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crickets

crickets's Journal
crickets's Journal
October 20, 2022

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Russia mined Kakhovka Dam, ready to blow it up, Zelenskyy says
https://news.yahoo.com/russia-mined-kakhovka-dam-ready-174400512.html

“We have intelligence that Russian terrorists have mined the (Kakhovka) dam and HEPP turbines,” said Zelenskyy.

“The dam holds back around 18 million cubic meters of water. If Russia blows it up, over 80 (Ukrainian) settlements – including Kherson – will be in the flash flood risk zone. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk.

Furthermore, this would lower the water level at the Kakhovka Reservoir, which supplies Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with water to cool its reactors, as well as much of southern Ukraine with drinking water. The canal intended to provide occupied Crimea with water would also be destroyed. [snip]

“Russia is doing all this to carry out another false flag attack, intending to blame Ukraine for it,” Zelenskyy concluded.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-20/russia-threatens-thousands-with-mined-dam-zelenskiy-tells-eu
No paywall: https://archive.ph/wip/Jsmcv

Addressing a two-day summit of European Union leaders on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Kremlin forces had packed a dam with explosives at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, more than 40 miles upstream of Russian-occupied city of Kherson on the Dnipro river. [snip]

An assault on the structure could serve to cover a Russian military retreat across the Dnipro, potentially halting a Ukrainian advance, while Moscow blames Zelenskiy’s military for the damage, ISW analysts said. [snip]

As Russian missile and drone attacks across the country target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure -- forcing the battered nation’s grid operator to prepare for rolling blackouts -- Zelenskiy also told EU leaders that Moscow was seeking to foment a “wave of migration.”

Attacks are “aimed at creating as many problems as possible with electricity and heat for Ukraine this fall and winter, so that as many Ukrainians as possible move to your countries,” Zelenskiy said.


Hundreds of thousands of civilians deliberately placed in danger. Sounds like more war criming is on the way. *sigh*
October 15, 2022

Link to Fortune article in tweet.

https://fortune.com/2022/10/06/strokes-heart-attacks-sudden-death-america-long-term-risks-catching-covid-carolyn-barber/

A large international study involving 136 research institutions in 32 countries has documented an increased incidence of ischemic strokes in young patients compared to pre-pandemic levels. More than a third were under the age of 55, and many lacked typical risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and high blood pressure. [snip]

In a study that included patients from the initial wave of the pandemic, scientists from the University of Florida found that survivors of severe COVID-19 had two-and-a-half times the risk of dying in the year following illness compared to people who were never infected. Of note, nearly 80% of downstream deaths were not due to typical COVID complications like acute respiratory distress or cardiac causes. [snip]

In a huge analysis of more than 30,000 vaccinated patients who had experienced COVID breakthrough infections (pre-Omicron), scientists found that six months later, even the vaccinated incurred a higher risk of death and debilitating long COVID symptoms involving multiple organs (the lungs, heart, kidney, brain, and others) when compared to controls without evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. [snip]

We’re still learning how pervasive this all is. An analysis of more than 150,000 COVID-19 survivors published in Nature Medicine found that people with coronavirus are at increased risk of developing neurologic sequelae–including strokes, cognition and memory problems, seizures, movement disorders, and many other issues–in the first year after infection. The risks of developing these long-term complications were apparent even in people who did not require hospitalization during their initial infection.
October 15, 2022

Another kick for the video.

I finally watched the whole thing. What a gut churning day, and Nancy kept her cool through the whole thing. If it weren't for her, we might not have our government any more. Thank you, Nancy Pelosi. Thank you, thank you.

October 15, 2022

Well said, kentuck.

On fairly rare occasions I have my differences with Nancy Pelosi, but when the chips are down, I am so grateful she is in our corner. She has deep knowledge, a backbone of steel, and fierce determination like nobody's business. I adore her.

Thank goodness for Nancy on January 6. She, with help from Steny Hoyer and Chuck Shumer, was the driving force that finally got the National Guard response and brought the situation back under control in the Capitol so that the electoral vote would go forward.

Thank you, Madame Speaker!

October 13, 2022

Yes, he did, though the Army tried to cover that up.

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/06/leaked-memo-ex-dc-guardsman-says-michael-flynns-brother-lied-about-jan-6/

A former D.C. National Guard official accused two top Army officials, including Gen. Charles Flynn, the brother of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, of lying to Congress about the military response to the Jan. 6 riot, according to a leaked memo obtained by Politico.

Col. Earl Matthews, who served in various high-level National Security Council and Pentagon positions in the Trump era, sent a 36-page memo to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection calling Gen. Charles Flynn, who was deputy chief of staff for operations at the time, and Lt. Gen Walter Piatt, the director of Army staff, "absolute and unmitigated liars" over their accounts of the day to Congress. The Army previously falsely denied that Charles Flynn, whose brother has spent months pushing election and QAnon conspiracy theories, was involved in the response before admitting that he was present during a "tense" phone call on which Capitol Police and D.C. officials pleaded with the Pentagon to send the National Guard to the Capitol.

The memo also criticizes the Pentagon's inspector general for issuing a report with "myriad inaccuracies, false or misleading statements, or examples of faulty analysis" in the office's investigation of the military response.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/unmitigated-liars-charles-michael-flynn-jan-6-earl-matthews_n_61ae9740e4b0f76117b2a654

The Pentagon claims it was the D.C. Guard that was slow to react to the violence and had to be told twice to respond, which then-commander Walker has vehemently denied.

Initially, the Army repeatedly denied that Charles Flynn had anything to do with the military response to the insurrection. But he personally confirmed that he had participated in a tense Jan. 6 phone call about what actions to take as rioters breached the Capitol, The Washington Post reported.

Walker has told investors that he was “stunned” and “frustrated” during the conference call in which he says D.C. officials asked for National Guard assistance and Flynn and Piatt advised against providing it. Matthews confirmed Walker’s account of the call in his memo.



It looks like the Secret Service, FBI, and the Army both knew what was going on and did not react appropriately. It stinks to high heaven. Like you, I wonder why there hasn't been more investigation and reaction to this.
October 13, 2022

Wonkette Live Blog - January 6 Select Committee: THE FINAL CHAPTER

Blow-by-blow with links, video clips, photos, and the customary snark.

https://www.wonkette.com/january-6-select-committee-the-final-chapter

The House January 6 Select Committee is back today for what is quite likely its final hearing before Kevin McCarthy takes back the speaker's gavel and turns the House of Representatives into a Star Chamber fixated on Hunter Biden's laptop.

But before then we're going to get a summation of the committee's work over the past year and a half, with the focus on Donald J. Trump, the person whose quest to stay in power is at the center of this nightmare. CNN reports that the committee's focus today will be on warning Americans that the former president remains a “clear and present danger” to the Republic, even as he is very clearly gearing up for a third presidential campaign in 2024.

We won't be seeing any live witnesses today, but we will see new evidence and video testimony from former Cabinet officials who hadn't spoken to the committee before.

“We will be presenting a great deal of new documentary evidence tomorrow as well,” a select committee source told CNN. “And certainly among that evidence will include information from the hundreds of thousands of pages that the United States Secret Service has produced to the committee pursuant to the committee’s subpoena of July.”

So, let's do this, shall we?

October 13, 2022

"sizeable % of employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol"

Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw
Wanted: FBI Director willing to conduct internal review of January 6 intelligence/law enforcement failure

@KenDilanianNBC @ryanjreilly report this doc informing top FBI: "sizeable percentage of the employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol”



2:52 PM · Oct 13, 2022


Sorry the image is so huge.

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1580632482822561793
October 13, 2022

Pentagon restricted commander of D.C. Guard ahead of Capitol riot

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/dc-guard-capitol-riots-william-walker-pentagon/2021/01/26/98879f44-5f69-11eb-ac8f-4ae05557196e_story.html
No paywall: https://archive.ph/VccJp

Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn’t enough time to obtain approval from headquarters.

But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of the short-lived insurrection on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn’t immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol.



Former acting defense secretary explains why he blocked use of National Guard on Jan. 6

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/12/2030109/-Former-acting-defense-secretary-and-acting-attorney-general-to-testify-before-Senate

See Christopher Miller memorandum dated Jan 04 at the end of the article.

When the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard testified before the House Oversight committee back on March 3, he had a lot to say about former Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. According to Major General William Walker, it was Miller who placed a long line of restrictions on what the National Guard could and could not do in response to the Donald Trump rally on Jan. 6, and Miller was a major roadblock in providing a response—much to the frustration of Walker.

To make his position very clear, Miller issued a letter to the secretary of the Army on Jan. 4 that put explicit—and unprecedented—restrictions on Guard activity. This included forbidding National Guard members from wearing protective gear like helmets, not to share either equipment or intelligence with law enforcement, and not to be “physically interactive with” the Trump supporters at the rally.

Further testimony from Pentagon official Robert Salesses made it clear that Miller “wanted to take personal control” of the situation involving the National Guard and potential responses to both the scheduled rally, and the events that unfolded after that rally took place.


October 13, 2022

Pelosi is a rock. She is calmly talking to MD mayor about needing more

security to come to the Capitol. She and others are saying they need active duty National Guard troops immediately. She is also clearly stating it's at the instigation of tfg. There are demands that tfg call off the crowds. The violence is raging, and Pelosi is on the phone saying, "We have to get this job done today."

She's so focused and strong. Love her.

October 13, 2022

tfg not only declared victory the night of the election,

he asked for all counting to stop and declared it a fraud if it continued past election day. It was planned before election day to do this. Staff knew about this and made an effort to keep Pence from echoing this.

eta
Parscale said the plan to declare victory went back as far as JULY.

Bannon clip before the election explaining the strategy to declare victory regardless, that if tfg was losing he was going to claim the election was stolen. "There's going to be some crazy shit." 🙄

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