Tributes pour in after revered Marine platoon commander dies in Camp Pendleton accident

A training accident involving a light armored vehicle at Camp Pendleton, Calif., has left a Marine officer dead and six others injured. The LAV-25 rolled over on Thursday during a regularly scheduled battalion training exercise, killing 1st Lt. Hugh Conor McDowell, a platoon commander with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, according to the 1st Marine Division. The other six Marines were in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.

McDowell, 24, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was the only child of Michael McDowell and Susan Flanigan, who moved to Chestertown, Md., after he left St John's College High School. A graduate of the Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C., McDowell completed his Light Armored Reconnaissance course in March and had only recently picked up his platoon.

The 13-ton vehicle, which has eight wheels and is used for reconnaissance both on land and underwater, typically carries seven troops. The cause of the rollover is under investigation.

McDowell had accepted his commission as a Marine Corps officer in May 2017. His awards include the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. He was known by his second name Conor, given to him in honor of the Irish historian Conor Cruise O'Brien.

His father, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a dual British and Canadian citizen, is a former BBC and CBC journalist who was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2001 for his contribution to the Irish peace process. His mother, from Baltimore, was a longtime marketing and public relations specialist at Gallaudet University, a private university for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Tributes poured in after news of McDowell's death was made public. "Driven, sincere, unique, honorable, funny…You're one of the good ones," said one Facebook posting. "One of the friendliest and most outgoing guys around," said another. "He will be extremely missed. RIP brother." McDowell lived near Camp Pendleton with his girlfriend and their two cats and a dog. Marking his birthday in March, his girlfriend wrote: "This beacon of strength and ferocity and courage and grace…you are a reserve of love and kindness and compassion and tenderness. You are a light."

The 1st Marine Division said in a statement: "We recognize that military operations are inherently dangerous, and we take extreme precautions to ensure the safety and welfare of our Marines. This is a tragic accident, and we are heartbroken at the loss of a member of our Marine Corps family." We are heartbroken at the loss of a member of our Marine Corps family. 1st Lt. Hugh C. McDowell, platoon commander, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, died during a training event on Camp Pendleton, May 9, 2019. Semper Fidelis, Brother. pic.twitter.com/08Lr27BWdF — U.S. Marines (@USMC) May 10, 2019

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tributes-pour-in-after-revered-marine-platoon-commander-dies-in-camp-pendleton-accident

Conor Cruise O'Brien

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/dec/19/conor-cruise-brien

US Army Colonel: Pentagon's Latest China Report A "Budget Ploy" To Bleed The Taxpayer

A former US Army Colonel has blasted Department of Defense’s (DOD) latest report on China's military capabilities as a "budget ploy". "You’re looking at a situation where the only thing [the DOD] can ask for, in terms of fixing any of this, is money — more and more money" retired Colonel Lawrence "Larry" Wilkerson said of the DoD's annual report prepared for Congress entitled, "Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019".

Wilkerson, who served as former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, described in an interview with The Real News that hyping the China threat taps into a well-trodden American pastime of fear-mongering in order to squeeze more precious taxpayer dollars towards inflated budgets.

The Pentagon report focused heavily on President Xi's plans for rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), especially China’s ambitious plans for the region’s “largest navy” — which has lately included ongoing construction of the country's third aircraft carrier (the first full-sized one), with plans for seven total by 2025. Col. Wilkerson dismissed the idea that China’s aircraft carrier or latest much reported naval modernization initiatives were real causes for concern: We’ve got a dozen [aircraft carriers]. They’ve got one at sea, one… about to come out, and another one perhaps, and ours are so far ahead of theirs that it’s 10, 15, 20 years before they even achieve the kind of capacity we have.

He explained that "aircraft carriers are extraordinarily vulnerable and we’re going to find that out when one of them with 5,000 hands and $14bn worth of taxpayer money is sunk in less than 30 minutes, whenever we get engaged in something real." Now a military analyst who teaches at The College of William & Mary in Virginia, Wilkerson addressed the familiar Pentagon cycle of threat inflation in the interview: The [US] army could not expand; it could not take on a real enemy today without massive conscription and full mobilization. And I wonder if the nation could even stand that today. And so, you’re looking at a situation where the only thing [the DOD] can ask for, in terms of fixing any of this, is money— more and more money.

However, he did warn that the heightened rhetoric and blustering amidst a trade war could serve to paint both sides into a corner, resulting in a scenario of blindly bumbling toward war, as other analysts have described of the so-called "Thucydides Trap". Wilkerson said an increasingly aggressive US posture toward Beijing could create a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” wherein each minor escalation based on inflating threats begins “demarcating the highway to war with China,” - according to the interview.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-10/us-army-colonel-pentagons-latest-china-report-budget-ploy-bleed-taxpayer

Gunmen attack hotel in Pakistani port city of Gwadar: officials

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a hotel in Pakistan’s southwestern port city of Gwadar on Saturday and were battling security forces while helicopters circled overhead, officials said. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, told Reuters most guests had been evacuated from the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel but attackers appeared to have reached the first floor.

Gwadar, which lies on the Arabian Sea, is a strategic port being developed as part of the $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is part of China’s mammoth Belt and Road infrastructure project. Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove said there appeared to be casualties but there were no immediate details. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Balochistan is rife with ethnic, sectarian and separatist insurgencies, and several militant groups operate in the province, including the Pakistani Taliban group or Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-security/gunmen-attack-hotel-in-pakistani-port-city-of-gwadar-officials-idUSKCN1SH0D6?il=0

U.S. states sue Teva, 19 other drug companies in price-fixing complaint

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Forty-four U.S. states have filed a lawsuit accusing 20 drug companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc of a sweeping scheme to inflate drug prices and stifle competition for more than 100 generic drugs, state prosecutors said on Saturday. The complaint, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, said the drug companies engaged in “numerous illegal conspiracies in order to unreasonably restrain trade, artificially inflate and manipulate prices and reduce competition,” according to state attorneys general. The drugs included everything from tablets and capsules to creams and ointments to treat conditions including diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, epilepsy and more, they said. In some instances, the coordinated price increases were more 1,000 percent, the lawsuit said.

Representatives of Teva and Sandoz, another company named in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Teva USA is a unit of Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The lawsuit also names 15 individuals as defendants who it said carried out the schemes on a day-to-day basis. “The level of corporate greed alleged in this multistate lawsuit is heartless and unconscionable,” Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said in a statement. The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-drugs-lawsuit/u-s-states-sue-teva-19-other-drug-companies-in-price-fixing-complaint-idUSKCN1SH0DP?il=0

Bayer says won't tolerate unethical behavior as France probes Monsanto file

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bayer said on Saturday it did not accept “unethical behavior” following a French investigation into a suspected file assembled by the German company’s seed making unit Monsanto to influence various personalities in France. The French prosecutor said on Friday it had opened the probe after a complaint was filed by daily newspaper Le Monde. According to the newspaper and other French media, Monsanto built up a file of some 200 names that includes journalists and lawmakers in the hope of influencing their positions on pesticides. The file, Le Monde reported, dates from 2016 and was leaked by U.S public relations and marketing agency FleishmanHillard.

In an emailed statement, Bayer declined to comment on the investigation, saying it did not know which documents the allegations referred to. “We stand for openness and a fair treatment of all interest groups. We do not accept any unethical behavior in our company,” it said. “That applies obviously for the data privacy regulations in the respective countries as well.” FleishmanHillard said on Friday it would investigate the allegations in Le Monde. The company will “examine the questions raised by certain media outlets about the lists of stakeholders that included publicly available information,” it said in a statement.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in a $63 billion deal last year, faces mounting litigations over its weedkiller Roundup, a systemic, broad-spectrum glyphosate-based herbicide. A U.S. jury in August 2018 found the company liable because Monsanto had not warned users of alleged cancer risks linked to Roundup. Bayer suffered a similar defeat over the weedkiller last month, while more than 13,000 plaintiffs are claiming damages. The company said last month it intended to defend itself in all lawsuits.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bayer-france-monsanto/bayer-says-wont-tolerate-unethical-behavior-as-france-probes-monsanto-file-idUSKCN1SH0BR?il=0

>>6470955

I agree 100%