Desert Tortoise comments

If you think it is acceptable for a police sergeant conducting official training to give a Nazi salute - and state "Heil Hilter" in the course of their work with no repercussions - you are seriously out of touch with reality.

The police force could fire her but prosecuting her is all wrong. The law that outlaws the sieg heil is all wrong. It is an offense to the right of free speech. Shame on Australia. How detestable.

It’s not going to make any difference whatsoever if they don’t a) abandon their commitment to diversity and b) get rid of all the employees who were hired for their diversity instead of their excellence. 

The problem isn't the workers. It's the top management. The Boeing employees who signed off on the 737 Max were all wealthy white males.

So, Boeing is laying off 17,000 employees in the aftermath of a series of diversity-inspired disasters, is it.

So how are cutting corners on product quality to reduce expenses have anything at all to do with diversity? Looks to me like good old fashioned wealthy white guy greed and bad judgement.

It takes a special sort of deplorable cowardice to attack UN peace keepers.

I will take the word of a long-time California resident over one who hasn't lived there for more than 20 years.

The change in California law that reduced penalties for drug crimes and raised the threshold for theft to be a felony was a voter initiative, Proposition 47, and not something that came out of the State Legislature. In fact there was considerable opposition to the initiative from the Governors office (Jerry Brown then) and Legislature. It passed anyway. Ol' Governor Brown also staunchly opposed legalizing marijuana but that was another change pushed on the state by the voters. Interestingly New Gingrich was one of the vocal supporters of Prop 47 while the Alameda County DA at the time Nancy O'Malley was one of the opponents along with then Lt Governor Gavin Newsom who fought and lost a bid to keep it off the ballot entirely. As California AG at the time Kamala Harris had to remain neutral.

Now there is a new ballot initiative to rewrite parts of that earlier initiative to add penalties for theft. And so it goes. Sometimes the voters are ahead of the Legislature and sometimes they are too far ahead.

This outrageous behavior insults not only Jews, but the Australian soldiers' heroic contributions in the fight against Nazism, at Tobruk and elsewhere.

As repugnant as his salute is, prosecuting him for it is the true insult to the heroic contributions of Allied soldiers who defeated the Nazis and Japan. Prosecuting someone for political expression is exactly what the Nazis did, and what I thought naively perhaps was a right we Allies fought to protect. But apparently that is not the case in Australia, a nation like the UK that has no formal written bill of rights or charter of rights like the US has. You can be a doofus clicking your heels and seig heil all day long in the US and you can't get arrested for it. It is protected free speech. Australia is going down the authoritarian sewer hole. It's sad to see.

What a leader. Americans are lucky to have a presidential candidate like him who cares about making America and the the world safe again.

Laughable. Jupiter creates only chaos, treating everything like a "reality" show. He would abandon allies and create instability and crises all over the world. JD Vance seems more interested in instituting a catholic theocracy based on his and the writings of his mentors in the catholic, cough cough, "intellectuals".

https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-catholicism-postliberals-social-policy-a82350ba78148ab24748c3fe0a20eabe

And the counterpoint to sakurasuki's argument is that Indonesian airlines in general and Air Lion in particular had historically atrocious safety records. Both the EU and the US blacklisted all Indonesian airlines, banning them from operating in their countries. The US lifted their ban in 2016 and the EU the following year. The first 737 Max mishap was so strange and occurred with an airline only recently unbanned from the EU that it was reasonable to suspect the quality of the airline rather than something inherent in the 73 Max, though evidence was leading investigators in that direction.

https://qz.com/1441231/the-crash-of-lion-air-jt610-and-indonesias-scary-aviation-record

The second crash however was so much like the first that investigators then knew they had a major problem. I don't think the motivations were as sinister as sakurasuki implies.

So the residents said it was taken over by the gang.

The residents didn't say a gang took their building over. The Aurora Police likewise said the property was not taken over by a gang. The ABC affiliate spoke to the residents there and the all said gangs weren't the problem. The management company and landlord are the problem. And, lo, as soon as the city obtains a court order to condemn the property after years of non-compliance by the management and a TV program on the problem the management company cooks up this story about gangs making it impossible to manage the place. It was a self serving lie by a crooked property management company but the MAGA mob and Faux News took the lie and ran with. And you don't seem to have enough savvy to see through the management company flim-flam.

Liberal translation: his claim was correct. But hey it’s just a single block and not MY block so it’s cool.

The story about a gang taking over an apartment building is bull___t. The apartment in question was cited multiple times for building code and health and safety violations over a period of years. The City of Aurora had obtained a court order to condemn the building. An ABC affiliate covered the complaints of the tenants a week before the allegation was made that the building was "taken over" by a Venezuelan gang. Subsequently the property management company alleged it could not properly maintain the building due to "gang activity". The local police state flatly that the gang does not control any apartment buildings and in fact there has only been one arrest involving that gang, at a different apartment complex from the one in question.

I trust the bleeding hearts here would warmly welcome large number of uninvited guests to their homes who just turn up at the front gates demanding to be let in, and then expect you to give them accommodation, health care and education?

They come here for work and to make better lives for themselves and their families. The immigrants I know, here legally and without papers (like my grandparents) work hard at crappy jobs and earn every penny they have. They pay sales taxes on the goods and in some states the services and labor they buy. They pay property taxes directly or indirectly through their rent. Even if they have a phony ID their employer withholds Federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes, the latter two they cannot collect. They pay all the taxes any American worker in their income bracket pays. Yes many work for cash under the table but so do many US citizens, including many businesses that take cash under the table and don't declare that income. So this story that immigrants are somehow a burden on the nation and not paying their way is just one of the many lies being told by the bigots to justify their hatred of immigrants.

Yet another manifestation of lack of discipline and professionalism by the US military. America’s best and brightest do not go into the armed forces.

Where is the lack of discipline? They encountered an in-flight emergency, followed the NATOPS and made a precautionary landing, followed by an inspection. Other media outlets show the crew up on the rotor head giving it a detailed inspection. The squadron says they will release more information shortly according to other media sources I read.

As for the intelligence of Naval Aviators, you do realize you have to have a Bachelor's Degree just to take the tests to see if you qualify for Aviation Officers Candidate School. If you survive that you are looking at around 12-24 months of flight school. If you pass and earn your wings you go to a Fleet Replacement Squadron and spend another 9-12 months learning to fly your fleet aircraft like this MH-60. I did all of that. Flew two different helicopter types so went through two Fleet Replacement Squadrons. I have a Master's Degree from a major university and buddy getting those Navy wings was the hardest thing I ever did. Dummys don't get through flight school. A lot of candidates wash out along the way. We had students coming from aeronautical universities like Embry-Riddle University and University of Illinois including one guy in my class who arrived with an Airline Transport Pilot rating and was qualified on the 727. A room mate of mine was a crop duster pilot. Competent people.

Surely, the capacity to use cheap solar panels for energy production is a blessing!

China subsidizes the industry so they can charge less, undercut the competition in every other nation, drive competitors out of business and own the entire industry. Hardly a blessing. More like a plague.

What they don't say is that the drivers, who are independent contractors, will have to buy the necessary equipment and pay to have it installed. Or not. But Amazon will them cane these drivers to be faster and "more productive" based on the assumption they have this equipment. In many cases the vans are driven by employees of a contractor who owns 100 or more vans and routes. If the owner doesn't want to fork out the cost of equipping their 100 vans (give or take) Amazon doesn't care. They are still going to expect all drivers to "step it up" on the assumption they have the equipment.

Classic Donald Trump flim-flam.

Boeing needs to do like Reagan did to the ATC who striked in the early 1980s. If they don't want to work, fine. They can stay home or relocate to a different place for a non-Boeing job.

Silly comment, firing and replacing a union workforce is illegal. Even suggesting strikers find another job is illegal.

Unless there were foreign military bases on US soil and they had crashes on public places from time to time, Americans wouldn't understand how the Japanese feel.

Do you think US military aircraft never crash in the US?

learn how to fly first..."professionals

You don't even know what the emergency was. If they had a chip light that in some helicopters what is known as a "Land as soon as possible" emergency. When you have one of those you find the nearest place with enough room and land. Look what happened to that USAF CV-22 when the aircraft commander ignored a chip light. There are multiple Land as Soon as Possible emergencies in the NATOPS manual for each aircraft.

As a pilot you memorize emergency procedures so you can execute them correctly when an emergency occurs. When I briefed a flight I always briefed that if any crew member saw or heard anything that made them uncomfortable or looked unsafe we would land and talk about it. Never press on when there is a question of flight safety.

Mash the "Like" button and subscribe or one of these will crawl into bed with you !

I agree, I don't know why most politicians are afraid to tell this man he is on the same boat as dictators and Nazis right now

The last US President to go toe to toe with an Israeli government, George H.W. Bush lost re-election.

Unfortunately you have a lot of evangelical Americans including majorities in both houses of Congress who sincerely believe that an aggressive and hegemonic Israel has to start that final great war Armageddon to bring the second coming of christ and their salvation. That religious believe over rides any other consideration.

Obama was the only president who, in perspective, took a hardline on Israel and made his personal dislike of Netanyahu known. It’s impossible not to have antisemitism in the world when everyone equates the Jewish faith to Israel!

Eh, George H.W. Bush cut Israeli loan guarantees off until Israel stopped building settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and entered into negotiations with the Palestinians in what would become known as the Madrid Peace Conference.. Both George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker were sick of the arrogance of Yitzhak Shamir poking his hand out demanding US tax money while flipping us off with the other. That move probably cost President Bush a second term because AIPAC went hermatile and fought his candidacy.

"We are fully confident in achieving the goals of economic and societal development for the year,"

And woe to any regional party cadre who's economic "data" doesn't show the desired result.

Hmmm, why only TikTok? Perhaps because it's the only one that the US government can't control or use to spread their own narrative?

Fourteen states are suing, not the Federal Government. As for why Tik Tok, one has to start somewhere.

Sometimes life isn't fair. The sins of the father shouldn't be carried to the children. But their own sins should.

On the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death in May 2023, comments that French officials say glorified "terrorism and al Qaeda" were published on social media in the name of Omar bin Laden, on an account that has now been suspended. A probe was launched in France.

While Omar bin Laden denied being the author of the "reprehensible comments" he did not delete or condemn them, the prefecture said. He was ordered to leave France on October 27, 2023 and did so "voluntarily." He appealed the decision but a French court upheld the ruling last week.

Many faiths prohibit the use of drugs and educates their followers of the devastating results of using them, Schools, Churches, Mosques, Synagogues, Temples and any where were people can be reached should be active.

Laughable. Some of the most outwardly devout nations also have some of the worst drug abuse problems. Iran is a classic example, but pretty much anywhere where religion has an outsized influence on government you find that classic combination of low educational achievement, poverty and drug abuse. They are like a three legged stool.

China has been expanding its maritime powers for many reasons, perhaps including providing protection for some of the nations markets like illegal drugs. The CCP want to payback the west for Opium wars, and are doing so with help from other totalitarian nations by selling drugs to further destabilize th planet.

Chinese banks launder drug cartel money.

The Shanghai Composite index increased 27% in a month. Don't take my word, google it.

Yep, and now it is declining just as sharply this month.

The five year trend for both the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite Indexes has been decline until last month. There is a sharp increase in both indices for September 2024 but in the past week both indices have shown an equally sharp decline.

will take place at Warner Brothers studio in Los Angeles

Encouraging more cars on LA's congested roads is Looney Tunes.

The event won't be on public streets. Warner Bros facility is huge, almost a city in itself.

The pumpkin, or winter squash, is native to North America. It was first cultivated alongside beans and maize in what is now Mexico thousands of years ago. There is a specific "Squash Bee" that evolved to pollinate them. I don't think they are grown widely outside the US so it would not be surprising for Asians not to have a taste for them.