THIS
ps: Breadshitter
TYB
Sailor acquitted of setting fire that destroyed massive ship
October 2, 2022
A military judge on Friday acquitted a sailor of arson in a fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard, a blow to the Navy as it faces allegations of improper training and maintenance of the $1.2 billion amphibious assault ship.
Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, deeply exhaled when the verdict was read, put both hands on the defense table, broke into sobs and hugged supporters in the audience at Naval Base San Diego.
Outside the courtroom building, Mays read a brief statement to reporters and declined to answer questions. He did not address his plans.
“I can say that the past two years have been the hardest two years of my entire life as a young man,” he said. “I’ve lost time with friends. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost time with family, and my entire Navy career was ruined. I am looking forward to starting over.”
Prosecutors presented no physical evidence during the nine-day trial that the sailor set the ship on fire, while the defense chipped away at the credibility of a key witness, Seaman Kenji Velasco, who changed his account over time.
Gary Barthel, a former Marine judge advocate who represented Mays at a preliminary hearing, said undercutting Velasco’s credibility was key. Barthel has said the judge in the preliminary hearing recommended against a court martial, but Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, former commander of the San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet, had the final say.
The ship’s lower vehicle storage area “became a junkyard and I believe throughout this entire process the Navy was attempting to clean up their mess by accusing Seaman Mays of these allegations,” Barthel told reporters.
Prosecutors did not comment after the verdict. The Navy said through a spokesman, Lt. Samuel R. Boyle, that it “is committed to upholding the principles of due process and a fair trial.”
Prosecutors said Mays was angry and vengeful about failing to become a Navy SEAL and being assigned to deck duty, prompting him to ignite cardboard boxes on July 12, 2020 in the lower vehicle storage area on the vessel, which was docked in San Diego while undergoing $250 million in maintenance work. They said he wanted to drive home his text earlier to his division officer that the ship was so cluttered with contractors’ material it was “hazardous as (expletive).”
The prosecutor, Capt. Jason Jones, acknowledged in court a Navy report last year that concluded that the inferno was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees (649 Celsius) in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship. Navy leaders disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors.
Jones told the judge there is no doubt the Navy “loses the ship” that morning, but Mays is to blame for igniting it.
“That sucker punch from behind, that’s what the Navy could have never prevented,” he said.
Mays thought he would be jumping out of helicopters on missions with the SEALs, but instead he was chipping paint on the deck of a ship, and he hated the Navy for that, Jones said.
“When on deck, you are about as far away from the SEALs as you are ever going to be,” Jones said.
Defense lawyers said the trial only exposed a shoddy probe by government investigators who rushed to judgment and failed to collect evidence showing that the culprit also could have been lithium ion batteries or a sparking forklift.
Sauce: https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/sailor-ryan-sawyer-mays-suspected-of-arson-fire-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-acquitted/
UK's market chaos, contagion risk: what it all means for gold price
September 29, 2022
Kitco News) Intense market volatility in Britain has escalated recession risks and global contagion fears. The gold market has been observing the developments cautiously as prices rise from 2.5-year lows.
The UK saw its market rout continue a day after the Bank of England intervened in the gilt market via an emergency bond-buying program that promised unlimited purchases of long-dated bonds.
On Wednesday, the BOE purchased $1.07 billion of securities maturing in 20 years or more and added that it will be buying up to $5.31 billion a day until October 14. This means that the bailout could rise to around 65 billion pounds ($69 billion) of long-dated gilts.
The move aimed to calm markets after the new Prime Minister Liz Truss's tax-cutting plans triggered massive chaos. With just over three weeks in office, Truss is facing a collapse in the pound, a massive market selloff, a surge in borrowing costs, deep recession risks, and a housing market crash. This week, sterling plunged to record lows against the U.S. dollar.
On Thursday, Truss defended her plan of 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) for unfunded tax cuts. "I'm very clear the government has done the right thing," she said Thursday. "This is the right plan."
Contagion risk
A massive tax cut during an inflationary time has led to criticisms from the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Biden administration has been reportedly working with the IMF to influence Truss to dial back her policies, citing concern over volatility in the financial markets and spillover effects to the broader economy, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Earlier in the week, the IMF urged Britain to "re-evaluate" its tax measures.
"Reports suggest that the Biden administration is concerned about the market spillovers stemming from the UK tax plan," said BBH Global Currency Strategy’s head Win Thin. "Markets have calmed somewhat after the Bank of England's emergency bond-buying plan was announced.This is similar in spirit to what the Fed did in summer 2019 … The Fed took pains to say it wasn't QE, but its balance sheet grew anywa Either way, the symptom (dislocations in the gilt market) may have been addressed, but the underlying malady (irresponsible fiscal policy) continues to fester."==
Within the UK, Truss is facing severe criticism as well, with former BOE Governor Mark Carney warning against the tax plan and stating that it is "undercutting" the nation's economic institutions.
"The message of financial markets is that there is a limit to unfunded spending and unfunded tax cuts in this environment. And the price of those is much higher borrowing costs for the government and for mortgage holders and borrowers up and down the country," he said Thursday.
As a result of the situation in the UK, the Bank of England's tightening expectations had elevated. There are now expectations that the BOE could hike by 155 basis points at its November meeting.
"November is a long way off in this market, and there is a lot of murky water to flow under this bridge, and the market is now pricing 155bp for the Nov BoE meeting," said Pepperstone's head of research Chris Weston.
Weston added that such a hike would make the BOE the most aggressive central bank in the G10.
"Only Sweden and Canada have hiked by 100bp in this cycle … Granted, the situation is far more dire than in other countries, and the BoE must counter potential demand driven by tax cuts - but this is a massive rate hike that is expected," he said.
Gold's reaction
Sauce: https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-09-29/UK-s-market-chaos-contagion-risk-what-it-all-means-for-gold-price.html
They were just following orders and they got to virtue signal by being in the cool kid crowd. They are never wrong, won't hear it.
>Shocking moment two Indiana judges were shot and wounded during a drunken brawl at White Castle
>https://twitter.com/DailyMail/status/1576820276620402688
Birdfinger strikes again, this was epic.
Shocking moment two Indiana judges were shot and wounded during a drunken brawl outside of a White Castle -after female judge gave shooter the middle finger
Video of the May 1, 2019, shooting at the downtown Indianapolis location was finally unsealed last week after the gunman was found guilty
In the video, Clark County Circuit Court Judges Brad Jacobs and Andrew Adams are at the fast food restaurant's parking lot at around 3:30 in the morning
Adams and Jacobs are scuffling with two other men and - according to testimony in the trial of the gunman - they had been 'drinking heavily'
The two judges, along with Crawford County Judge Sabrina Bell, saw two men drive into the parking lot in an SUV
One of the men yelled something that caused Bell to 'extend her middle finger' at them
The video then shows the four men scuffling, with punches thrown. Eventually, Kaiser pulls out a handgun and shoots Adams and Jacobs
A shocking video has been released of a 2019 brawl at an Indiana White Castle restaurant that ended with two circuit court judges shot and wounded.
The video of the May 1, 2019, shooting at the downtown Indianapolis location was finally unsealed after the gunman was found guilty last week.
In the video, Clark County Circuit Court Judges Brad Jacobs and Andrew Adams are at the fast food place's parking lot at around 3:30 in the morning on the day in question. The two judges were attending a judicial conference.
Adams and Jacobs - according to testimony in the trial of the gunman - had been 'drinking heavily' at various bars throughout the evening and were having a nightcap at White Castle.
The two judges, along with Crawford County Judge Sabrina Bell, who was attending the same judicial conference, saw two men drive through in an SUV.
One of the men yelled something that caused Bell to 'extend her middle finger' at them, according to WRTV. Bell told investigators she may have said something that 'egged on' the men.
Brandon Kaiser, 44, was one of the two men, sitting alongside his nephew Alfredo Vazquez. They parked their SUV and approached the three judges and a verbal altercation began, eventually turning physical.
The video shows the four men scuffling, with punches thrown. At one point, Bell appears to try and get the attention of the White Castle employees inside.
Later in the video as the fight rolls on, someone pulls up in a silver truck before quickly assessing the situation and speeding away. A man appears to walk out of the store with his White Castle order and try to stop the fight.
Eventually, Kaiser pulls out a handgun and shoots Adams and Jacobs.
The two judges were hospitalized for treatment but ultimately survived the shooting. Kaiser and Vazquez drove away before police could arrive as employees from the restaurant came out and surrounded the victims.
Kaiser was found guilty of aggravated battery and other crimes for his role in the shooting.
The most serious charges, two counts of aggravated battery, could see him spend up to 32 years in prison.
Kaiser's defense was that he shot Adams and Jacobs in self-defense. He will be sentenced on October 21.
Vazquez, Kaiser's nephew, pled guilty to battery back in November 2019. He was sentenced to six months home detention and a year's probation, which he completed by December 2020.
The men in the SUV, Kaiser and his nephew Alfredo Vazquez, parked and approached the judges, the video shows. The four can be seen grappling and throwing punches. The fight ended when Kaiser pulled a handgun and shot Adams and Jacobs. Both survived their wounds.
In September 2019, Adams pled guilty to misdemeanor battery and served a suspended sentence of a year in jail. Jacobs and Bell were not charged.
The three judgers were, however, sanctioned by Indiana's Supreme Court, which handed Jacobs and Bell 30-day suspensions and Adams a 60-day suspension.
Jacobs has returned to the bench but Adams and Bell are no longer judges, with Bell having resigned due to an unrelated domestic battery case in 2022, according to Fox59.
Sauce: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11273905/Shocking-moment-two-Indiana-judges-shot-wounded-drunken-brawl-White-Castle.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=social-twitter_dailymailus
pics [Ms?] Sabrina Bell
Two knuckleheads going back to jail. And another pic of Msrssr? Bell
The CIA did.
"The US helicopter is also shown by the aircraft tracking service to have flown into the area of loitering over the Nord Stream pipelines from Gdansk, Poland.
On the second day of the loitering, almost in parallel with their US counterpart, a Dutch navy NH9 helicopter was flying in the vicinity of Bornholm Island, and it is expected to have been observing the Americans' activity.
US helicopters also took flights over other Nord Stream pipelines on September 10 and 19 and others stayed over the incident site for hours on the night of September 22 and September 25.
Reportedly, helicopters that made sorties on the night of September 22-23 and 25-26 have especially confusing tracks.
These revelations come after German newspaper Der Siegel reported Tuesday that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) warned the German government there would be attacks on Nord Stream gas pipelines weeks ahead of any incident being reported around the pipelines.=
An informed source told the German magazine that Berlin had been told by the CIA a few weeks ago that there would be attacks on the key pipelines supplying a huge portion of Europe's energy from Russia."
Full sauce: https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-military-aircraft-circled-nord-stream-incident-site-in-se
SUBMARINES
Navy submarines are among the most high-tech vessels in the world. They can insert SEAL teams into hostile target areas, launch guided or ballistic missiles, take out enemy subs and ships, and perform reconnaissance and rescue missions.
AMPHIBIOUS CRAFT
The Navy Amphibious Force is known for its ability to move swiftly through water and over land.
LITTORAL COMBAT SHIPS
Littoral Combat Ships come in two classes, Freedom and Independence. Their key advantage is that they are re-configurable. They can be fitted with "mission modules" specific to the task at hand
https://www.navy.com/life-in-the-navy/vessels
Transportation ot Nordstream courtesy of the 6th Fleet
TYBO