[NYPOST] Pope Benedict XVI, a fierce defender of church dogma who became the first pontiff in six centuries to abdicate the papacy, died Saturday morning. He was 95 years old.
Benedict XVI died at 9:34 AM local time in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City, where he resided following his resignation, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
Benedict XVI’s body will lie in state at Saint Peter’s Basilica beginning on Jan. 2.
The funeral service for Pope Emeritus is scheduled to take place in St. Peter’s Square on Jan. 5.
Pope Francis will preside over the funeral.
His death came after Pope Francis asked his flock for “prayers” for his predecessor at the Vatican Wednesday.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 18:36 Comments ||
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#13
At the age of 16, he was sent to Munich as an air force helper on August 2, 1943, together with the other seminarians from Traunstein, first to an anti-aircraft battery in Unterföhring, then to Ludwigsfeld in the north of Munich to protect the BMW factory in Allach. Later, his battery was transferred to Gilching, where he was only required to serve in the telephone exchange and survived a direct attack on the battery in 1944. During this time, Ratzinger attended the Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich. When asked by a superior about his career goal, he already stated the priesthood at that time. After two months of Reich labor service in Burgenland, Austria, where he was used, among other things, in the construction of the so-called Southeast Wall for the construction of anti-tank barriers, Ratzinger was drafted into the Wehrmacht on December 13, 1944. He completed his basic training at the Traunstein infantry barracks. After Hitler's death, Ratzinger left the barracks on his own authority at the beginning of May 1945.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/01/2023 18:41 Comments ||
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#14
Yes, an amazing story of service, both to his country and to God. I hope my snark was not offensive. I fear it may have been.
[Breitbart] The World Boxing Council (WBC) has announced a new category for transgender boxers to ensure the “safety” of competitors.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told The Telegraph on Thursday that the new rules will go into effect in 2023 and are meant to make sure female boxers are safe.
Sulaiman added that WBC intended to ensure that “the dangers of a man fighting a woman will never happen.”
“We will not allow — ever — a transgender born a man to fight a woman, who was born a woman,” he added.
The WBC has added birth gender rules that maintain that males can only fight other males, and men who claim to have “transitioned” to being women can only fight other transgender women. The same will be true for female boxers who claim to be transgender males.
“It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion,” Sulaiman insisted.
“There should be no grey area around this, and we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions,” he said, opposing the idea that transgender “women” should be allowed to fight natural-born women.
I am very impressed. A good example for all who feel the need to go beyond the traditional male/female division.
“Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth,” he explained.
Still, Sulaiman also said that transgender people “fully deserve” to join the sport of boxing if they want to do so.
One of the best examples of the dangers of free-for-all fighting is seen in the case of MMA fighter Fallon Fox, who was born a man and fractured the orbital socket of a female opponent in the ring.
#5
I’m picturing Butterbean in a dress with rainbow gloves. This vitally inclusive offering will rank below the USFL on my watching hierarchy. It will be in a tie last position with the WNBA everything else in modern sports. Consider me a hater.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 14:53 Comments ||
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#7
We have become so gender confused that we will now have a league of men that want to adopt feminine roles and will be demonstrating their femininity by knocking the snot out of dudes that are equally confused. This will be controversial, though, as people will argue that they are being cheated by not allowing them to beat up biological women. Others will argue for the right of biological women to exclusively be pummeled by other biological women. In the news we will be treated to stories of boxers of all categories beating up their spouses or strangers. Boxing will continue to lose market share to UFC where people are beaten up more thoroughly with fewer rules in cages.
I will watch curling.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 21:25 Comments ||
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#8
^ Can I watch you watch curling, or at least listen in?
Posted by: Bob Bigfeet5710 ||
01/01/2023 21:59 Comments ||
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#9
It would break my intensity.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/01/2023 22:03 Comments ||
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Video in three parts at the link. All respect to a young hero.
[MilitaryTimes] Dan Bullock: The youngest American killed in the Vietnam War
Pfc. Dan Bullock died at age 15 in 1969 and efforts to recognize the young African-American Marine are highlighted in this Military Times documentary.
[NYPost] SAN FRANCISCO — What has been a wet end to 2022 is going to get even soggier as another atmospheric river is drenching California through the weekend, bringing a renewed threat of flooding rains and heavy mountain snows.
Steady rains were already falling across the northern edge of the state Friday morning as the "firehose" of rainfall began to move ashore; its first stop on its eventual trek south through the entire state.
Flood Watches cover millions as they stretch across the northern and central California coastal area and inland valleys, including the Bay Area and Sacramento region.
Northern California will continue take the brunt of the moderate to heavy rain on Friday, with the atmospheric river focusing its wrath onto Central California and the Bay Area late Friday night into Saturday morning, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
Ponding of water on roadways, rises on small streams and creeks, and burn scar flooding will pose a hazard as rain continues to fall for nearly 36 hours straight.
Steady rains spread south into Southern California on Sunday as Northern California gets a break, with a rainy start to 2023 in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
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This has been more precip and for a longer period than I expected. Today, Stockton had over 2" whereas their previous wettest Dec 31 was well under an inch. By tomorrow, Lake Oroville will have risen over 30 feet since Dec 24 (will have risen over 12' just today). At 8500+ feet in the central Sierra they have had over 70" of snow since Dec 24. At least two more major storms and some smaller ones are predicted to hit in next 8 days. As somebody pointed out a few days ago, this would be really wonderful if California had built-out its reservoirs the past decade or so.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/01/2023 00:00 ||
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#1
Potable water be rayciss. Farmin' be rayciss.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/01/2023 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
In the coming week, we'll all be subjected to the "mudslides like never before because Climate Change!!" chorus.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/01/2023 10:53 Comments ||
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#3
Mudslide can be a good drink and / or dessert...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/01/2023 11:00 Comments ||
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Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/01/2023 11:10 Comments ||
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#6
Bring on the mudslides!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/01/2023 13:12 Comments ||
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#7
Iust under 2 ft of heavy wet Sierra cement on my back deck in the Carson Valley. Lost two trees to snow weight breaking major branches. Lots of power outages across the entire Valley and fhe passes into Tahoe basin all closed.
[ToloNews] Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country’s power distributor, said Chinese investors have expressed willingness to invest in coal-fired power in Afghanistan.
According to a statement by the DABS, the investment will produce 500 megawatts of electricity.
"The technical delegations of DABS and China through joint meetings will discuss all issues on how to produce electricity from coal and the result of the meetings will be shared with the leaders of the Islamic Emirate," the statement said.
This comes as industrial parks, private companies and factories have repeatedly voiced their concerns over the shortage of power.
"There is a significanr reduction in our productions due to shortage of power. There are a lot of power cuts for the residential houses," said Abdul Nasir Rishtia, chairman of of iron smelting union.
The shortage of power has also irked Kabul residents who say they are provided only four hours of electricity a day.
"The problems of shortage of power is huge. The people don’t have anything to heat their homes and while there is no power, we are more in trouble. We cannot even use our phones," said Nawid, a resident of Kabul.
Based on statistics of DABS, Afghanistan needs 1,600 megawatts of electricity with 30 percent of it provided from internal sources and the rest from imported power from neighboring countries, including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran.
This comes as acting Minister of Energy and Water, Abdul Latif Mansour left Kabul for Uzbekistan this week to sign an agreement of $35 million.
[ShabelleMedia] The President of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... , Said Abdullahi Deni, has issued a statement on the situation in the city of Lasanood. He accused Somaliland of carrying out a brutal attack on the civilians.
Deni said that the Somaliland army killed innocent people, who came out only to protest against the hunting of the key figures, including an Islamic preacher rubbed out on Friday.
"Since Somaliland troops captured Lasanod, more than 100 people were killed, among them women, and scholars. No one is left out. No one asks who killed them until now no one has been arrested for those murders or brought to trial," said Deni.
The regional leader praised the people who expressed their feelings and protested against the hardship and abuse they have been subjected to for a long time. He told the people of Lasanod that Puntland is always standing by and sharing the problem with them.
"We are calling on the Somaliland administration to refrain from the heinous acts that are being done to suppress or punish people who have fought and are still dying for the existence and unity of the Somali nation," added Deni.
The Puntland president’s statement came at a time when Puntland sent troops to the town of Lasanod last night.
It is the first time that such a protest has taken place in the town, which was captured by Somaliland from Puntland 15 years ago.
[An Nahar] La Belle France, Spain and England will implement tougher COVID-19 measures for passengers arriving from China, authorities said.
La Belle France's government is requiring negative tests, and is urging French citizens to avoid nonessential travel to China. La Belle France is also reintroducing mask requirements on flights from China to La Belle France.
French health authorities will carry out random PCR tests at airports on passengers arriving from China to identify potential new coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... variants. The new rules take effect on Sunday, but officials said it would be a few days before they are fully in place.
The U.K. government announced that anyone traveling to England on direct flights from China would be required to take a pre-departure test from Jan. 5.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay said that the U.K. was taking a "balanced and precautionary approach." He described the measures as "temporary" while officials assess COVID-19 statistics.
La Belle France and Spain said they would continue to push for a Europe-wide policy.
La Belle France's hospitals have struggled in recent weeks with a large number of patients because of three concurrent outbreaks: the seasonal flu, a wave of bronchitis cases and COVID-19.
Earlier, Spain's government said it would require all air passengers coming from China to have negative tests or proof of vaccination.
Health Minister Carolina Darías told news hounds that Spain would be pushing for similar measures at a European level following the surge in cases in China. She said coronavirus health controls would be stepped up at Spanish airports.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2023 00:21 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Victim was held in Umm al-Fahm for 4 days; suspected attackers demanded ransom of hundreds of thousands of shekels following work dispute
Israeli-Arab on Israeli-Arab action in the home of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel’s militant Northern Branch — bad enough that they need the Israeli police to make it right.
A 60-year-old Paleostinian man was rescued by the Israel Police Saturday, after being kidnapped in the Rosh Ha’ayin area on Wednesday.
The incident, which was previously under a police gag order, began after the victim’s son contacted police and reported the kidnapping, which allegedly occurred following a dispute between his father and a contractor, a police statement said.
According to police, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of hundreds of thousands of shekels
...I think it’s still about four Israeli shekels to one American dollar...
from the victim’s family, residents of Hebron, in exchange for the return of the 60-year-old.
Police eventually raided a location in the central Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, where the victim was being held.
"Detectives arrested a number of suspects who are residents of Umm al-Fahm, as well as vehicles suspected to have been used in the kidnapping," the statement said, adding that the court had extended their remand.
Police did not give details on how many suspects were arrested.
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.
[Cyware] 
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
