has not protected workers from sexual harassment and abuse,” and “has not sought true accountability for those responsible.”