Afghanistan: Heroin Industry Increasingly Runs on Solar Power
July 27th, 2020Via: BBC:
There are no subsidies here. Nobody is thinking about climate change – or any other ethical consideration, for that matter.
This is about small-scale entrepreneurs trying to make a profit.
It is the story of how Afghan opium growers have switched to solar power, and significantly increased the world supply of heroin.
Sailor Holding A Laser Rifle Aboard The Nuclear Submarine USS Minnesota
July 27th, 2020Via: The Warzone:
Submarines are at their most vulnerable when transiting on the surface in busy waterways. As such, force protection is critical in order to shield them from everything from explosive-laden boats to drones. When just a number of seconds can mean the difference between a possible threat and an imminent attack, having a less-than-lethal option for deterring nearby potential threats and repelling actual attacks is highly valuable. Enter the laser dazzler.
These light projection devices fire highly powerful and sometimes modulated laser beams with pinpoint precision over long distances. The idea is they will temporarily blind and disorient an attacker, or even the electronic optics being used by a threat. What you can’t see you cannot attack, or at the very least the disorienting nature of the dazzler will buy precious seconds to better assess the situation and apply lethal force, if necessary.
The weapon we see in this image is the B.E. Meyers Glare LA-9/P.
“Google SkinMarks Could Turn Our Bodies Into a Touchpad Using High-Tech Tattoos”
July 27th, 2020Mmm hmm.
Via: TechRadar:
Google has been researching the possibilities of using rub-on tattoos to transform your skin into a fully-functioning touchpad.
Dubbed SkinMarks, the tattoos are packed with sensors and can be applied to curved areas of the body such as the knuckles. They aren’t as elaborate as you’d find at your local ink parlor, but some can feature light up displays, if that’s what you were after.
The SkinMarks tattoos can be triggered by tapping or by using swipe gestures, just like you’re used to on your smartphone. Some of the tattoos can be activated by more natural and instinctive fine motor skills, though, like bending your fingers.
Gold: Record High
July 27th, 2020In other news: Second Stimulus Check Coming in August
Via: Market Watch:
Gold prices hit a fresh record on Monday, as investors continued to fret over the state of the COVID-19 battered global economy and amid concerns over the sticking power of stock gains.
August gold GC00, 2.01% GCQ20, 2.01% surged $38.70, or 2%, to $1,936.50 an ounce. That took it past the record most-active intraday level of $1,923.70 an ounce from Sept. 6, 2011.
DoD Doctrine on Nuclear Operations Published, Taken Offline
July 26th, 2020
Via: Federation of American Scientists:
Height of Burst (HOB). A weapon may be set to detonate at or near the Earth’s surface. Some weapons may be employed at higher altitudes. Selection of HOB enables planners to take advantage of the incident blast wave, with resulting dynamic air pressures to vary the effect on the target. A higher HOB may be selected to alter the weapons effects footprint or to avoid the production of fallout. Some high-altitude bursts, in excess of 100,000 feet, will produce widespread electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events, which may affect non-EMP-hardened systems. Adverse effects on adjacent allies and partners, as well as the enemy, must be considered.
The Federal Coup to Overthrow the States and Nix the 10th Amendment Is Underway
July 25th, 2020Via: The Rutherford Institute:
We’ve been set up.
Under the guise of protecting federal properties against civil unrest, the Trump Administration has formed a task force of secret agents who look, dress and act like military stormtroopers on a raid and have been empowered to roam cities in unmarked vehicles, snatching citizens off the streets, whether or not they’ve been engaged in illegal activities.
As the Guardian reports, “The incidents being described sound eerily reminiscent of the CIA’s post-9/11 rendition program under George W Bush, where intelligence agents would roll up in unmarked vans in foreign countries, blindfold terrorism suspects (many of whom turned to be innocent) and kidnap them without explanation. Only instead of occurring on the streets of Italy or the Middle East, it’s happening in downtown Portland.”
The so-called racial justice activists who have made looting, violence, vandalism and intimidation tactics the hallmarks of their protests have played right into the government’s hands.
They have delivered all of us into the police state’s hands.
Deaths Incorrectly Attributed to COVID-19 in Palm Beach County
July 25th, 2020Via: CBS12:
A 60-year-old man who died from a gun shot wound to the head.
A 90-year-old man who fell and died from complications of a hip fracture.
A 77-year-old woman who died of Parkinson’s disease.
These are some of the deaths in Palm Beach County recently, and incorrectly, attributed to COVID-19 in medical examiner records.
The CBS12 News I-Team uncovered several examples in Medical Examiner reports of people counted as a COVID death who did not die of COVID.
FBI Arrests Chinese Researcher for Visa Fraud After She Hid at Consulate in San Francisco
July 25th, 2020Via: CNBC:
A researcher who took refuge in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after allegedly lying to investigators about her Chinese military service was arrested and will appear in court on Monday, according to a senior Justice Department official.
According to court documents unsealed earlier this week in the Eastern District of California, Juan Tang, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, applied for a nonimmigrant J1 visa in October 2019. The visa was issued in November 2019 and Tang entered the United States a month later.
Tang allegedly made fraudulent statements on her visa application by concealing that she served in the Chinese military. The FBI concluded that Tang was a uniformed officer of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force after photographs of her were uncovered on electronic media seized in accordance with a search warrant.
New York Times: “Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth”
July 25th, 2020Mmm hmm.
My commentary on this CIA so-called UFO “disclosure” operation remains: Limited Hangout: ‘Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects
Via: New York Times:
Eric W. Davis, an astrophysicist who worked as a subcontractor and then a consultant for the Pentagon U.F.O. program since 2007, said that, in some cases, examination of the materials had so far failed to determine their source and led him to conclude, “We couldn’t make it ourselves.”
The constraints on discussing classified programs — and the ambiguity of information cited in unclassified slides from the briefings — have put officials who have studied U.F.O.s in the position of stating their views without presenting any hard evidence.
Mr. Davis, who now works for Aerospace Corporation, a defense contractor, said he gave a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency as recently as March about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”
Mr. Davis said he also gave classified briefings on retrievals of unexplained objects to staff members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 21, 2019, and to staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee two days later.
Trump Eases Restrictions On Armed Drone Sales Abroad
July 25th, 2020Via: DefenseOne:
The Trump administration is relaxing arms export restrictions, a move long sought by drone makers but one that critics say will provide little competitive edge to U.S. companies even as it alienates allies.
U.S. drone makers have complained that regulations have allowed China to sell copycat dones to U.S. allies and partners.
“We think this kind of reform is necessary in order to respond to a rapidly-changing technological environment, said R. Clarke Cooper, the assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs, in a statement. “With the growing proliferation of UAS technology, particularly by China, coupled with a growing demand for UAS for both military and commercial applications, we need to adjust U.S. policies to address U.S. national security concerns.”
