Ongoing anti-corruption investigations in China have apparently lead to the arrest of former Danzou mayor and former Communist Party secretary Zhang Qi (archived, archived). Investigators reportedly found 13.5 tons of gold and a cash stash summing to 268 billion yuan in a concealed basement at the communist's home. At presently advertised exchange rates, these holdings put the recently seized fortune above 38 billion USD and would place Zhang Qi at 19th place on the Forbes rich list above Alibaba's Jack Ma and Tencent's Ma Huateng.
Category Archives: Government
Church of England Takes BOLD Stand Against Pointed Kitchen Knives
Church elders in the Diocese of Rochester are calling for the elimination of pointed kitchen knives after having made the religious determination that points on knives are obsolete (archived). Never mind the incredible utility of the knife point in kitchens that handle actual food, the religious imperative to preserve all life demands the kitchen workflow be interupted by specialist knick-knacks out of the potential that any particular knife point may end the life of something other than a garlic clove.
Nevermind that nearly every use of the paring knife or fillet knife begins with the point. Nevermind the ridiculous prospect of scoring with the belly of the blade. The state Church of England demands doctrinal sovereignty in your kitchen, and their doctrine says the potential evil of the knife point trumps the active utility of the knife point.
FedEx Shareholder Suit Follows Executive Stock Sales Which Followed Cyberattacks
Stockholders are suing a number of FedEx executives following the company's response to cyber attacks and other shennanigans after which the defendant executives allegedly painted an unwarrantedly painted rosy picture in corporate communications as the same executives were allegedly selling their equity positions in the firm because major clients were fleeing. Filing reproduced in full below: Continue reading
USG And Israel Moving Towards "Mutual Defense" Treaty As Hawks Continue Pushing To Bomb Iran
Reports have begun emerging that suggest the USG and Israel are moving towards a "mutual defense" agreement, provided Bibi survives today's elections (archived). This movement comes as hawks inside the USG, Israel, and Saudi Arabia are escalating their anti-Iran talk in the wake of a Yemeni rebel attack using 80's vintage drones which crippled Saudi oil production over the weekend (archived).
One notable "mutual defense" agreement of historical interest had Britain opening the second World War after Germany intervened to stop the Polish government's genocide of ethnic Germans in Danzig (archived). With Israel already conducting airstrikes on its neighbors, it is very hard to see the move as anything other than a committment to further antagonize the Middle East.
Google Softens On Employee Speech After Consulting Great Inca
USG surveillance organization Google has decided to allow its employees to engage in discussions about pay amongst themselves and conduct some limited political discussions following consultation with the US National Labor Relations Board (archived). Presumably Google will maintain their ongoing policy of filtering political speech on a spectrum where positions increasingly removed from sanity are permissable while positions closer to grounding in sanity are sanctioned as hate speech, pushing an ongoing trend of increasing derealization over time.
After 18 Years Of "Never Forget" US Still At War
On this 18th anniversary of the day the "end of history" died, the US is still at war. The war is still a hot one (archived).
John Bolton Out As US National Security Advisor
John Bolton is out as US National Security Advisor after using the position to systematically reduce US national security as so many of his predecessors have done before him (archived). Different parties are claiming a firing or resignation effected the departure. Bolton's legacy over his tenures in the Trump and Bush II administrations is a reduction of USG ability to effect its policy abroad to levels not seen in a century.
All SEAL Team 7 Leaders Purged By US Navy Brass
The US Navy has purged "elite" SEAL Team 7 of its leaders citing a "breakdown of good order and discipline" (archived). Rear Admirald Colin Green is being publicly credited for execution of the purge, and he has further hinted that the culture of SEAL units is "being questioned" suggesting further purges may be on the way. The US Navy SEAL teams are one of several high training investment, high deployment tempo "special warfare" unit types which have taken over the bulk of the US military's combat operations in situations where the combatants are actually inside the same combat space.
Microsoft Invites Stallman
Microsoft invited their longtime antagonist Richard Stallman to address the USG agency after decades of ratcheting have finally aligned their interests (archived). Back in 2012, Stallman lost his Gnu to GLBSE.
Illinois: Police Department Child Groomer Arrested For Child Porn
Mitchell Rowan of the Gurnee, Illinois Police Department was arrested earlier this week on a felony warrant for possession of child pornography (archived). Rowan had been employed by the Gurnee Police department to advise their "Police Explorers' Youth Program" where he groomed children for future careers in "law enforcement" while having achieved all of 23 years of age himself.