prosecutors said Ricks and Sanchez were arguing when her two sons attempted to intervene. Ricks grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Sanchez multiple times before turning the weapon on the boys.
[NYP] Firefighters have plenty of ways to battle the spread of flames, but some first responders have a different approach to wildfire response.
A smokejumper is a unique type of wildland firefighter that’s trained to reach remote fires by parachuting from about 3,000 feet to attack a designated area, typically without road or trail access, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
This type of response allows firefighters to arrive hours before anyone could hike or drive to a location to extinguish the flames.
These first responders receive intensive training in parachuting, aircraft safety and firefighting tactics, along with specialized skills such as tree climbing, aerial cargo delivery, chainsaw use, parachute equipment manufacturing and prescribed burning.
#2
When Idaho burned in the '80s, we saw several fire research scientists jump. They were monitoring and reporting wind and ground conditions [fuel, humidity] in the fire's path as well as the ground truth of it's progression. One of their practical specialized skills was digging foxholes and jumping in covered by a aluminum blanket when they were overcome by the fire line and could find no escape.
#3
It was my understanding that smokejumpers dropped at a far lower altitude than 3,000 feet due to winds aloft, thermals, etc. When I was in the service we seldom did static line drops above 1,500 feet.
#4
"Attack"
They don't fight fires with hoses or anything.
It's all hard work, slashing brush, cutting down trees, all while wearing protective equipment and breathing PM300+ air that the Chinese would think is too polluted. The pay is shitty. And if their leaders screw up they get burned to death.
Kind of like being in the military without the cool toys and port calls.
#6
I thought this quit being a thing except for demonstrations and very controlled environments after too many jumpers confirmed trees and parachuting don't mix, plus being spread out and not equipped with the Mark3 Hollywood Comms Set was getting people lost, (further) hurt, or killed.
Raymond was at a low-key gay bar, sipping on a Manhattan, fishing for a story, while the TV show Fire Country was on and a patron make a lewd pun concerning the show and Smoke Jumping.
That's it! Quick interweb search, click important sounding link, search click, copy paste, AI wash, badda boom "hey barkeep another round, I'm off now."
"Not yet with me, smokey bear." says that other patron.
#9
@ #3 - that was my impression also. They jump static line so 3k sounds high to me. Might have better/steerable chutes? I jumped T-10s in school and MC-1B/Cs in the Corps. 1200'AGL was normal for training. Jumped 1000' w/82nd at Bragg. Jumped 600' out of balloon In Thailand.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
03/12/2026 16:17 Comments ||
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#10
Balloons are spooky - on a helo or an aircraft you have tons of noise/wind - on a balloon it's just dead quiet and you swan dive out into no air resistance. And of course it's a Hollywood jump!
God continues to bless America. Here are two of our blessings.
[FoxNews] Leodan Pino used mixed martial arts training to subdue Bryce Thayer after his 16-year-old brother grabbed the weapon
An ax-wielding Florida man allegedly stormed toward two teen brothers closing an Ocala car wash Sunday night before being quickly overpowered by the older brother, an 18-year-old MMA-trained military recruit.
Video released by the Marion County Sheriff's Office allegedly showed the suspect, later identified as Bryce Thayer, 36, approaching car wash workers Leodan Pino, 18, and his 16-year-old brother as they were closing for the night.
Officials said when Thayer was told to leave the property, he became "irate" and approached the brothers "in a threatening manner" while wielding an ax.
"I was locking up all the doors, and I heard some screaming, someone yelling something," Pino told FOX 35 Orlando. "He's obviously not in the right state of mind. … He walks up to the tunnel, and that's when I tell him, ‘You have to leave, man. You got to leave.’"
Pino said that is when Thayer allegedly pulled out an ax that was clipped to his backpack and pointed it at him.
Footage showed Pino lunging at Thayer as his younger brother yanked the ax away from him.
"Once he lowered, that's when I shot the take-down, and I got on top of him and I controlled the situation," said Pino, who is trained in mixed martial arts (MMA). "Once I realized he wasn't letting go, that's when I threw a couple elbows until he was incapacitated. … I got him to his back, put him in a body triangle, held a rear naked choke on him and waited until the cops got there."
Thayer's mugshot showed heavy bruising to the face supposedly incurred during the struggle.
Pino, who recently enlisted in the military, said Thayer "got what he deserved."
During Thayer's subsequent arrest, a search revealed he had a glass pipe used for methamphetamine, according to the sheriff's office.
He was charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to jail records. He is being held on $11,000 bond.
Jail records reviewed by Fox News Digital show Thayer was arrested by the Marion County Sheriff's Office four times since May 2024, on charges including:
Felony possession of a controlled substance without a prescription
Felony possession of a controlled substance in a detention facility
Damage to property
Petit theft
Trespassing after warning
Possession of cannabis
Two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia
Pino said he is "very thankful that God gave me the opportunity and gave me the strength to be able to control that situation."
"I'm thankful that I was the one closing on my brother and no one else was because I'm not too sure if any other of my coworkers would have done the same thing as I would have," he said. "I'm just happy that I was able to protect my brother."
#Mali-Nord/ Selon un message reçu du porte parole du Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA, rebelles du nord du Mali), son groupe armé a mené « Vers 05h ce matin, 11 mars» à l’aide de « drones kamikazes » , une attaque contre le camp militaire des FAMa ( armée malienne) et des…
#Mali-North/ According to a message received from the spokesperson of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA, rebels of northern Mali),
…as it’s called in English, in French Front de libération de l'Azawad (FLA rebels), a Tuareg Berber nationalist movement in parts of Mali and northern and western Niger. The big cities are Timbuktu and Gao…
his armed group carried out, "Around 05:00 this morning, March 11," with the aid of "kamikaze drones," an attack against the military camp of the FAMa (Malian army) and elements of the Africa Corps (Russians) in Gao, the main city of northern Mali. "Material damage and human losses were recorded," the received message specifies.
Questioned by me this 11/3/ right out of bed, a Malian military source at the heart of the Armed Forces General Staff responds: "We will communicate on these allegations when the time comes."
[Breitbart] The Bank of England is to end the tradition of printing images of great Britons on the verso of paper money notes, stating it has decided to proceed with pictures of wildlife instead after it wanted something "not divisive".
Sir Winston Churchill will no longer grace the pockets of Britons after it was announced the 50-year practice of printing portraits of famous Britons on the opposite side of notes from that of the reigning monarch is to end. The Bank of England, which issues money on behalf of the government, said in a statement on the change, emphasised that the change was supported by their research into public taste, which showed that images of native wildlife would be less "divisive" than historic figures.
They said the future designs had to meet their criteria, which included that new pictures symbolised the UK, resonated with the public, and "is not divisive: The theme should not involve imagery that would reasonably be offensive to, or exclude, any groups."
In recent memory wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill was uncontroversial in his position as the "greatest Briton of all time" but, evidently, with the UK shorn of its uniting common culture this no longer applies. Indeed, the statue of Sir Winston in Parliament square has been repeatedly vandalised in recent years.
The temple, built sometime during the first or second centuries A.D., was dedicated to Mithras, a deity from a "mystery cult" associated with light and cosmic order. Mithraism is "regarded to this day as the most fascinating — yet still most mysterious — cult of the Roman gods."
I hope the next millennium will have found US to be fascinating but complex.
#5
..actually that was the revolutionary government rather than Napoleon. The boys that ran 'The Terror'. They were going year Zero well before the Marxist.
[Breitbart] Ecuador’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday announced that, with the help of the United States, Ecuadorian Armed Forces officials seized 1.9 tons of presumptively U.S.-bound suspected drugs at sea.
The Ministry detailed in an official statement that the drug bust was carried out by Ecuadorian officials in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and the support of naval intelligence, noting that the action was part of the South American country’s cooperation agreements to combat transnational crime at sea with allied nations such as the United States. The seized illicit cargo is valued at approximately $40 million at U.S. markets and $70 million in Europe, according to the Ministry.
President Daniel Noboa was among the 12 Latin American and Caribbean heads of state invited by President Donald Trump to form part of the “Shield of the Americas,” a regional security initiative led by the United States in the fight against drug cartels, illegal and mass migration, and stopping foreign malign influence throughout the region.
Noboa, describing the United States’s army as the most powerful in the world, told Univision on Tuesday that Ecuador’s Armed Forces want to work alongside U.S. forces, noting that it is not U.S. “interventionism” that American forces operate in the country, as it is a joint collaboration between both countries.
[Breitbart] Axios reports that Meta has completed the acquisition of Moltbook, a social network designed for AI agents to interact with one another. The platform gained widespread attention and controversy due to its security vulnerabilities that allowed human users to impersonate AI agents and create alarming fake posts.
As part of the acquisition, Moltbook will be integrated into Meta Superintelligence Labs. The company’s founders, Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr, will join Meta’s team following the transaction. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either party.
A Meta spokesperson provided a statement to TechCrunch regarding the acquisition’s strategic significance. “The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses. Their approach to connecting agents through an always-on directory is a novel step in a rapidly developing space, and we look forward to working together to bring innovative, secure agentic experiences to everyone,” the spokesperson said.
#5
And then there’s Amazon calling an all hands meeting of its 1200 engineers to try and contain the catastrophic damage from their kiddie-coders integrating AI programming into their vast IT system. They use the term “blast radius”- that doesn’t sound encouraging.
[FoxNews] California vineyards shrink as producers combat oversupply, falling demand.
The best of the best run will survive. The best that neglected to optimize their business side will sell off to the winners, as will the large number of mid-listers. And California will lose even more revenue. Boom/bust, bay-bee.
America's wine industry is grappling with one of its most painful downturns in decades as younger consumers cut back on drinking and baby boomers age out of the market — reshaping alcohol habits nationwide.
The trend has contributed to more than $1 billion in lost U.S. wine revenue last year and a roughly 6 million-case drop in production, according to industry data and reports.
Across California in particular, major producers and family-run wineries are shuttering facilities, laying off workers and even ripping vineyards out of the ground amid oversupply and falling demand, the New York Post recently reported.
Jackson Family Wines ceased production at its Carneros Hill facility in Sonoma in February, resulting in 13 layoffs, while E&J Gallo shuttered its Ranch Winery in St. Helena and cut nearly 100 jobs across Napa and Sonoma counties.
Mission Bell Winery in Madera is set to close March 31, laying off more than 200 employees — while smaller producers such as Subject to Change Wine Company and Valley Farm Management have shut their doors as well.
The weakest-performing wineries saw sales fall by about 10% in 2025, while the top-performing group still managed to grow, according to Silicon Valley Bank's 2026 State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report.
California's total vineyard footprint was estimated at 477,475 acres in 2025, according to the California Association of Winegrape Growers, down from about 600,000 acres in recent years, based on earlier state estimates.
At least 20% of California's wine grape production from bearing vines was not harvested and crushed in 2025, Forbes reported in November.
"It's a bloodbath for all grape growers across California," Stuart Spencer, executive director of the Lodi Wine Grape Commission, told Forbes. "It is the worst market condition growers have seen in their lifetime."
Shifting drinking habits are largely to blame.
Older wine enthusiasts are aging out of the market and are not being replaced at the same rate by millennials and Gen Z, experts say.
WHY ALCOHOL HITS YOUR BODY HARDER AS YOU AGE, EVEN IF YOU'RE DRINKING THE SAME AMOUNT
"The mid-20s to late-30s demographic has historically been a very important dining and drinking segment," Andrew Principe, a James Beard-recognized restaurateur and co-owner of Pulcinella in New Orleans, told Fox News Digital.
"A significant slowdown of alcohol consumption within this group has been noticeable."
#6
Competition with legal marijuana could be a factor. You've heard the term California sober, right? Seems like these days I smell the stuff being smoked just about everywhere I go. Last time I was in a Home Depot parking lot it reeked. We never know when we're sitting in our house at night if we're smelling skunk or if one of our neighbors lit a doobie.
Also, lately the media has been campaigning to get people to drink less. Another problem might be doctors prescribing anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drugs. IMHO, their patients would do better with a couple shots of whiskey. At least it doesn't kill your sex drive the way the pills do.
Was ist das?
The good stuff, Grom. California wine is very, very good. I'm no conessueir of French or Italian wines, never had much, but what I have tasted is certainly no better than California wine. You might wanna tell us about Israeli wine but I'm pretty sure the best Napa Valley wines would be competitive anywhere.
Paso Robles and Santa Inez Valley produce some very good wines as well.
Gotta wonder how Newsom's vineyard is doing. If he runs it like he runs the state it might be in trouble.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/12/2026 17:40 Comments ||
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#7
Wine making and grape growing are highly vulnerable to changes in taste and production/demand volume- long lead times to bring expensive vineyards into production, make and mature wines , over planting in response to high demand then a glut of grapes and prices crash.
The Romans faced the same problems. It’s built in.
Having your market decide to not drink at all can’t be helpful, either.
[SpectrumLocalNews] President Donald Trump announced plans to open the first oil refinery in the United States in 50 years, and it’s in Brownsville, Texas, according to a Truth Social post.
Trump stated that the project, which is a $300 billion deal funded with the help of Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries, will expand American jobs along with other economic prospects.
“It is because of our America First Agenda, streamlining Permits, and lowering Taxes, that have attracted Billions of Dollars in Deals coming back to our Nation,” Trump said. “A new Refinery at the Port of Brownsville, will fuel U.S. Markets, strengthen our National Security, boost American Energy production, deliver Billions of Dollars in Economic impact, and will be THE CLEANEST REFINERY IN THE WORLD.”
More details on the project and the opening date are not available, but more announcements are expected soon.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/12/2026 7:00 Comments ||
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#2
I have to wonder where thay're gonna get their process water (boilers, etc) when the whole south Texas coast from Corpus south is under drought restrictions.
But that's just me.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/12/2026 8:20 Comments ||
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#3
Poss tapping the Rio Grande before it flows into the gulf. Gotta wonder though about the advisability of building it near a rocket 'rapid disassembly' zone.
#4
I'm sure the upcoming Environmental Impact Statement will address all those issues! And the lawsuits. And judicial blockages.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/12/2026 11:15 Comments ||
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#5
I call BS. So there were no domestic companies that wanted to build a refinery in the last 50 years?
We may have a free market, but all the inputs are controlled. What type of tax breaks did Trump give the foreigners that were not offered domestically?
#6
So there were no domestic companies that wanted to build a refinery in the last 50 years?
Yes, thanks to regulation and endless litigation by special interest groups. We need to have legal reform for these things by making the plaintiffs have to pay for other side's cost if they lose and post sufficient bond in anticipation that they'll claim insolvency to avoid.
[Federalist] Normally, drug dealers go to jail. But in Washington, the state’s own Department of Corrections (DOC) could become the cheapest dealer on the block. Its poison of choice? Deadly chemical abortion pills.
In February, the Washington state legislature approved legislation that would allow its DOC to sell its stockpile of abortion pills below cost, and last week, the state’s House speaker signed the legislation — Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson is soon expected to sign the bill into law.
If enacted, the legislation would let the DOC essentially give away its abortion pills (more than 155,000 doses worth) at as low a price it wants, setting it up to become what one Republican state senator described as the "free-abortion-pill provider for the entire country."
FORMER GOVERNOR’S PURCHASES
Why exactly does a state department of corrections, an office most known for overseeing prisons, have a 155,000-dose stockpile of abortion drugs?
It all started in 2023 when former Gov. Jay Inslee, worried that pending litigation could make abortion pills harder to obtain, ordered the DOC to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of mifepristone, a common abortion pill. As he was leaving office, he ordered the DOC to purchase 17,600 more doses of mifepristone, along with 155,000 doses of misoprostol, another common abortion drug. In total, the purchases cost the state about $2 million.
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.
[Federalist] Normally, drug dealers go to jail. But in Washington, the state’s own Department of Corrections (DOC) could become the cheapest dealer on the block. Its poison of choice? Deadly chemical abortion pills. 
