Recently, I posted some related stories about the following but just in case you have not seen this in the news the FBI is recommending that we all reboot our routers, View attachment 7981 https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180525.aspx FBI: Reboot Your Home Office Router to Stop Russian Malware Fortune May 26, 2018 Federal Bureau of Investigation recommended in a Friday statement that “any owner of small office and home office routers” reboot the devices, hopefully reducing their exposure ...
FWIW, I had something similar happen to me yesterday at the movies with my daughter. I pulled out my phone to silence it after getting the request to do so. Don't know what I pressed, but when I pulled it out after the movie to turn the ringer on I found that Google on my phone had done a search using a line from the ad that started playing after the "silence your phone" announcement.
I was amused more than creeped out. Clearly I had pressed the little microphone icon on the home screen as I was putting it away.
Yes it is a royal PITB! I inadvertantly do this several times daily and have really become annoyed by it.
Another Communist disaster - Nicaragua. In April the current pope urged "dialogue" between protesters and a ruthless Communist dictator, Daniel Ortega. Yeah, right http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44287034
Israel bombards militant site in Gaza after more than 25 mortar shells fired into its territory By Edmund DeMarche, Greg Norman | Fox News May 29. 2018 http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/05/29/more-than-25-mortar-shells-fired-from-gaza-israel-says.html Israeli jets bombarded militant position in Gaza on Tuesday hours after more than two dozen mortar shells were launched at the Jewish State in what appears to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli military said no one was hurt by the 25 mortar shells launched into its territory as most were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defense system, although one of them landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened. The retaliatory strikes by Israel’s armed forces were aimed at a training site for the Islamic Jihad militant group, believed to be behind the Tuesday mortar barrage with the approval of Hamas, the Associated Press reported, citing security officials in the Gaza Strip. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported. "Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage. View attachment 7984 The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007. "We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14. Reuters reported that Israeli tank fire killed a Hamas fighter on Monday at a frontier outpost. Hamas, however, has vowed to continue the border rallies. Israel says it is defending its border as well as its communities nearby. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests. View attachment 7986 Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said Tuesday’s barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes." He spoke as a two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the militants violently took control of the coastal territory. The expedition would be a new way of challenging the blockade but also raises the possibility of more confrontation and violence as Israel bars any boats from Gaza reaching farther out than a six-nautical-mile radius into the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas acknowledged it was mostly a symbolic act. It also marks eight years since Israeli commandos raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine pro-Palestinian Turks and sparking an international outcry against the blockade. In southern Israel, angry residents complained to the Associated Press about how vulnerable they felt after 15 years of rocket fire threats from neighboring Gaza. Adva Klein, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the sirens warning of them. Other residents reported machine gun fire from Gaza as well. "It's been a really scary morning," said Adele Raemer, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was convening the top military brass at his Tel Aviv headquarters to discuss the situation. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
1918 By Michael Parenti Looking back at the years of fury and carnage, Colonel Angelo Gatti, staff officer of the Italian Army (Austrian front), wrote in his diary: “This whole war has been a pile of lies. We came into war because a few men in authority, the dreamers, flung us into it.” No, Gatti, caro mio, those few men are not dreamers; they are schemers. They perch above us. See how their armament contracts are turned into private fortunes—while the young men are turned into dust: more blood, more money; good for business this war. It is the rich old men, i pauci, “the few,” as Cicero called the Senate oligarchs whom he faithfully served in ancient Rome. It is the few, who together constitute a bloc of industrialists and landlords, who think war will bring bigger markets abroad and civic discipline at home. One of i pauci in 1914 saw war as a way of promoting compliance and obedience on the labor front and—as he himself said—war, “would permit the hierarchal reorganization of class relations.” Just awhile before the heresies of Karl Marx were spreading among Europe’s lower ranks. The proletariats of each country, growing in numbers and strength, were made to wage war against each other. What better way to confine and misdirect them than with the swirl of mutual destruction. Then there were the generals and other militarists who started plotting this war as early as 1906, eight years before the first shots were fired. War for them means glory, medals, promotions, financial rewards, inside favors, and dining with ministers, bankers, and diplomats: the whole prosperity of death. When the war finally comes, it is greeted with quiet satisfaction by the generals. Moguls and Monarchs Prevail But the young men are ripped by waves of machine-gun fire or blown apart by exploding shells. War comes with gas attacks and sniper shots: grenades, mortars, and artillery barrages; the roar of a great inferno and the sickening smell of rotting corpses. Torn bodies hang sadly on the barbed wire, and trench rats try to eat away at us, even while we are still alive. Farewell, my loving hearts at home, those who send us their precious tears wrapped in crumpled letters. And farewell my comrades. When the people’s wisdom fails, moguls and monarchs prevail and there seems to be no way out. Fools dance and the pit sinks deeper as if bottomless. No one can see the sky, or hear the music, or deflect the swarms of lies that cloud our minds like the countless lice that torture our flesh. Crusted with blood and filth, regiments of lost souls drag themselves to the devil’s pit. “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.” (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter” as our Dante delivered his painful message). Meanwhile from above the Vatican wall, the pope himself begs the world leaders to put an end to hostilities, “lest there be no young men left alive in Europe.” But the war industry pays him no heed. Finally the casualties are more than we can bear. There are mutinies in the French trenches! Agitators in the Czar’s army cry out for “Peace, Land, and Bread!” At home, our families grow bitter. There comes a breaking point as the oligarchs seem to be losing their grip. At last the guns are mute in the morning air. A strange almost pious silence takes over. The fog and rain seem to wash our wounds and cool our fever. “Still alive,” the sergeant grins, “still alive.” He cups a cigarette in his hand. “Stack those rifles, you lazy bastards.” He grins again, two teeth missing. Never did his ugly face look so good as on this day in November 1918. Armistice embraces us like a quiet rapture. Not really a quiet rapture with smiling sergeants. Many troops on both sides continued killing to the bitter end, with a fury that had no mercy. In one day, November 11, the last day of war, some 10,900 men were wounded or killed from both sides, a furious rage in the face of peace, years of slaughter; now moments of vengeance. The Fall of Eagles A big piece of the encrusted aristocratic world breaks off. The Romanovs, Czar and family, are all executed in 1918 in Revolutionary Russia. That same year, the House of Hohenzollern collapses as Kaiser Wilhelm II flees Germany. Also in 1918, the Ottoman empire is shattered. And on Armistice Day, November 11th, 1918, at 11:00 a.m.—the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month—we mark the end of the war and with it the dissolution of the Habsburg dynasty. The House of Romanovs Four indestructible monarchies: Russian, German, Turkish, and Austro-Hungarian, four great empires, each with millions of bayonets and cannon at the ready, now twisting in the dim shadows of history. Will our children ever forgive us for our dismal confusion? Will they ever understand what we went through? Will we? By 1918, four aristocratic autocracies fade away, leaving so many victims mangled in their wake, and so many bereaved crying through the night. Back in the trenches, the agitators among us prove right. The mutinous Reds standing before the firing squad last year were right. Their truths must not be buried with them. Why are impoverished workers and peasants killing other impoverished workers and peasants? Now we know that our real foe is not in the weave of trenches; not at Ypres, nor at the Somme, or Verdun or Caporetto. Closer to home, closer to the deceptive peace that follows a deceptive war. Now comes a different conflict. We have enemies at home: the schemers who trade our blood for sacks of gold, who make the world safe for hypocrisy, safe for themselves, readying themselves for the next “humanitarian war.” See how sleek and self-satisfied they look, riding our backs, distracting our minds, filling us with fright about wicked foes. Important things keep happening, but not enough to finish them off. Not yet enough. https://consortiumnews.com/2018/05/28/1918/
R., They may have escaped their earthly judgment but they can't escape their heavenly one - that was my point in saying that their both dead now.
Today I saw this sundog and thought boy, God is really really really trying to get our attention these last few years. I have seen sundogs this last year more than any time in my life. This one today was the biggest and brightest I have ever seen. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have Mercy on us! View attachment 7991 View attachment 7992
Weird, yesterday afternoon I noticed one as I was entering the grocery store and I took a picture of it...not something I normally do. It didn't come out very well, though; Don's are spectacular! View attachment 7997
I saw one a few weeks ago for the first time ever. It was pretty neat! We were driving and one of my children took pictures. They didn't turn out as good as yours though Don.
This is what I was listening to in my car yesterday when I saw this sun dog. At about the 6:30 mark he begins talking about moon and sun dogs and also swings back around right at the end to make his point which was what I had just listened to when I pulled in to pick up my wife. Listen to it, its a good thing to consider given the days we are in. Especially the parts about paganism and the rise of it.
Russian spy poisoning: How the Skripals were saved Mark Urban May 29, 2018 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44278609 Hospital staff who saved the lives of poisoned Russians Sergei and Yulia Skripal have revealed they did not expect the victims of the nerve agent attack to survive. The Skripals had been found slumped on a bench on 4 March - but staff treating them at Salisbury District Hospital did not initially know the reason why. Nursing director Lorna Wilkinson said a key moment came when policeman Nick Bailey was admitted with similar symptoms. "There was a real concern as to how big this could get," she said. She told BBC Two's Newsnight: "Have we just gone from having two index patients having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties? Because we really didn't know at that point." And ward sister Sarah Clark, who was on duty that night, added that there were fears that the hospital's staff might end up being affected. She pointed out that they had not, at that stage, "taken any extra precautions in terms of protecting ourselves". What are nerve agents and what do they do? Yulia Skripal: 'We are so lucky to survive' Ex-spy Skripal discharged after poisoning When the nature of what they were facing became clear, hospital staff said they did not have high hopes of ever seeing their two patients recover. But after weeks of treatment - involving expert advice from the nearby Porton Down research facility - Yulia and then Sergei were eventually discharged to continue their recovery at an undisclosed address. The series of interviews with Newsnight marks the first time that staff at the hospital have spoken in detail about the event and how they reacted. 'Wildest imagination' The testimonies of the medical staff highlight the vital importance of the decisions made at key times: the speedy arrival in intensive care, the heavy sedation used to limit possible brain damage, and the importance of advice, tests and treatments suggested by the Porton Down experts. When the Skripals were found, an opioid overdose was suspected. "We were just told that there were two patients down in the emergency department who were critically unwell and they would be coming up to the unit," recalled ward sister Ms Clark. But when police became aware of Mr Skripal's former career as a Russian spy, they told the hospital and discussed the possibility that he may have been the victim of a targeted attack. A major incident was declared at the hospital and police moved in to protect the Skripals. "I spoke to the nurse in charge," recalled Dr Duncan Murray, the hospital's senior intensive care consultant, "and it was this conversation I really could never have imagined in my wildest imagination as having with anyone... "Essentially the story of a known Russian spy having been admitted to hospital in pretty unusual circumstances." As they continued the treatment, medical staff discarded the earlier theory about opioid poisoning, realising that what they were seeing were symptoms typical of organophosphate, or nerve agent, poisoning. Dr Stephen Jukes, an intensive care consultant at the hospital, said: "When we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. "We would try all our therapies. We would ensure the best clinical care. But all the evidence was there that they would not survive." Both Skripals were heavily sedated which allowed them to tolerate the intrusive medical equipment they were connected to, but also helped to protect them from brain damage, a possible consequence of nerve agent poisoning. Over time, the sedation was reduced and the ventilation switched from the mouth to the trachea, as shown by the vivid scar seen on Yulia Skripal's neck in the TV statement she gave after she was released. Once the patients became more conscious, staff had to carefully consider what they could tell them without prejudicing the police investigation, and decide on the right moment to allow questioning by detectives. Medical director Dr Christine Blanshard explained: "Those are very difficult decisions, because on the one hand you want to provide reassurance to the patients that they are safe and they are being looked after, and on the other hand you don't want to give them information that might cause difficulties with subsequent police interviews." It was the doctors and nurses that, out of concern for their patients, insisted that international inspectors obtain a court order before they would be allowed to take blood samples from the Skripals. Dr Jukes explained: "These are vulnerable patients, they needed some form of advocate and without a court order we could not allow things to happen to them without their consent." Once the Skripals were stable and able to speak, the key concern for medical staff was how their production of the key enzyme acetylcholinesterase - needed to re-establish their normal body functions - could be stimulated. The body will do this naturally after nerve agent poisoning, but the process can take many months. In trying combinations of drugs, Dr Murray says the hospital received input from "international experts", some of them from Porton Down. The laboratory, internationally known for its chemical weapons expertise, processed tests and offered advice on the best therapies. New approaches to well-known treatments were tried. Dr Jukes said that the speed of the Skripals' recovery came as a very pleasant surprise that he cannot entirely explain. Yulia was eventually discharged from Salisbury District Hospital on 9 April - and last week made a statement thanking the hospital. Her father's departure from the hospital was announced on 18 May. Dr Murray said: "The vast majority of the improvement and the success... were attributable to the very good generic, basic critical care." He also praised the "excellent teamwork by the doctors, fantastic care and dedication by our nurses". Inevitably, there will be longer term questions about the Skripals' health. Dr Blanshard said they would need continuing support, noting: "We have a total world experience of treating three patients for the effects of Novichok poisoning and I think it's safe to say that we're still learning." **** The following story is still breaking news... Arkady Babchenko: Who is the Kremlin critic and war reporter whose death was staged? Even before his fake death, he was a controversial figure in Russia where he said he and his family had repeatedly faced threats. May 30, 2018 Moscow-born war reporter Mr Babchenko, 41, was said to have left behind a wife and six children when it was thought he had been murdered. The former soldier criticised Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the Russian president's support for separatists in southeast Ukraine. Image: The Kremlin critic backed an uprising in Kiev that ousted a Moscow-backed regime in 2014 Mr Babchenko has also been a contributor for Russia's top opposition paper the Novaya Gazeta. The journalist was 19 when he fought with the Russian army in Chechnya in the 1990s. He took part in the second Chechen campaign in the 2000s as a contract soldier. He has repeatedly said he hates war and does not want to take up arms again. He wrote in 2017: "I used to be a good soldier. And now I am a bad soldier. I want to live more than to die." Mr Babchenko was in favour of the uprising in Kiev that ousted a Moscow-backed regime in 2014. As a reporter he covered a conflict between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian insurgents in the east of the former Soviet country following the annexation of Crimea. He left Moscow after a campaign of harassment, and went on to live in the Czech Republic and Israel before settling in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Mr Babchenko was later shunned from his Moscow colleagues after a series of controversial Facebook posts The Russian journalist Yury Saprykin wrote on the independent news site Meduza: "From Babchenko's position, even his Moscow colleagues looked this way: weak, conformist, inclined to endless compromises." He wrote in a post in 2016 that he had "no sympathy or pity" for the victims of a plane crash carrying Russia's Red Army choir to Syria. Image: An activist put up photos of Mr Babchenko outside the Russian embassy after believing he was dead In Kiev, he hosted a programme on the Crimean Tatar TV station ATR. Mr Babchenko often predicted disaster for Russia under Putin. He would say: "The motherland will always dump you, my son."
Does anyone else see today's visa crash in Europe as perhaps significant? Could be that God is slowing things down that came to mind.
