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737 Max jets are 'flying coffins': Boeing CEO skewered by Congress for concealing deadly software problems

Jonathan Garber
Fox News
Tue, 29 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Boeing CEO Dennis Mullenburg
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg was raked over the coals at an emotional hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) had victims' family members hold up photographs of the loved ones they lost in two deadly 737 Max jet crashes that killed more than 300 people and said they were in "flying coffins" due to Boeing's decision to conceal MCAS stall-prevention software problems from the pilots.

He told Muilenberg that the crashes were "not only preventable" but also "the result of a pattern of deliberate concealment."

Other members of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation pressed Muilenberg about what and when the aviation giant knew about problems with the software.

"Did you read this document and how did your team not put it in front of you, run in with their hair on fire, saying we've got a real problem here," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said about the instant messages between two pilots which suggested Boeing knew about problems with its MCAS software in 2016 - more than two years before the first accident. "How did that not happen, and what does that say about the culture of Boeing?"

Comment: Flawed analysis, failed oversight, greed: How Boeing & FAA certified faulty 737 MAX
The FAA, citing lack of funding and resources, has over the years delegated increasing authority to Boeing to take on more of the work of certifying the safety of its own airplanes.[...]

But several FAA technical experts said in interviews that as certification proceeded, managers prodded them to speed the process. Development of the MAX was lagging nine months behind the rival Airbus A320neo. Time was of the essence for Boeing.[...]

"There was constant pressure to re-evaluate our initial decisions," the former engineer said. "And even after we had reassessed it ... there was continued discussion by management about delegating even more items down to the Boeing Company."[..]

"There wasn't a complete and proper review of the documents," the former engineer added. "Review was rushed to reach certain certification dates." [...]

Minimizing MAX pilot transition training was an important cost saving for Boeing's airline customers, a key selling point for the jet, which has racked up more than 5,000 orders.


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Sheriff

Florida Senate removes Parkland shooting sheriff

John Kennedy
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 18:37 UTC
Scott Israel
© Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty Images
The Florida Senate removed Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel from office Wednesday, upholding Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis's ouster of the veteran lawman for his department's failings in mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the Fort Lauderdale airport.

In a mostly party-line, 25-15 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate handed a political victory to the first-year governor, who made good on a campaign promise by suspending Israel within days of taking office in January.

But with the vote, the Senate defied the recommendation of its own special master, who held a two-day hearing in June, concluding that DeSantis failed to show enough evidence to remove Israel for the tragic mistakes of his deputies.

The special master urged the Senate to reinstate Israel.
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NPC

Climate change propaganda nonsense alert! 'Asthma carbon footprint' as big as meat-eating

Michelle Roberts
BBC
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 17:46 UTC
asthma inhaler
© PA
Many people with asthma could cut their carbon footprint and help save the environment by switching to "greener" medications, UK researchers say. Making the swap would have as big an "eco" impact as turning vegetarian or becoming an avid recycler, they say. It's because some inhalers release greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

But the Cambridge University team told BMJ Open patients must check with a doctor before changing medication. Some patients will not be able to switch and should not be made to feel guilty, they add.

What are greener inhalers?

There are more than five million people with asthma in the UK. The research looked at the environmental impact of different inhaler medications prescribed to patients on the NHS in England. In 2017, about 50 million inhalers were prescribed. Seven out of every 10 of them were metered-dose inhalers - the type that contain greenhouse gases. The gas - hydrofluoroalkane - is used as a propellant to squirt the medicine out of the inhaler.

What difference would it make?

Metered-dose inhalers account for nearly 4% of NHS greenhouse gas emissions, according to experts. The researchers estimate replacing even one in every 10 of these inhalers with a more environmentally friendly type (dry powder inhalers) would reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 58 kilotonnes. That's similar to the carbon footprint of 180,000 return car journeys from London to Edinburgh, they say.

Comment: We might wish to consider the level of absurdity that climate change nonsense has reached 'peak climate change nonsense'. But sadly, there's probably a whole lot more to come. In the meantime, just admire the total nonsense in this article. And if you're in the mood for more of that kind of thing:

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Attention

Former New York City medical examiner says Epstein's autopsy more consistent with homicidal strangulation

Melissa Leon
Fox News
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 17:20 UTC
michael baden
The body of disgraced money man and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan federal prison cell in August, bore telltale signs of homicide despite an official ruling that he killed himself, a pioneering forensic pathologist revealed to "Fox & Friends" in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

The bombshell claim by Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who has worked on high-profile cases during a five-decade medical career, is certain to reignite suspicions that surfaced immediately after Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls, was discovered dead in his cell on Aug. 10. Baden, who was hired by Epstein's brother and observed the autopsy, told Fox News its findings are more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging. He noted that the 66-year-old Epstein had two fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx, specifically the thyroid cartilage or Adam's apple, as well as one fracture on the left hyoid bone above the Adam's apple, Baden told Fox News.

"Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation," Baden, who is also a Fox News contributor, said.

While there's not enough information to be conclusive yet, the three fractures were "rare," said Baden, who's probed cases involving O.J. Simpson, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, record producer Phil Spector, New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and many others.

"I've not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case," the 85-year-old medical legend told Fox News.

Comment: In other Epstein news, WeAreChange and The Dollar Vigilante recently released footage of their 'raid' of Epstein's island:





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X

Why our media fails to cover Palestine with accurate reporting and empathy: Intimidation

Alasdair Soussi
Al Jazeera
Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Wounded Palestinian
© Mohammed Salem/Reuters
A wounded Palestinian is evacuated during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border fence.
Often dubbed an open-air prison on account of Israel's and Egypt's ongoing air, land and sea blockade of the coastal enclave, Gaza is, according to Amnesty International and several other rights groups, on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

In February, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, highlighted the crisis, saying that the near two million Palestinians of the besieged strip "remain mired in increasing poverty and unemployment, with limited access to adequate health, education, water and electricity". But the mainstream media does not always succeed in telling Palestine's contemporary story with accuracy and empathy.

On Thursday, in the Scottish city of Glasgow, experts discussed the media's role in covering one of the most pressing and divisive issues in international politics.

Comment: As Israel tightens the screw on anti-Semitism, reporters must choose between self-saving perception management or risk jobs and reputation smears to follow their conscience and present the public with the facts. The good ones know the difference. The ones worth reading act on it.

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Health

FBI raid discovers torso with another person's head sewn onto it at Arizona body-donation center - Traumatized agents require counseling

Bill Bostock
Insider
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
An FBI agent wheels a trolley into a van at the Biological Research Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
© ABC 15
An FBI agent wheels a trolley into a van at the Biological Research Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Some FBI agents raiding an Arizona body-donation center in January 2014 were so scarred by what they found they needed counseling afterwards, an agent who took part in the raid has told a court.

The Biological Resource Center (BRC) in Phoenix, Arizona, was shut down after an investigation into the misuse of dead body parts.

The for-profit facility took dead bodies from relatives on the pretense of using them for scientific research, in exchange giving the deceased's relatives a free cremation service later on.

"I personally observed several individuals emotionally upset. Some individuals refused to go back into the scene," Retired FBI special agent Mark Cwynar said of the raid at the Maricopa County superior court on Tuesday.

Cwynar said several agents required counseling in the aftermath of the raid because of what they saw.
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Arrow Down

Study finds conservative YouTube content leads to 'de-radicalization,' not radicalization

James Barrett
The Daily Wire
Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Ben Shapiro
© Peter Duke
Former Breitbart reporter Ben Shapiro
A new study out of Penn State's Political Science Department found that rather than conservative content online leading to radicalization, as the popular "gateway" narrative insists, the reverse appears to be true.

The study, titled "A Supply and Demand Framework for YouTube Politics," published online in October, takes a closer look at the popular narrative that YouTube serves as a "radicalizing agent," particularly for the right. Conservative content, the narrative goes, supposedly acts as a "gateway" for viewers, potentially leading them to the fringes of the far-right.

But, as Birkbeck University of London's Eric Kaufman puts it in his succinct summary of the study's key finding, "Contrary to the 'gateway drug' narrative," the new study "shows the Intellectual Dark Web (i.e. [Jordan Peterson], [PragerU], [Joe Rogan], [Ben Shapiro], [Rubin Report]) is de-radicalizing potential Alt-Right viewers."
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Snakes in Suits

Twitter turns on anti-Trump MSNBC host who implied 'lock him up' is 'un-American'


RT
Mon, 28 Oct 2019 18:50 UTC
Joe Scarborough
© MSNBC
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough
The #Resistance has turned on MSNBC host Joe Scarborough after the staunchly anti-Trump pundit slammed the audience at a baseball game as "un-American" for chanting "lock him up!" when the president was shown on TV.

"It's un-American," Scarborough complained on Monday's Morning Joe show, referring to the audience's decision to chant "lock him up!" after the president was shown on the large TV screen at the fifth World Series game in Washington, DC. "We are Americans, and we do not do that."

"We do not want the world hearing us chant 'lock him up,' to this president or to any president. Let's hope as we move forward that maybe that's one less fascist tactic he and his supporters use during chants. You are going to actually imprison your political opponents!"
Scarborough pleaded. Co-host Mika Brzezinski chimed in to call the chants "sickening."
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X

Texas town refuses to collect property taxes. Oddly enough, its population is growing

Hank Berrien
Daily Wire
Mon, 28 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Von Ormy sign
© Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council
One small town in Texas is growing because it refuses to do one thing: collect property taxes.

In 2014, Von Ormy, Texas mayor, Art Martinez de Vara, issued his proposed 2015 city budget, which proposed eliminating property taxes. He told the Von Ormy Star:
"In 2009 we established a goal of shifting the tax burden for operating the city from property taxes towards sales taxes. We did this because over 95% of sales taxes are paid by non-residents and we understood that we could increase sales tax revenue much faster than property tax revenue. Since that time we have increased sales tax revenue by over 400%. In order to have achieved the same revenue, we would have had to increase them by 300% from where we were in 2009.

"I believe that government should not spend every penny it collects, rather we should spend what is necessary to deliver high quality core services to our residents. Excess taxation is unjust taxation."
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Attention

Mexican authorities reports 250% spike in Africans trying to enter US through border


Judicial Watch
Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:49 UTC
african migrants mexico border
© Agence France-Presse/Guillermo Arias
African migrants seeking asylum in the United States, line up outside a Mexican Migration office, on October 3, 2016, in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico.
Mexico has seen an astounding 250% increase in Africans trying to enter the United States through the southern border, according to the latest figures released by the Mexican government's immigration agency, known as Unidad de Política Migratoria. The stats include the first eight months of 2019 and reveal that, during the same period last year, 1,507 Africans were apprehended in the country compared to 5,286 this year. During the same period 4,783 migrants from India and Bangladesh were also detained in Mexico, according to the data made public this month.

The information is alarming considering Africa and Bangladesh are hotbeds of terrorism and the fact that all the migrants are heading north into the United States. "These migrants, although less in numbers compared to migrants from Central America, increased significantly in the country," a Mexican newspaper article states, confirming that "their principle objective is not to stay in Mexican territory but rather cross the border towards the United States." The story also reveals that a growing number of Cubans, Haitians and south Americans, mainly from Brazil and Colombia, have also been apprehended by Mexican authorities trying to make their way to the U.S. border.

Comment: African migrants clash violently with Mexican police after being denied 'free entry' to US

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