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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Fire

St. Petersburg: Large fire breaks out on Russian icebreaker under construction, injuring two

Viktor Chernomyrdin icebreaker fire
The blaze is the latest in a series of major accidents at Russia's beleaguered naval bases and shipyards in 2018.

Information is still coming in, but Russia's future Project 22600 icebreaker the Viktor Chernomyrdin, which is under construction at Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg, has caught fire, injuring at least two people in the process. This adds to a string of fires on board Russian government-owned vessels in 2018 and comes less than a month after a major Russian Navy accident in which the floating dry dock PD-50 sunk while the aircraft carrierAdmiral Kuznetsov was on board undergoing a major overhaul.

The fire broke out around 7:00 PM local time in St. Petersburg on Nov. 27, 2018. By approximately 9:00 PM, the fire reportedly spread to two of the ship's five decks and covered a total area of more than 3,000 square feet, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations. The fire eventually spread to another deck. Some 15 fire trucks and more than 75 firefighters were on scene battling the blaze. Unconfirmed reports say that a short circuit started the fire and led to the initial injuries.

Comment: Notice the slightly disparaging tone that the author, likely American, has subtlety infused in his reportage.

According to this, the Chernomyrdin "was set to become the biggest and one of the most powerful diesel-powered icebreakers in the world."


Camcorder

Missouri Rep. Bruce Franks, who claims police used excessive force at 2014 Berkeley protest, releases video of arrest to support his lawsuit

Bruce Franks arrest Berkeley 2014
© David Carson
A St. Louis police officer arrests Bruce Franks Jr. (center) on December 24, 2014 during a protests at a Berkeley gas station after a police officer fatally shot teenager Antonio Martin.
Missouri Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. released video Sunday night of his arrest at a protest after a 2014 police shooting in Berkeley, saying it supports a lawsuit he filed two years ago claiming officers used excessive force.

Franks, an activist who said he was at the protest to keep the peace between protesters and police, released a statement and the video on social media. He says the video, much of which appears to come from police body cameras, shows him being kicked, beaten and pepper-sprayed while he posed no threat.

Officers named in Franks' lawsuit have denied the accusations against them in court filings. One defense lawyer for officers named in the suit would not comment on the video Monday; another was unavailable.

The video Franks released is about two minutes long and edited. Some clips show his arrest close-up. A part that appears to have been taken from TV footage filmed at a distance has been slowed down and highlighted. Other clips, apparently from police body cameras, show officers talking about "getting a couple good licks in on somebody" and complaining about all the lights on the gas station lot and the protesters filming their actions.


Comment: Rep. Franks, seemingly undeterred by this experience had another run-in with police during a Black Friday protest in 2017: Black Lives Matter protesters storm St. Louis Galleria mall on Black Friday


Eye 1

Precrime 'Minority Report'? Police in UK want to use AI to stop violent crime before it happens

British police
© Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty
Could AI predict crime?
Police in the UK want to predict serious violent crime using artificial intelligence, New Scientist can reveal. The idea is that individuals flagged by the system will be offered interventions, such as counselling, to avert potential criminal behaviour.

However, one of the world's leading data science institutes has expressed serious concerns about the project after seeing a redacted version of the proposals.

The system, called the National Data Analytics Solution (NDAS), uses a combination of AI and statistics to try to assess the risk of someone committing or becoming a victim of gun or knife crime, as well as the likelihood of someone falling victim to modern slavery.

West Midlands Police is leading the project and has until the end of March 2019 to produce a prototype. Eight other police forces, including London's Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police, are also involved. NDAS is being designed so that every police force in the UK could eventually use it.

Comment: The goal here is to be capable of casting a very, VERY wide net on people who have particular political profiles - and who may or may not be about to commit a crime...


Red Flag

Comedian faces hate crime charge and four years in jail for blowing his nose on the Spanish flag

woman with Spanish flag
© Darren Staples / Reuters
A Spanish comedian has been hauled in front of a judge for blowing his nose on the national flag on TV. The provocative act sparked widespread outrage but defenders of the joker say the case raises freedom of expression concerns.

The comic and TV host Dani Mateo used the flag as a handkerchief as the punchline of a skit on the popular satirical news show El Intermedio last month. On the program he joked that he was going to read the only text that "genuinely creates consensus in Spain: the patient guidelines in a packet of Frenadol."

As he read out the instructions for the cold remedy, Mateo pretended to sneeze and blew his nose on the Spanish emblem. "Christ, sorry!" he exclaimed. "I didn't want to offend anyone. [...] I didn't want to offend Spaniards, nor the king, nor the Chinese who sell these rags. Not rags, I didn't mean rags," he quipped.

Pistol

Hoover, Alabama police offer sympathy for fatal mall shooting, but say Emantic Bradford's gun made them do it

Emantic Bradford

Emantic Bradford
Police in Alabama offered sympathy Monday to the family of a black man killed by an officer responding to a shooting at a shopping mall, but said the man's visible handgun "heightened the sense of threat" to police in an already chaotic scene.

Emantic "EJ" Bradford Jr., 21, was shot and killed by a police officer responding to a Thanksgiving night shooting that wounded two people at the Riverchase Galleria mall outside Birmingham.

Hoover police initially portrayed Bradford as the gunman saying officers acted heroically to "take out the threat" within seconds of shots being fired in the crowded mall. Then they retracted the statement, saying Bradford was likely not the gunman responsible for the initial shooting, who remains at large.

"He saw a black man with a gun and he made his determination he must be a criminal," Ben Crump, a lawyer for Bradford's family said during a Sunday news conference in Birmingham.

Attention

Florida man out on bail pauses his game of Grand Theft Auto to rape a 15 y.o. girl

Daniel Enrique Fabian
© Pasco County Sheriff’s Office
Daniel Enrique Fabian, 18, faces two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a person between the ages of 12 and 15 in two separate assaults that took place in June.
An 18-year-old New Port Richey man is accused of sexually battering two girls in two separate incidents in June, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Deputies say they found another witness to the second assault who overheard what happened without actually being there:

That witness, a 16-year-old Tarpon Springs teen, told deputies he overheard the June 28 assault via an online session of the video game Grand Theft Auto.

The witness had been chatting with 18-year-old Daniel Enrique Fabian while they played online. The witness told deputies he overheard the assault because Fabian took a break from playing on his Playstation 4 but remained online and left his headset microphone on.

Fabian was arrested Nov. 21 on charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a person between the ages of 12 and 15.

Gold Coins

'Crypto Winter': Bitcoin falls below $3,500

bitcoin
Bitcoin is only 10 years old, but the cryptocurrency has already seen its fair share of bear markets.

The most recent one, which some are dubbing "crypto winter," worsened over the weekend. The cryptocurrency slid below $3,500 for the first time in 14 months, then later recovered toward the $3,900 level by Monday, according to data from CoinDesk. That brings its decline from last year's peak to more than 81 percent.

That loss isn't the worst bitcoin has suffered, but the world's largest digital currency is getting close.

Way, way back in 2010

Bitcoin's current level is still well above the fraction of a penny price where it first began trading in 2010- and its early investors are mostly wealthier because of it.

Comment: Bitcoin takes a nosedive, trading below $4,000 for the first time since 2017


No Entry

Possible active shooter event reported at Walter Reed Medical Center [Update: Turns out it was a drill]

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
© Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Authorities were responding Tuesday to a possible active shooter incident at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Montgomery County Police officer Rick Goodale said police were called to the scene Tuesday just after 2:20 p.m.

Many on Twitter posted about the ongoing situation. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat who represents Maryland's 2nd district, said he was at the hospital and was told about the possible shooting.

"I am currently at Walter Reed Medical in Bethesda where we've been told there is an active shooter," Ruppersberger wrote on Twitter. "I am currently safe in a conference room w/ approx 40 others."

Comment: Apparently, none of the Walter Reed authorities thought to inform anyone that it was an 'ad hoc drill':
According to military officials, the active shooter reported at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Tuesday afternoon was a drill.

The Navy confirmed that there was no active shooter, and it was an "ad hoc drill." An all clear was given around 3:20 p.m.


Lt. Col. Audricia Harris also told CNN the situation at Walter Reed was an "exercise."

Apparently, no one told Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger it was a drill.


Ruppersberger tweeted about an active shooter at Walter Reed around 2:31 p.m. and said he was sheltering in place.

"I am currently at Walter Reed Medical in Bethesda where we've been told there is an active shooter. I am currently safe in a conference room w/ approx 40 others," Ruppersberger tweeted out.

Another tweet from Ruppersberger's account at 3:04 p.m. stated that he remains sheltered and he again confirmed he didn't believe it to be a drill.


...

People inside the facility were also not aware that the situation was just a drill. Many said they were scared and sheltering in place.





Post-It Note

Say what? Police recruits in Berlin to 'learn German before English'

German police
The new head of the Berlin Police Academy has said that police trainees should close their English textbooks and open their German ones instead. The training program has been criticized for falling German levels.

The head of Berlin's Police Academy, Tanja Knapp, said Monday that police training schools should offer less instruction in English and instead focus more on German.

Speaking to the Berlin Senate, Knapp said that the shift in focus was needed in order to improve the German language abilities of police recruits.

Comment: That this is even an issue seems a bit strange! ... but perhaps NOT so strange when one considers the geopolitical and cultural pressures the US puts Germany in order to keep the powerful European country inside its sphere of influence.


TV

Oops! MSNBC field reporter scuttles 'women and children' narrative, says on-air that migrants are mostly men not seeking asylum

Stephanie Ruhle Gadi Schwartz
© MSNBC
MSNBC reporter Gadi Schwartz, who is on the ground in Tijuana, Mexico, said Monday that most of the caravan members he's encountered are males - many of whom are not seeking asylum.

MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle asked Schwartz to characterize the group of migrants he's encountered, stating, "Some people look at these images and they listen to the president, who says, 'It's not women and children, it's stone cold criminals.'"

"Give us the profile of who's there mostly and what they're looking for," Ruhle added.