WUHAN, China - Here we go again.
[LawEnforcementToday] The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a Chinese chemical company, its director, and three of its senior employees have been indicted on charges of manufacturing and distributing fentanyl precursors and xylazine.
According to WFLA, the company, Hubei Aokas Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., is based in Wuhan, China, and is accused of fueling the fentanyl crisis in the United States. The federal grand jury indictment charges the company with several offenses, including conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl and the introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.
Federal prosecutors allege that from November 2016 to November 2023, the Chinese company sold significant amounts of fentanyl precursors to customers in the United States. These chemicals were often mislabeled and imported as items such as furniture parts and makeup in an effort to evade detection. Some of the shipments were intercepted by U.S. agents, who were posing as buyers.
Hubei Aokas is also accused of selling xylazine, an animal sedative commonly referred to as "tranq," which has saturated the streets of big cities like Los Angeles and is known for its effect of causing flesh to rot. The properties in the chemical and its effects have led to law enforcement calling xylazine a "flesh-eating zombie drug."
Four individuals tied to the company, including the company's sole director, Xuening Gao, 38, and senior employees Guangzhao Gao, 36, Yajing Li, 30, and an employee identified as "Jessie Lee," have also been named in the federal indictment. The DOJ said that the Ministry of Public Security in China arrested the defendants and dissolved the company following a parallel investigation.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said, "This indictment alleges a corporation, its director, and sales manager reaped financial benefits by knowingly exporting materials that helped fuel the fentanyl crisis in our nation. Synthetic drugs such as fentanyl have wreaked devastation in our country, and it is therefore critical that we hold accountable those behind the crisis."
According to the indictment, Xuening, the company's sole directed, has been charged with two conspiracy counts; Guangzhao, operator of the company's cryptocurrency wallets used for fentanyl precursor sales, has been charged with a total of six felonies, including four distribution-related counts; Yajing, the company's sales manager, has also been charged with six felonies; and the fifth defendant, also a sales manager, has been charged with two conspiracy counts.
The DOJ said that Hubei Aokas exported chemicals to at least 100 countries, including the United States, and advertised online and through various social media platforms. The company claimed that fentanyl precursors were most popular in Mexico and sold them in 25-kilogram fiber drums, each of which can produce 10 million fentanyl pills. Those drugs were then likely transported illegally across the southern border, which thanks to lax border policies by the Biden administration, were pushed into many communities across the United States.
If convicted, the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the IRS Criminal Investigation, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among others.
It sounds like the company and its employees are based in China. Can American law enforcement get their hand on them from here? I can’t imagine China would extradite them.
[BBC ht AOSHQ] Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why.
Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces.
When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean.
But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas.
Orbital mechanics mean it's unlikely the half-tonne military spacecraft simply drifted to its current location.
Almost certainly, it was commanded to fire its thrusters in the mid-1970s to take it westwards. The question is who that was and with what authority and purpose?
It's intriguing that key information about a once vital national security asset can just evaporate. But, fascination aside, you might also reasonably ask why it still matters. After all, we're talking about some discarded space junk from 50 years ago.
"It's still relevant because whoever did move Skynet-1A did us few favours," says space consultant Dr Stuart Eves.
"It's now in what we call a 'gravity well' at 105 degrees West longitude, wandering backwards and forwards like a marble at the bottom of a bowl. And unfortunately this brings it close to other satellite traffic on a regular basis.
"Because it's dead, the risk is it might bump into something, and because it's 'our' satellite we're still responsible for it," he explains.
Dr Eves has looked through old satellite catalogues, the National Archives and spoken to satellite experts worldwide, but he can find no clues to the end-of-life behaviour of Britain's oldest spacecraft.
It might be tempting to reach for a conspiracy theory or two, not least because it's hard to hear the name "Skynet" without thinking of the malevolent, self-aware artificial intelligence (AI) system in The Terminator movie franchise.
But there's no connection other than the name and, in any case, real life is always more prosaic.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2024 06:14 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The plane of the American airline Spirit Airlines was shot at while trying to land at the airport of Port-au-Prince in Haiti. This was reported on November 11 by the Miami Herald newspaper.
A Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was shot at while attempting to land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At least one person was injured. A crew member and a flight attendant were wounded. No one was hurt among the passengers.
It is noted that the plane was redirected to the Dominican Republic, where the aircraft landed safely at Santiago airport. The inspection revealed "evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with gunfire," the material specifies. The plane has been temporarily taken out of service.
Following the incident, the airline cancelled all flights to Haiti scheduled for November 12.
Earlier, Regnum reported that the Gran Grif gang killed at least 70 people in one day in Haiti, including three babies, and forced more than 6,000 people to flee the city of Port-Sande. The gang's attack was called the most brutal crime in recent years in Haiti, where crime is rampant. A spokesman for the Haitian National Police said that security forces have now arrived at the scene to contain the situation.
The security and humanitarian situation in Haiti has deteriorated sharply since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and the subsequent earthquake. The country has been engulfed in a power struggle between criminal groups, accompanied by murders and kidnappings.
[Ay-Pee] A driver killed 35 people and severely injured another 43 when he deliberately rammed his car into people exercising at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said Tuesday.
Police had detained a 62-year-old man at the sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai following the ramming late Monday, on the eve of the country’s premier aviation exhibition by the People’s Liberation Army that’s hosted annually in the city.
Police identified the man only by his family name of Fan, consistent with the practice by Chinese authorities.
Fan was discovered in the car with a knife, with wounds to his neck thought to be self-harm injuries, according to the statement. He is unconscious and receiving medical care.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2024 07:39 ||
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The mastermind behind the plan to reopen the nuclear plant that caused America's worst reactor accident hatched the idea after learning tech CEOs were desperately searching for energy to power artificial-intelligence.
Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced a power purchase agreement in September to reopen the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
The plant is home the worst commercial nuclear power accident after the Unit 2 reactor suffered a partial meltdown due to mechanical failure and human error in 1979.
Ages ago I shared a flight with the man installed to save 3-Mile Island. After listening to him, 3-Mile Island should never ever be restored. If it is… find some chocolate other than Hershey's to eat as their milk cows are right nearby.
Joe Dominguez, the chief executive of Constellation Energy, said he came up with the idea after OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman revealed data centers for some AI models would require as much power as a large city during a gathering for CEOs in May 2023.
'My first reaction is, "Wow, these guys are going to be in for a rude awakening about how much power is actually going to be available,"' Dominguez told The Wall Street Journal. 'It was like a lightning bolt hit me.'
#2
There was a movement towards the idea of building small distributed nuclear power plants until the environmentalists put the kibosh on anything nuclear. Back in the 1980s around the time of Three-Mile occurred and later Chernobyl there was a breeder-reactor design project at Oak Ridge. After the nuclear accidents, Congress pulled the funding and the project came to a full stop. Sodium was to be the coolant. Small, distributed nuclear plants that gracefully degrade or shut down is not a bad safety concept. Unfortunately, nuclear power is not an easy sell to people today. Wind and solar are not the answers to our power problems. EVs are not the answer either.
#3
The Swedes and French have long operated nuclear plants. They go for medium size with standardized design. The problem in America is that they sell yuge plants of unique designs that take up time and money (beyond the usual graft).
[YouTube] Their follow-up single to “One Toke Over The Line”
In the 1960s until about 1975 there was an early LSD smuggling group called by some "The Brotherhood of Eternal Happiness". They and the "SDS/Weather Underground" busted Timothy Leary out of jail and got him into Algeria with the help of the "Black Panthers". Then Timothy ignored the "Black Panther's" warnings and got the daughter of Algeria's President into LSD with sex parties. So the Panthers talked to the Feds and arranged for Timothy Leary to go to Afghanistan (still under the king). In the Afghan airport and before he reached customs US agents grabbed him and took him back to the USA. Leary sold out all the members he knew of in "The Brotherhood of Eternal Happiness". What the Feds didn't know was that a Sisterhood existed with a safe-house every few miles on the major drug smuggling route that the "Tarkio Road" was part of! This song was part of the Sisterhood's story. It was mainly a drug route but north of Lincoln it mostly transported draft evaders to Canada.
#2
I remember reading accounts of Leary's experiences in Algeria and his own telling in a radio interview. Busted though he was, he came home with a new appreciation for America after his experience in overseas. It seems being followed by their security services was a bad trip. He may have been a whacked out acid head but he was not a Muslim or a communist.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/12/2024 13:18 Comments ||
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[NY Post] "No thanks. I've already seen the carpeting, upholstery, and drapes. Your wardrobe is deja vu"
Melania Trump declined an offer to head to the White House Wednesday and meet with Jill Biden, citing the Biden administration’s past raid on Mar-a-Lago as part of the federal government’s investigation into classified documents.
"She ain’t going," a source familiar with Melania’s decision told The Post. "Jill Biden’s husband authorized the FBI snooping through her underwear drawer. The Bidens are disgusting," the source said.
Melania’s husband, President-elect Donald Trump, will sit with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office Wednesday for a traditional postelection meeting.
Typically, first ladies host their replacements for tea in the White House.
The Post has reached out to the Trump campaign and White House about Melania’s decision to skip the meeting.
The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022 to look for classified documents.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/12/2024 00:00 ||
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#2
Jill and her husband had Melania home reded by the police, had the FBI ransack her sons bedroom, her underwear, and all under the orders that if Melania or her family objects the FBI were cleared to shoot to kill. Melania is being nice right now, the better person. Fuc^k Jill and I hope she spends eternity in hell. She is evil, pure and simple.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/12/2024 10:28 Comments ||
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#4
The Dems, the Bureaucratic Steat and the Deep State did everything they could to destroy Melania's husband. Why would she get all excited about meeting with Dr. Jill at the WH?
It's official: Republicans will maintain control of the House of Representatives for the next term. Decision Desk HQ called the race for Arizona's 6th Congressional District for Republican Juan Ciscomani and shortly thereafter called the House for Republicans.
At publishing time, Republicans had 218 seats to the Democrats' 209. While there are still a few outstanding races, they would not be enough for Democrats to take the House.
In 2024, every seat in the House and 34 Senate seats were up for re-election.
Prior to Election Day, Republicans had a razor-thin majority in the House, 212-220, with three vacancies.
Fourteen Republicans and 11 Democrats were considered to be in toss-up races ahead of the election, and due to redistricting, five open seats were predicted to flip.
Ahead of the election, Decision Desk HQ had predicted that Republicans had only a 52% chance of maintaining control of the House, but that changed once vote totals began coming in.
With this call, Republicans will now control the House, Senate, and the White House. A unified government would essentially neutralize the Democrats' political agenda. If Trump can find a way to work with his Republican counterparts in the House and Senate this time around, he could notch significant policy wins and make his America First agenda happen. Some of the items on Trump's platform include:
Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion
End inflation, and make America affordable again
Make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far
Stop outsourcing, and turn the U.S. into a manufacturing superpower
Large tax cuts for workers, and no tax on tips
Defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms
End the weaponization of government against the American people
Cancel the electric vehicle mandate and cut costly and burdensome regulations
Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children
Secure our elections, including same-day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship
It's an ambitious agenda that will require unifying Republicans across all three branches of government to get any of it passed.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who appeared with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last Wednesday, said the Republican caucus is ready to go: “House Republicans stand ready and prepared to immediately act on Trump’s America First agenda to improve the lives of every family, regardless of race, religion, color, or creed, and make America great again."
#4
You can have POTUS, the House, and the Senate but if you have lame leadership in the House and Senate, they can destroy your legislative agenda. Paul Ryan for example.
#5
Doing what needs to be done will take longer than 4 years. Cleaning out the House and Senate will take another 6 years. The work has begun. Having the House will allow us to see who needs to be replaced. If the GOP was in the minority in either house, progress is immediately limited to executive orders for two years, largely a waste.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/12/2024 12:43 Comments ||
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#6
Trump's X-Men team will dramatically transform the swamp culture. Musk, JFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and many more. News of Trump's win caused a massive cheering amongst the military and a general exclaimed now we can get something done.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
