[BBC] The Slovak cabinet has approved a plan to shoot around a quarter of the country's brown bears, after a man was mauled to death while walking in a forest in Central Slovakia.
Prime Minister Robert Fico's populist-nationalist government announced after a cabinet meeting that 350 out of an estimated population of 1,300 brown bears would be culled, citing the danger to humans after a spate of attacks.
"We can't live in a country where people are afraid to go into the woods," the prime minister told reporters afterwards. "You ever seen Deliverance?"
A special state of emergency allowing bears to be shot has now been widened to 55 of Slovakia's 79 districts, an area that now covers most of the country.
The government in Bratislava has already loosened legal protections allowing bears to be killed if they stray too close to human habitation. Some 93 had been shot by the end of 2024.
The plans to shoot even more were condemned by conservationists, who said the decision was in violation of international obligations and could be illegal.
"It's absurd," said Michal Wiezik, an ecologist and MEP for opposition party Progressive Slovakia.
"The Environment Ministry failed desperately to limit the number of bear attacks by the unprecedented culling of this protected species," he told the BBC.
"To cover up their failure, the government has decided to cull even more bears," he continued.
Wiezik argued that thousands of encounters a year passed without incident, and he hoped the European Commission would intervene.
Slovak police confirmed on Wednesday that a man found dead in forest near the town of Detva in Central Slovakia on Sunday night was killed by a bear. His wounds were consistent with an attack.
The 59-year-old man had been reported missing on Saturday after failing to return from a walk in the woods.
Bears are common across the Carpathian mountain range, which stretches in an arc from Romania through western Ukraine and on to Slovakia and Poland.
#2
Bear bile has been a valuable and effective medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for over 13 centuries. However, the current practice of obtaining it through bear farming is under scrutiny for its adverse impact on bear welfare.
#4
I suppose this means the Latin Language Copy of the report to the EU was improperly conjugated which will lead to the suspension of Fico's political career and Wiezik to immediately be crowned Prime Minister.
Karmelo Anthony posted the photo on the right just hours before st*bbing Austin Metcalf to de*th. The other photo was shared six weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/xC5ipTc7U2
#3
Frisco is a booming North Texas town with a A baseball park, Toyota Football (soccer) stadium, Dallas Cowboys practice facility, a busy mall, and even an IKEA. Two of our children and their spouses, with three grandchildren, live about a mile from the high school the killer attended.
There are many apartments, of course, and a small trailer park, just off a busy six lane street. And apparently some smoldering, old-south tensions.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/04/2025 11:05 Comments ||
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#4
That's a *Double A*, Frisco Roughriders, Dr. Pepper Stadium, a lovely place to watch Texas Rangers AA baseball.
PIMF, sometimes.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/04/2025 11:08 Comments ||
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[NYPOST] A financial CEO is facing federal charges for allegedly choking out a fellow cruise passenger who called his wife a ''f—king bitch'' for asking him to stop dancing barefoot, according to the FBI.
Kenneth DeGiorgio, the 53-year-old CEO of Southern California mortgage lending company First American Financial, attacked the other man in one of the Virgin Voyages ship's cocktail lounges Monday while telling him, ''I'll f—king kill you,'' according to a federal complaint.
The other passenger, only identified by the initials M.A., later told federal investigators he ''felt as if his throat was going to be ripped out,'' the documents said.
The fracas erupted early Monday in international waters off Martinique after the CEO's wife, Nichol DeGiorgio, asked M.A. to stop dancing barefoot in the Resilient Lady's ''On the Rocks'' bar, telling him, ''Look, we are all grown-ups here, can you put your shoes on?''
''Shut up, you f—king bitch,'' M.A. allegedly shot back while also flipping the bird, the documents said.
DeGiorgio was then seen on surveillance footage crossing the dance floor and attacking the cursing cruise passenger, grabbing him by the throat and forcing him to the floor, according to the complaint.
#4
I'm not a fan of hippies but have a hippy heart. First thing I do when I get home from work is kick off my shoes. Helps my feet dont stink and look normal. I love barefoot. If I was on a cruise ship, I'd be barefoot too.
I was curious and looked up their shoe/barefoot policy: Guests are encouraged to wear more than a bathing suit and consider shoes, but the cruise line advises your style is your style, no judgement.
[NYPOST] [NYPOST] A the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... sex worker has been convicted of gunning down a customer who asked for a refund after finding out she was transgender. "You done yet?"
"I want my money back!"
Leniyah Butler, 21, was convicted Monday of voluntary manslaughter for shooting Hamza Walupupu in the eye and "scattering the physical evidence, including the murder weapon" after stealing her customer’s car, federal prosecutors said.
Walupupu, 32, picked up the sex worker — also known as Leion Butler — in the Tenderloin District in November 2023, asking her to do "everything," the Sacramento Bee reported.
Once they agreed on a price, the pair drove 20 minutes to Crissy Field, a popular tourist spot overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.
After performing a sex act, Butler shocked her customer by telling him she was transgender, the report said.
They started fighting when Walupupu demanded a refund — and Butler whipped out a rod from her purse and shot him in the eye.
Butler dragged Walupupu’s body out into the parking lot before stealing his Hyundai Accent while calling her mother for help, court documents show.
Walupupu’s vehicle was later found after being left double-parked for three days.
Butler disposed of his belongings, wiped down the car, and gave the gun she used to kill him to an unnamed person, police have said.
FBI agents raided Butler’s San Francisco home a week after Walupupu’s car was found — and the killer tried to flee by jumping from a second-story window before being arrested in a neighbor’s garage.
A jury acquitted Butler of second-degree murder but found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The killer is being held in jug ahead of sentencing on June 27, where she faces up to 15 years in prison.
"We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family, whose son and brother was taken from them prematurely, and hope today’s verdict brings some measure of justice," acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins said of Walupupu.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11123 views]
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[GatewayPundit] President Trump was forced to switch helicopters due to a ‘wheel issue.’
Trump departed DC en route to Florida on Thursday evening. The President will first visit his Doral golf club to attend a LIV dinner and then fly to Palm Beach to end the evening at Mar-a-Lago.
The President arrived at Miami International Airport Thursday afternoon, ready to board Marine One en route to his Doral golf club, when he was forced to switch helicopters.
Trump, wearing a red hat, was spotted walking across the tarmac to another helicopter.
#2
If a pilot feels that the aircraft is unsafe in one way or another, he/she has the discretion to scrub the flight until the problem is rectified.
Pretty standard procedure and not so 'Scary', although Skid does note what could be considered concerning.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/04/2025 8:00 Comments ||
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#3
Brand-new aircraft and fastidious maintenance tradition by the Marine Corps make a flat tire suspicious. Most obviously, it removes the redundancy factor the USSS uses to deter anyone knowing what aircraft POTUS uses until the last moment.
[Breitbart] President Donald Trump criticized South Africa again on Wednesday — hours after the South African government claimed that it had clarified “misconceptions” about the country in meetings with senior White House officials.
“They’ve got some bad things going on in South Africa — you know, we’re paying them billions of dollars, and we cut the funding because a lot of bad things are happening in South Africa,” the president said in the Rose Garden. “The fake news ought to be looking at it — they don’t want to report it.”
Trump made his remarks as he explained that South African goods would be subject to a 30% tariff, as part of the reciprocal tariff policy he had introduced.
His words directly contradicted the claims made earlier Wednesday by South Africa’s foreign ministry, which calls itself the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). DIRCO claimed that a delegation, led by director-general Zane Dangor, had explained to the White House and other U.S. officials why previous claims by the administration about human rights violations and potential land expropriation in South Africa were, in fact, wrong.
A statement from DIRCO did not announce any compromises offered to the U.S. government. Instead, it read:
The delegation clarified key issues and misconceptions in meetings with the National Security Council’s Africa Director, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, as well as Treasury Department representatives. We believe that these dialogues will assist to refine the current administration’s understanding of South Africa’s position on critical matters, fostering a more nuanced perspective.
The delegation directly addressed the perception that the South African Government’s policies are designed to violate the human rights of minorities in post-apartheid South Africa. Amongst the issues addressed was the matter of how the Expropriation Act’s nil compensation clause is not designed to facilitate unlawful land seizures and undermine property investment but rather to ensure that:
(1) where the land is not being used and the owner’s main purpose is not to develop the land or use it to generate income, but to benefit from appreciation of its market value.
(2) where an organ of state holds land that it is not using for its core functions and is not reasonably likely to require the land for its future activities in that regard, and the organ of state acquired the land for no consideration.
(3) where an owner has abandoned the land by failing to exercise control over it despite being reasonably capable of doing so.
(4) where the market value of the land is equivalent to, or less than, the present value of direct state investment or subsidy in the acquisition and beneficial capital improvement of the land.
During the cordial discussions the senior officials addressed misconceptions on what has been presented by some as race laws designed to undermine minority rights in South Africa. To this end the senior officials presented information, which highlights the persuasive racial and structural inequality that continues to divide South Africa in all areas of the nation.
There was no readout of the meetings from the American side, presenting the administration’s version of events.
DIRCO’s statement repeats the stance taken by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa early in the diplomatic crisis, when he described Trump’s policy as the result of “misinformation.” Rather than make compromises on its foreign or domestic policies, South Africa apparently believes it must simply explain to Trump why he is “wrong.”
But efforts to explain away land expropriation laws, for example, have been undermined by the government’s own actions, such as a new bill to redistribute land by race, and a tacit acceptance of genocidal anti-white rhetoric.
Dangor is seen by critics as having surrounded himself with a cohort of anti-American, anti-Israel officials sympathetic to radical and Islamist causes, leading South Africa to side with Iran and Hamas against Israel.
South Africa is also seen as too close to China and Russia, earning rebukes from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
[Jpost] A labor strike among waste collectors has led to a major incident being declared in the United Kingdom, as 17,000 tonnes of trash have piled high in Birmingham, England’s second-largest city.
Birmingham City Council described the ongoing situation as “regrettable,” according to Sky News.
Despite the sanitary conditions of the city causing a public health concern, picket lines continue to prevent waste vehicles from accessing depots and or collecting trash.
National Invasive Species Awareness Week (Feb. 24-28, 2025) is here to remind us that some of the biggest ecological nightmares are critters that don’t belong here.
#10
National Invasive Species Awareness Week ... is here to remind us that some of the biggest ecological nightmares are critters that don’t belong here.
Critters wander around all the time. The fundamental problem with invasive species is that no one is eating them.
Wait, when you say 'invasive species', do you mean migrants?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Russia will continue to seek to remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. This was stated on April 3 by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko at a meeting with Santiago de Cuba Governor Manuel Falcon Hernandez.
“Russia, as before, will seek to end the blockade and remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism... It is very important that Cuba objectively assesses the reasons for the SVO and supports Russia’s legitimate security demands,” he emphasized during a working visit to the republic.
It is noted that Havana supports Moscow's security demands, and both countries are well aware of what sanctions pressure is. Chernyshenko added that new American sanctions against Cuba are a manifestation of impotence.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, in January 2021, Washington added Cuba to the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. Then, in early 2023, the White House decided to resume contacts with the country at the level of law enforcement agencies.
In May 2024, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on the United States to remove the country from its arbitrary list of sponsors of terrorism and lift economic sanctions. It was noted that the republic was actively cooperating in the fight against terrorism.
In June of the same year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out that the US was thus trying to maintain its slipping international hegemony through economic, financial and diplomatic terrorism. He added that Moscow and Havana would continue to increase coordination on Latin America and the Caribbean.
[ZeroHedge] Goldman analysts Brooke Roach, Kate McShane, and others earlier today provided clients with a breakdown of Trump's reciprocal tariffs:
On April 2nd, President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs. This includes a 10% tariff increase on all countries (excluding Mexico and Canada) and a higher rate of increase on select countries with trade deficits, set to take effect on April 5th and April 9th, respectively.
We believe the most material impact to our retail coverage from the announcement is the increase in tariffs on key sourcing partners for retail such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Cambodia.
China: Tariffs on China move to 54% (a 34% increase vs. the 20% tariff already in effect).
Tariffs broadened to key sourcing partners: Tariffs on other key sourcing partners for U.S. retail are set to be implemented, including Vietnam (46%), Indonesia (32%), Bangladesh (37%), Italy (20%), India (27%), and Cambodia (49%). Imports from the European Union will also be subject to a 20% tariff.
Canada and Mexico: The announcement maintains tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Exemptions under USMCA will remain, which exempt compliant products from the 25% tariff rate on both countries. Should current orders be terminated, USMCA compliant products would receive preferential treatment while non-USMCA compliant goods would be tariffed at a 12% rate.
Material increase to softlines tariff rate overall: On our calculations, the announcement implies a ~38% weighted average tariff rate for total apparel and footwear imports to the U.S.
Given the tariff breakdown and timeline, Roach and McShane provided clients with a "China Tariff-O-Meter," highlighting companies in their retail coverage whose supply chains are heavily exposed to China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Cambodia.
From their Softlines coverage, companies such as Warby Parker, Torrid Holdings, Groupe Dynamite, Nike, Yeti Coolers, and SharkNinja have high exposure to China and other Asian countries targeted by Trump's upcoming round of tariffs. In other words, the products from these companies entering U.S. ports in the coming days will be subjected to sizeable tariffs.
In their Hardline coverage, companies such as Floor & Decor, Lowe's, RH, Williams-Sonoma, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree, and Five Below have elevated or high supply chain exposure to China or other Asian countries.
#2
With the possible exception of Lowe's, Not A Problem. And that's only because they're closer.
And don't forget about Harbor Freight, where literally everything came from China except the clerks.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/04/2025 13:09 Comments ||
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#3
^ Or that cheap crap from Temu
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2025 13:10 Comments ||
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#5
Some of my feeds are like, "Come purchase your overseas ammo (PMC, for example) before tariffs take place."
Other feeds, "The reason your new Nintendo Switch will be more expensive and hard to find is because Trump tariffs." Sure, OK, whatever.
And a third, "Wall Street has lost $10 Trillion! because Trump tariffs!!#@!", from the Occupy Wall Street associates, natch.
Now, if you remember, something similar with Ammo happened with the Obama ban on overseas/Russian ammo and etc. and -Iam Malcomlm- "Life found a way." Maybe Lake City, example, gears it up. The catch might be Prvi Partizan which makes some 'off broadway' sizes.
[FoxNews] GOP leader says the 'disappointing stunt' shows a 'troubling disconnect' with voters, while Democrats blast Republicans for 'manufactured culture wars'
Georgia state House Democrats staged a walkout to protest a vote on a bill headed to the governor's desk for his signature prohibiting taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for inmates.
The bill passed on a 100-2 vote, and both recorded no votes were from Democrats.
The legislation, SB 185, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Randy Robertson, bars the Georgia Department of Corrections from providing taxpayer-funded transgender medical treatments, including surgeries and hormonal treatments, to prison inmates. Robertson contends there are about five inmates incarcerated in the DOC that receive treatments.
The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's desk for his signature.
"This disappointing stunt underscores a troubling disconnect between Democrats and the values of the people they serve," Republican House Majority Whip James Burchett told Fox News Digital. "They knew they had no response to the substance of the bill. So, rather than debate its merits, they chose to abandon their duties by leaving the chamber."
However, Democratic House Whip Sam Park contended it was Republicans playing politics, not Democrats.
"Republicans continue to waste time on their manufactured culture wars while Georgians struggle with increasing costs of housing, food, healthcare and an increasingly uncertain economy due to Republican leadership in D.C.," Park said. "We walked out to make it clear: Georgia Democrats are here to fight for working families, not political distractions."
Georgia Republicans have taken an aggressive approach toward transgender issues this legislative session with the introduction of several bills that seek to align with President Donald Trump's executive orders.
Some of those bills, in addition to SB 185, include blocking taxpayer-funded medical treatments for state employees, prohibitions on prescribing puberty blockers to minors and a ban on biological males competing in girls high school sports.
It's unclear how much cosmetic or surgical transgender treatments cost each taxpayer in Georgia, but the Gender Confirmation Center estimates alterations can be anywhere from $8,000 to $50,000, depending on the type of procedure.
Other states this year have moved to introduce similar bills banning taxpayer-funded transgender treatments for inmates, including Utah and Kentucky. California was among the first states to provide transgender procedures for prison inmates in 2017 after a legal battle launched by an inmate two years earlier.
[ZeroHedge] European authorities were able to shut down one of the largest online child abuse networks in the world last month in an operation that is set to be the catalyst for the potential arrests of over 1 million pedophiles worldwide. Europol officials confirmed that Operation Stream was successfully able to the take child pornography platform Kidflix offline, which has thus far led to the arrest of 79 suspects involved in the distribution of child sex abuse material. The operation was led by the State Criminal Police of Bavaria and Bavarian Central Office For The Prosecution Of Cybercrime in tandem with Europol and other law enforcement agencies worldwide. Authorities carried out raids at 96 locations, targeting 103 different suspects across 31 countries. The network was the largest to be taken down by Europol in its history but marks only the beginning of the fight to bring the perpetrators of child sex abuse who were using the site to justice.
Kidflix hosted approximately 91,000 videos on its peer-to-peer network that enabled pedophiles to share child pornography, making it one of the largest operating child abuse network to be identified on the Dark Web. The 91,000 child sex abuse videos on the website totaled a runtime of over 6,288 hours, with 3.5 new videos being uploaded on average every hour. Since its creation in 2021, the website operating out of Germany enabled pedophiles across the globe to not only stream, share, and download child pornography but to profit from its distribution by enabling payments made via on-site tokens purchased with cryptocurrency. 1.8 million users worldwide visited the site over the course of Operation Stream between April 2022 and March 2025, foreshadowing many more arrests to follow.
In addition to the 79 suspects arrested to date, law enforcement agencies have identified another 1,393 as they broaden the scope of their investigations. Several of the suspects taken into custody have been implicated in the direct abuse of children and production of child pornography. German officials leading Operation Stream seized over 3,000 electronic devices connected to the network, including hard drives taken by German and Dutch law enforcement with around 72,000 videos alone.
Analysis of child sex abuse material hosted on the Dark Web website by the European Cybercrime Centre aided in the rescue of 39 children who were victims of the pedophile network. One of the children rescued by Operation Stream was the child of one of the pedophile network's members who offered his son to pedophiles using Kidflix. This disturbing revelation that was integral to the success of operation came to light in January 2024 when German police arrested the 36 year-old man in the city of Chemnitz according to Guido Limmer, deputy head of the Bavarian Criminal Police. Although information on the other suspects identified as part of Operation Stream is sparse, Limmer stated that investigators had also been able to identify a serial abuser in the United States.
The probe has been confirmed to have led to the arrest of 2 Canadian nationals. The Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit announced the arrest of 23 year-old Edmund James Bellegarde Jr. after the execution of a search warrant in connection to his activity of Kidflix uncovered several electronic devices with child sex abuse material. Bellegarde Jr. has been charged with possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography and is set to appear in court on May 14th. Edmonton Police also confirmed the arrest of a 36 year-old man as part of Operation Stream. Though authorities did not release the name of the suspect, he is set to appear in court to face charged of possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, and distributing child pornography. Despite the gravity of the Edmonton man's crimes, he has been released from police custody until his April 14th court date.
Operation Stream involved a total of 38 countries worldwide whose collective efforts were able to take Kidflix off of the Dark Web. Domestic law enforcement agencies involved in the operation spanned across Europe but also included the Department Of Homeland Security in the United States as well as others in Australia, Canada, Colombia, and New Zealand, highlighting the global reach of Kidflix and scope of the locations of pedophiles who used the platform.
#2
/\ Never gonna happen. Epstein and Maxwell were running a bilateral intelligence recruitment operation. "Grassy knoll" spotter will be revealed before Little Saint James facts are known.
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.
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
